When to Plant Peppers in Missouri: Spring and Fall Dates for South, Central and North Missouri
What Missouri’s extension calendar says about peppers, copied region by region, plus the frost record at Kansas City International Airport, St Louis Lambert International Airport, and Columbia Regional Airport.
Updated
Figures checked against their sources on ; next check .
Missouri is covered by MU Extension, University of Missouri’s own table, and peppers sit under the heading “Pepper (plants)”, in it as a separate row for 3 regions. The earliest date in the table is May 1 in South Missouri, and the latest is May 15 in North Missouri, a gap of 14 days. Whether the dates mean seed or set-out plants is left unsaid for this row.
What MU Extension, University of Missouri prints for peppers
Each cell in the table is copied as the source prints it.
| Region | Spring planting | Fall planting |
|---|---|---|
| South Missouri | 5/1–25 | — |
| Central Missouri | 5/10–30 | — |
| North Missouri | 5/15–30 | — |
How the Missouri calendar is built
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. Gardeners in the Ozark Plateau use the North dates, MU says, because the higher elevation there brings later spring frosts and earlier fall frosts.
Varieties MU names
On the variety question the calendar is specific, naming Revolution, King Arthur, Yolo Wonder, Big Bertha, Purple Beauty, Aristotle, Hungarian Wax, Jalapeno, Habanero, Long Red Cayenne, Scotch Bonnet, and Anaheim Chili.
These are the source’s own recommendations; this page adds none and says nothing about how each performs.
Starting peppers indoors
A calendar of outdoor dates says nothing about when the seed tray goes on the windowsill. For that, UNH offers 8 to 10 weeks of indoor growth before peppers go out.
Both crops appear in two of the sources, and peppers always get the longer start: UMN says 9 weeks and UGA 8, against 5 to 6 and 6 for tomatoes. NDSU and Montana State, saved here for tomatoes only, say nothing about peppers.
Once the seedlings are ready, UNH says peppers are safe to set out 2 weeks after the last frost, after hardening off.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| University of New Hampshire | 8 to 10 weeks from seed to transplant; 2 weeks after the last frost is safe to set out |
| University of Minnesota | Mid-March in Minnesota, 9 weeks indoors |
| NC State | Any transplant: seed 6 to 8 weeks before setting out (central North Carolina calendar) |
| University of Georgia | 8 weeks from seed to transplant size (middle Georgia calendar) |
Where the frost dates fall in Missouri
The dates come straight from NOAA’s frost and freeze normals at the 32°F threshold; the frost dates tool shows earlier and later odds for the same stations.
The source leaves it to the reader to place a city among its regions, and this table does not make that call.
| 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
Take St Louis Lambert International Airport, Missouri. NOAA’s 1991-2020 normals put the 50% last spring 32°F night on April 2 and the 50% first fall one on November 4.
The calendar does not say which region St Louis Lambert International Airport belongs to, so set the date against the rows at each end. South Missouri opens May 1, 29 days after that date; North Missouri opens May 15, 43 days after it.
Treat the result as a way to see how far the printed dates sit from a real frost record. Your yard may run weeks off the station, so repeat the sum with the station closest to you.
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.
Treat the table as a starting range and look at the ten-day forecast before setting out anything tender.
Sources (7)
- 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
- NC State Extension (Bradley, Gunter, Sherk and Driscoll), Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs, AG-756-01, published July 8, 2016 content.ces.ncsu.edu
- University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (Bob Westerfield), Vegetable Garden Calendar, Circular 943, published with full review March 10, 2026 extension.uga.edu