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When to plant Sweet Corn

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 Sweet Corn 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 May 6–May 20 Apr 7–Apr 21 Feb 24–Mar 10 –
Transplant outside Not available Not available Not available –
Fall planting Not available Not available Not available –
Expected harvest Jul 5–Aug 18 Jun 6–Jul 20 Apr 25–Jun 8 –

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 tender crop. In climates like this one, tender and very-tender crops typically go in before the hottest months arrive, not on a frost-relative schedule.

Sweet corn goes into the ground right up to two weeks after your last frost, direct-seeded rather than transplanted in every source held for this crop. Colorado State University Extension and Purdue Extension both classify sweet corn tender (Fact Sheet 7.212; HO-186-W), and Colorado State's 50°F minimum soil temperature is the only soil-temperature figure available, since Purdue's soil-temperature table omits corn entirely.

Days to maturity run 60 to 90, combining Colorado State's own 60-to-90 range with NC State's 85 to 90 and Missouri Extension's 70 to 85, mostly reflecting different corn varieties' maturity speeds rather than disagreement between sources.

As a tender rather than very-tender crop, a cold-winter climate can seed corn right at the frost date up to two weeks after, once soil reaches 50°F; a mild-winter climate reaches that soil temperature sooner and seeds correspondingly earlier.

Sweet corn is seed-only at the nursery, sold by variety and by days-to-maturity, and is direct-seeded in blocks rather than rows for reliable pollination, not transplanted.

Frost hardiness

Tender. Damaged or killed by frost. Plant after the last frost date.

Minimum soil temperature

50°F

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

Days to maturity

60–90

Sourcing notes

From direct seed. CSU and PURDUE agree tender. DTM: CSU 60-90, NCSU 85-90, MOEXT 70-85 - combined range reported. PURDUE's Table 3 soil-temp list omits corn; CSU's 50F used as the sole soil-temp figure.

Related crops

Growing zones for this crop

Nurseries near these locations

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Sources