Shungiku · Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
When to plant shungiku in Skardu
Main outdoor window
24 May - 21 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 June
In Skardu, 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 Skardu
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 direct
24 May - 21 Jun
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 31 Oct
Shungiku through the year
Against the frost risk in Skardu
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 Skardu.
The median frost-free season here is 95 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 Skardu
Other vegetables to time
Growing shungiku in Skardu
When should I plant shungiku in Skardu?
Aim for 24 May - 21 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 5 Jun - 3 Jul - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will shungiku be ready to harvest in Skardu?
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.