When to Plant Tomatoes in Missouri: Spring and Fall Dates for South, Central and North Missouri
MU Extension, University of Missouri’s own tomatoes dates for Missouri, row by row and never averaged, beside NOAA frost dates for Kansas City International Airport, St Louis Lambert International Airport, and Columbia Regional Airport.
Updated
Figures checked against their sources on ; next check .
For tomatoes, MU Extension, University of Missouri prints 3 regions under the heading “Tomato (plants)”; the table below copies each entry as printed. How far apart are the rows? 25 days, from April 20 in South Missouri to May 15 in North Missouri. Nothing on this row separates seed from transplants.
Missouri’s dates, row by row
MU’s comments give days to maturity for its tomato varieties: Better Boy at 70 days, Big Beef at 73 days, Early Girl at 52 days.
| Region | Spring planting | Fall planting |
|---|---|---|
| South Missouri | 4/20–5/10 | — |
| Central Missouri | 5/10–20 | — |
| North Missouri | 5/15–30 | — |
What to know about this source
When a fall crop is possible, a second set of dates is listed under the dates for spring planting. The same table names recommended varieties and calls its list the “cream of the crop”, adding that it does not include all of the good ones.
Varieties MU names
If you want names to look for, the source lists Beefmaster, Better Boy, Big Beef, Early Girl, Jet Star, Pink Girl, Supersweet 100, Carolina Gold, Celebrity, Florida 91, Mountain Fresh Plus, Patio, Red Bounty, and Scarlet Red.
We have not tested any of these, and the page adds no names of its own.
Starting tomatoes indoors
If you raise your own transplants, count backward from the set-out date. UNH’s fact sheet allows 6 to 8 weeks for that stage, and the table lists what the others say.
Tomatoes are the best-covered crop, with six saved sources. Three of them (UNH, NDSU and Montana State) count from the last frost; the University of Minnesota, NC State and the University of Georgia describe their own climates. The shortest figure is 5 weeks and the longest 10, so no single number is right for every garden.
Once the seedlings are ready, UNH says tomatoes are safe to set out 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost, after hardening off.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| University of New Hampshire | 6 to 8 weeks from seed to transplant; 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost is safe to set out |
| North Dakota State University | Sow 6 weeks before the last frost, transplant 2 weeks after it |
| Montana State University | 6 to 10 weeks to transplant size; the planting window opens 1 week before the last frost |
| University of Minnesota | Early April in Minnesota, 5 to 6 weeks indoors |
| NC State | Any transplant: seed 6 to 8 weeks before setting out (central North Carolina calendar) |
| University of Georgia | 6 weeks from seed to transplant size (middle Georgia calendar) |
Frost dates for Missouri cities
These are station dates from weather records, not county averages. Pick the station closest to your garden and elevation, and open its link for the full set of probabilities.
MU Extension, University of Missouri does not say which of its regions each city falls in, so the table does not guess.
| 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
For a gardener near Kansas City International Airport, NOAA’s even-odds frost dates are April 13 in spring and October 24 in fall.
The calendar does not say which region Kansas City International Airport belongs to, so set the date against the rows at each end. South Missouri opens April 20, 7 days after that date; North Missouri opens May 15, 32 days after it.
This is arithmetic on two printed figures, not a forecast: it moves with the year, and your own garden can sit weeks away from the station. Look up the station nearest you in the frost dates tool and repeat the subtraction.
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.
Pencil the printed dates into a calendar, then adjust them after you have watched your own garden for a season.
Sources (9)
- 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
- NDSU Extension Service (North Dakota State University), Time and Temperature Chart, from How to Succeed at Seed Starting, publication h1139, print code 2M-2-99 library.nd.gov
- Montana State University Extension (Amy Grandpre), Can I Grow That Here? Vegetable Seed and Transplant Schedules for Garden or Container, MontGuide MT199308AG, revised November 2018 extension-store.montana.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