Sunflower · Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia
When to sow sunflowers in Dzerzhinsk
Main outdoor window
13-27 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
4 May
In Dzerzhinsk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
22 Jul - 21 Aug
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 Dzerzhinsk
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
13-27 May
Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 11 May, which is too cold for it to start.
In flower
22 Jul - 21 Aug
Sunflowers through the year
Against the frost risk in Dzerzhinsk
Why these dates
Sow a short row every two weeks until ten weeks before first frost for continuous cut flowers rather than one brief spectacle.
Seedlings are killed by frost. Once flowering, stems tolerate a light autumn frost without damage.
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. Sunflowers are timed for direct sowing 1 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Dzerzhinsk.
With one correction, which is the note at the top of the page: the offset alone would put this crop in soil that is still too cold for it. Where the frost date and the soil temperature disagree, the dates here follow the soil, because a seed in cold ground either rots or waits, and a sowing made a fortnight later usually overtakes it.
The median frost-free season here is 153 days, against 70 to 100 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Growing sunflowers in Dzerzhinsk
When should I plant sunflowers in Dzerzhinsk?
Aim for 13-27 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 May - 11 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
Can I plant sunflowers earlier in Dzerzhinsk?
Frost is finished by about 11 May, but the soil is still too cold. Sunflowers will not start until it reaches 12°C (53.6°F), and here that is around 13 May. Going in earlier usually means seed that rots or transplants that sit and sulk, and a later sowing catches them up.
When will sunflowers be ready to harvest in Dzerzhinsk?
Expect to start picking around 22 Jul - 21 Aug, based on 70 to 100 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will sunflowers tolerate?
Seedlings are killed by frost. Once flowering, stems tolerate a light autumn frost without damage.