When to Plant Peppers in Texas: Fall Dates by Region
One Texas calendar, one crop: peppers, with the source’s dates left as printed and NOAA frost dates for Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Austin Bergstrom Airport, and Houston Intercontinental Airport.
Updated
Figures checked against their sources on ; next check .
Open Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s calendar to the pepper line under the heading “Pepper” and you find 5 regions, each with its own fall entries. Region V starts latest, on August 1, while Region I starts on June 1: 61 days between the two. The guide says transplants should always be used for growing tomatoes and peppers.
Peppers: the Texas table
Each cell in the table is copied as the source prints it.
| Region | Average fall planting date | Last optimum date |
|---|---|---|
| Region I | Jun 1 | Jun 25 |
| Region II | Jun 15 | Jul 10 |
| Region III | Jul 1 | Jul 25 |
| Region IV | Jul 15 | Aug 10 |
| Region V | Aug 1 | Sep 1 |
Reading the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension table
A second table gives the last optimum dates for seeding or transplanting a few crops, including tomatoes and peppers. A third table pairs five Texas gardening zones with USDA hardiness zones from 6 to 9B, and the guide tells readers to compare their area’s USDA zone with the Texas zones.
Varieties Texas names
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension suggests these for peppers: Big Bertha, Camelot, Jupiter, Hot Jalapeño, TAM Hidalgo Serrano, and TAM Mild Jalapeño.
A variety missing from that list is not necessarily a poor one; the source simply did not name it.
Starting peppers indoors
None of the figures in this section belong to Texas. They are general: UNH, for one, puts the time from seed to transplant at 8 to 10 weeks.
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) |
Frost dates for Texas cities
Each date below is NOAA’s 50% level, meaning the last spring 32°F night lands on or after it in half the years, and the first fall night lands on or before it in half. The tool linked beside each city shows the other nine levels.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Texas | March 8 | November 24 | Not stated by the source |
| Austin Bergstrom Airport, Texas | March 12 | November 16 | Not stated by the source |
| Houston Intercontinental Airport, Texas | February 13 | December 9 | Not stated by the source |
| San Antonio International Airport, Texas | February 26 | November 28 | Not stated by the source |
| Waco Regional Airport, Texas | March 15 | November 15 | Not stated by the source |
Worked example
Take Austin Bergstrom Airport, Texas. NOAA’s 1991-2020 normals put the 50% last spring 32°F night on March 12 and the 50% first fall one on November 16.
The guide does not say which region Austin Bergstrom Airport belongs to, so use the ends of the table. Region I’s average planting date, June 1, is 168 days before the median first freeze; Region V’s, August 1, is 107 days before it.
On the fall side, Region V’s last planting date of September 1 leaves 76 days before the November 16 median first freeze.
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
This is a fall guide, so it prints no spring dates; this page covers fall planting only.
Weather in the week of planting matters more than the printed date; use it to nudge the start earlier or later.
Sources (6)
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension (Larry Stein and Joe Masabni), Fall Vegetable Gardening Guide, EHT-056, May 2014 aggie-horticulture.tamu.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