When to Plant Cucumbers in Missouri: Spring and Fall Dates for South, Central and North Missouri
Planting dates for cucumbers from MU Extension, University of Missouri in Missouri, with 50% frost dates from NOAA for Kansas City International Airport, St Louis Lambert International Airport, and Columbia Regional Airport and one worked case.
Updated
Figures checked against their sources on ; next check .
MU Extension, University of Missouri gives cucumbers their own row under the heading “Cucumber”, with dates for 3 regions. Across the rows, the first date to appear is April 25 (South Missouri) and the last is May 10 (North Missouri), 15 days apart. A reader has to infer from the packet whether these dates are for seed or for transplants, since the row does not say.
The cucumber windows by region
Nothing in the table has been rounded or reworded.
| Region | Spring planting | Fall planting |
|---|---|---|
| South Missouri | 4/25–5/30 | — |
| Central Missouri | 5/5–30 | — |
| North Missouri | 5/10–30 | — |
Reading the MU Extension, University of Missouri table
MU Extension divides Missouri into South, Central and North planting regions and tells readers to find their county on its planting-region map and use that region’s dates. When a fall crop is possible, a second set of dates is listed under the dates for spring planting.
Varieties MU names
The source names 12 varieties for cucumbers: Sweet Slice, Dasher II, Sweet Success, General Lee, Speedway, Burpless 26, Boston Pickling, Francipak, Eureka, Bush Pickle, Little Leaf (H-19), and Salad Bush.
Nothing here is our pick. The list is copied from the source, and varieties it does not name are left out.
Starting cucumbers indoors
Seed-starting advice for cucumbers comes from other states’ extension services, and it counts weeks rather than dates. UNH allows 3 to 4 weeks from seed to transplant.
Only UNH puts a number of weeks on cucumbers; the Minnesota row in the table is a handling tip, not a schedule.
In the garden itself, UNH sows cucumbers once the soil reaches 70 °F, which a soil thermometer answers better than any calendar.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| University of New Hampshire | 3 to 4 weeks from seed to transplant; 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost is safe to set out |
| University of Minnesota | Cucumbers and squash transplant poorly, so raise them in fiber or paper pots that break down in the soil |
Typical frost dates at Missouri stations
The 50% date is the even-odds one: in half of the years the last spring 32°F night comes on or after it, and the first fall one on or before it. Each station below links to the frost dates tool.
No city is assigned to a region below, because the source does not assign them.
| Station | Last spring 32°F | First fall 32°F | Region in the calendar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City International Airport, Missouri | April 13 | October 24 | Not stated by the source |
| St Louis Lambert International Airport, Missouri | April 2 | November 4 | Not stated by the source |
| Columbia Regional Airport, Missouri | April 7 | October 29 | Not stated by the source |
| Branson Airport, Missouri | April 8 | November 2 | Not stated by the source |
| Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport, Missouri | April 5 | October 25 | Not stated by the source |
Worked example
NOAA’s normals for Columbia Regional Airport, Missouri give April 7 as the even-odds date of the last spring 32°F night, and October 29 as the even-odds first fall one.
The calendar does not say which region Columbia Regional Airport belongs to, so set the date against the rows at each end. South Missouri opens April 25, 18 days after that date; North Missouri opens May 10, 33 days after it.
None of this predicts next spring. It only lines up two published sets of dates; swap in your own station from the frost dates tool and the same steps apply.
Before you rely on these dates
The county map that decides your region is an image in the MU publication; this page does not reproduce it, so check your region there.
Weather in the week of planting matters more than the printed date; use it to nudge the start earlier or later.
Sources (5)
- MU Extension, University of Missouri (David H. Trinklein), Vegetable Planting Calendar, G6201, page 3 (Table 2, recommended varieties and planting dates) extension.missouri.edu
- MU Extension, University of Missouri (David H. Trinklein), Vegetable Planting Calendar, G6201, reviewed February 2016 extension.missouri.edu
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, annual and seasonal normals (frost/freeze probabilities by station) ncei.noaa.gov
- University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, Growing Vegetables: When to Plant Your Vegetable Garden (fact sheet) extension.unh.edu
- University of Minnesota Extension, Starting seeds indoors (page reviewed 2026) extension.umn.edu