When to plant Bok Choy
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 Bok Choy 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 | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Transplant outside | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Fall planting | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Expected harvest | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
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.
Bok choy carries no frost-week figure and no days-to-maturity number on this page, and that is an honest gap, not an oversight. The one source held for it, Clemson Cooperative Extension's Chinese Vegetables factsheet, describes bok choy's tolerance of cold weather and recommends starting it as a spring transplant to avoid bolting in heat, with direct-seeding better suited to a fall planting, but gives no weeks-before-or-after-last-frost rule and no maturity-day count.
This page classifies bok choy semi-hardy based on that cold-tolerance description, since Clemson does not call it frost-hardy outright, but that classification is this page's own reading of the source's language rather than a tier Clemson itself assigns. Only one extension publication was found for bok choy specifically; a second land-grant source was not.
In practice, that means a cold-winter climate favors the spring-transplant route Clemson describes, timed loosely around the last frost rather than against a stated offset; a mild-winter climate favors direct-seeding for a fall crop, the pattern Clemson's guidance points toward without stating exact dates.
Nurseries carry bok choy both as seed and as spring transplants; buying the transplant is the more direct route to Clemson's spring recommendation, while seed suits the fall direct-sow window.
Frost hardiness
Semi-hardy. Tolerates light frost. Best planted close to the last frost date.
Sourcing notes
Thin coverage despite real effort (direct attempts to reach a dedicated Clemson bok-choy factsheet and a University of Maryland resource both 404'd). Only source found (Clemson's Chinese Vegetables factsheet) gives cold-tolerance and culture notes ("tolerance of cold weather"; better as a spring transplant to avoid bolting, direct-seed fine for fall) but no explicit weeks-before-frost figure and no days-to-maturity figure at all - left blank rather than fabricate. Classified semi_hardy as the best fit for "tolerant of cold weather" without being described as frost-hardy outright.
Related crops
Growing zones for this crop
Nurseries near these locations
Sources
- Clemson Cooperative Extension Home & Garden Information Center, Chinese Vegetables (accessed 2026-08-04)