Yam · Chengdu, Sichuan, China
When to plant yams in Chengdu
Main outdoor window
28 Feb - 28 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 February
In Chengdu, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Oct - 31 Dec
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 Chengdu
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.
Plant tubers
28 Feb - 28 Mar
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Oct - 31 Dec
Yams through the year
Against the frost risk in Chengdu
Why these dates
No frost tolerance whatsoever.
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. Yams are timed with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Chengdu.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Chengdu is zone 9b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
The median frost-free season here is 300 days, against 240 to 300 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Chengdu
Other vegetables to time
Growing yams in Chengdu
When should I plant yams in Chengdu?
Aim for 28 Feb - 28 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 20 Mar - 17 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will yams be ready to harvest in Chengdu?
Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 31 Dec, based on 240 to 300 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will yams tolerate?
No frost tolerance whatsoever.