When to plant Tomato
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 Tomato 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 | Mar 18–Apr 1 | Feb 17–Mar 3 | Jan 6–Jan 20 | – |
| Direct-sow outside | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Transplant outside | May 6–May 27 | Apr 7–Apr 28 | Feb 24–Mar 17 | – |
| Fall planting | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Expected harvest | Jul 5–Aug 20 | Jun 6–Jul 22 | Apr 25–Jun 10 | – |
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 very 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.
Tomatoes go outside after your last frost, not before it. They are a very tender crop, killed outright by frost and stalled by cold, wet soil even once the frost risk has passed. Colorado State University Extension puts transplanting at two or more weeks past your average last spring frost (Fact Sheet 7.212); Purdue Extension reads the same crop one tier milder, tender rather than very tender, and allows transplanting any time after the last frost as long as air temperature holds at 50°F (HO-186-W).
This page keeps Colorado State's very-tender classification but publishes the wider zero-to-three-week window both sources allow, rather than averaging two published figures into a number neither one printed. Soil should read 50°F before anything goes in the ground; Colorado State and Purdue state that figure independently and arrive at it exactly, one of the more settled numbers on this page. Count 60 to 85 days from transplanting to first ripe fruit, from NC State Extension (AG-756-01) and Missouri Extension (G6201), a count that starts at transplant, not at seed.
Start seed indoors five to seven weeks before your last frost if growing your own transplants. Because tomato is very tender, a cold-winter climate means waiting out the full window past frost before soil and air are both ready; a mild-winter climate applies the same zero-to-three-week rule against an earlier or negligible frost date.
Nurseries sell tomato almost entirely as transplants in cell packs or four-inch pots timed to the window above, since the five-to-seven-week indoor head start is the harder part of growing tomato from scratch; seed is available for anyone starting that far ahead themselves.
Frost hardiness
Very tender. Killed by even light frost or cold soil. Plant well after the last frost date, once soil has warmed.
Minimum soil temperature
50°F
For direct sowing/germination, where an Extension source stated it.
Days to maturity
60–85
Sourcing notes
From transplant. CSU (anchor) classifies tomato very_tender ("2+ weeks after" last frost); PURDUE classifies it merely tender ("after last frost, min air 50F"). Kept very_tender per CSU but widened the transplant window to 0-3wk to reconcile with PURDUE and VCE's zone dates, which put tomato transplanting close to the last-frost date in several zones. CSU and PURDUE soil-temp minimums agree exactly at 50F.
Related crops
Growing zones for this crop
Nurseries near these locations
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Sources
- Colorado State University Extension, Vegetable Planting Guide (Fact Sheet 7.212) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- University of Missouri Extension, Vegetable Planting Calendar (G6201) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- NC State Extension, Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs (AG-756-01) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- Purdue Extension (Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture), Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar (HO-186-W) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, Virginia's Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide (Pub. 426-331) (accessed 2026-08-04)