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When to plant Beets

Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.

Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.

Representative timing, by climate band

When to plant Beets in four US climates

Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.

Stage Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY 		Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN 		Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL 		Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL
Start seed indoors Not available Not available Not available –
Direct-sow outside Apr 8–May 6 Mar 10–Apr 7 Jan 27–Feb 24 –
Transplant outside Not available Not available Not available –
Fall planting Aug 11–Sep 8 Sep 4–Oct 2 Nov 3–Dec 1 –
Expected harvest Jun 2–Jul 10 May 4–Jun 11 Mar 23–Apr 30 –

Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a semi hardy crop. In climates like this one, hardy and semi-hardy crops typically go in during the cooler months (fall through late winter), not on a frost-relative schedule.

Beets go into the ground anywhere from four weeks before your last frost to right at it. Colorado State University Extension's semi-hardy rule (Fact Sheet 7.212) calls for direct-seeding zero to two weeks before frost; Purdue Extension's Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar (HO-186-W) reads the same semi-hardy tier two to four weeks before. This page publishes the wider four-to-zero-week window both sources allow rather than splitting the difference into a number neither one printed.

Soil temperature at seeding should reach 40°F; Colorado State and Purdue state that figure independently and arrive at the same number, one of the more settled figures on this page. Expect 55 to 65 days to harvest, a range built from Colorado State's 60, NC State's 55 to 60, and Missouri Extension's 55 to 65.

Beets also take a fall planting, four to eight weeks before your first fall frost, per Purdue's explicit fall-crop list. In a cold-winter climate that fall window closes early enough to matter; in a mild-winter climate beets can run closer to a true cool-season crop, planted well into what would be winter further north.

Beets are a direct-seed crop at the nursery, not a transplant, sold as seed packets for both the spring and fall sowing rather than as started plants.

Frost hardiness

Semi-hardy. Tolerates light frost. Best planted close to the last frost date.

Minimum soil temperature

40°F

For direct sowing/germination, where an Extension source stated it.

Days to maturity

55–65

Sourcing notes

Same CSU-vs-PURDUE semi-hardy window gap as carrots (0-2wk vs 2-4wk before frost) - used the union and flagged. CSU/PURDUE soil temp agree at 40F. Fall figure per PURDUE's explicit fall list (beet named). DTM: CSU 60, NCSU 55-60, MOEXT 55-65 - combined range.

Related crops

Growing zones for this crop

Nurseries near these locations

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Sources