Shungiku · Qingyuan, Guangdong, China
When to plant shungiku in Qingyuan
Main outdoor window
31 Dec - 28 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
21 January
In Qingyuan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 May - 31 Oct
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Qingyuan
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Sow for autumn
23 Sep - 14 Oct
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
31 Dec - 28 Jan
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 31 Oct
Shungiku through the year
Against the frost risk in Qingyuan
Why these dates
Sow from three weeks before the last frost and every two to three weeks. Cut at 15cm and it regrows twice before running to its yellow daisy flowers.
Hardy to about -5C. It bolts quickly in long days and heat, so spring and autumn sowings are the productive ones.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Shungiku are timed for direct sowing 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Qingyuan.
The median frost-free season here is 335 days, against 40 to 55 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Qingyuan
Other vegetables to time
Growing shungiku in Qingyuan
When should I plant shungiku in Qingyuan?
Aim for 31 Dec - 28 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 18 Jan - 15 Feb - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will shungiku be ready to harvest in Qingyuan?
Expect to start picking around 1 May - 31 Oct, based on 40 to 55 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will shungiku tolerate?
Hardy to about -5C. It bolts quickly in long days and heat, so spring and autumn sowings are the productive ones.