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When to plant Collards

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 Collards 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 Mar 25–Apr 8 Feb 24–Mar 10 Jan 13–Jan 27 –
Fall planting Aug 11–Sep 8 Sep 4–Oct 2 Nov 3–Dec 1 –
Expected harvest Apr 26–Jun 19 Mar 28–May 21 Feb 14–Apr 9 –

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 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.

Collards transplant four to six weeks before your last frost, Purdue Extension's hardy-crop rule (HO-186-W), the only figure held for this crop's spring window since Colorado State does not cover it. Virginia Cooperative Extension's zone-specific transplant dates (Pub. 426-331) land in a reasonably similar range.

Days to maturity, per NC State Extension (AG-756-01), run 32 to 72, an unusually wide spread that most likely spans an early baby-leaf harvest at the short end and a full-size plant at the long end rather than describing one single harvest point; NC State's publication does not separate the two explicitly, so both ends of its stated range are shown here rather than one being dropped.

Collards also take a fall planting, four to eight weeks before your first fall frost, per Purdue's explicit fall list, which names collards directly. No minimum soil temperature is held for this crop in any source checked. Because collards are hardy, a cold-winter climate can put transplants out while real frost risk remains in spring, and the fall window still closes early enough to finish before hard freeze; a mild-winter climate shifts both windows later and earlier respectively.

Nurseries carry collards as transplants for both the spring and fall windows, and as seed for growing your own starts ahead of either planting date.

Frost hardiness

Hardy. Tolerates hard frost. Can go in the ground before the last frost date.

Days to maturity

32–72

Sourcing notes

Not covered by CSU. PURDUE's hardy window used (matches VCE's transplant-dates pattern reasonably well). DTM (32-72 days, NCSU) is a very wide range - flagged, likely spans baby-leaf to full-size harvest. Fall figure per PURDUE's explicit list (collards named). No min soil temp found in any source.

Related crops

Growing zones for this crop

Nurseries near these locations

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Sources