FALL GROWING GUIDE · REGION V
When to plant
peppers
in Rio Grande Valley.
Peppers need time to establish before shorter autumn days. The fall reference date is for setting out transplants, not an instruction to start seed outdoors that day.
AVERAGE FALL PLANTING DATE
August 1
Transplant · Frost sensitive
LAST OPTIMUM DATE
September 1
Separate guidance from source Table 2.
The source recommends transplants for tomatoes and peppers. This outdoor reference is not an indoor seed-starting date. A recurring regional reference from the 2014 Extension guide. This is not a forecast or a guaranteed growing window.
What this means for your garden.
The far southern tip of Texas, including McAllen on the source map, is Region V. This is the latest fall schedule in the five-region guide, with some sowings extending to mid-December.
For peppers, the regional reference is August 1, with September 1 listed separately as the last optimum date. Dates that look late compared with northern gardens are intentional in this regional table. Check the source region before importing advice from a different climate.
Your next three steps
- Choose the right start.
Use the packet or transplant label to compare maturity times. Choosing a plant with a long route to harvest may be a poor fit late in the season.
- Give the plant a good first week.
Check young plants frequently after transplanting. Inspect soil moisture before adding water; a hot afternoon alone does not tell you how wet the root zone is.
- Keep a record you can use next season.
Save your planned date, then change it to the day you actually plant. Record completion in My Garden; the reference calendar stays separate from your own history.
WHY LOCATION MATTERS
One crop. Five different calendars.
How the same crop’s average date compares with Rio Grande Valley.
Texas PanhandleJune 161 days earlierWest TexasJune 1547 days earlierCentral & East TexasJuly 131 days earlierCoastal South TexasJuly 1517 days earlierSource, scope & a little context.
Table 1 supplies average fall planting dates. Table 2 supplies last optimum dates only for the crops it lists. Figure 1 defines the five historical gardening regions; these are not current USDA hardiness zones.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension · Fall Vegetable Gardening Guide (EHT-056) ↗Dates: Table 1, p. 2; last optimum date: Table 2, p. 3. Region: Figure 1, p. 3. Source checked 2026-09-28. Editorial care notes are general planning advice; your county Extension office can refine them.
Read our methodology →Separate each growing stage.
- Start seed indoors. Start early enough to raise a transplant before the locally recommended outdoor planting window. Indoor sowing and outdoor planting are separate dates.
- Harden off and transplant. Acclimate seedlings gradually. Set plants outside only when local frost risk, night temperatures and soil conditions suit this crop.
- Plan a fall crop separately. Check a local fall schedule and the variety’s maturity time. A spring start date is not a fall planting recommendation.
These are general growing stages, not local planting dates. Minnesota calendar dates are not transferred to other regions. Read the Extension growing-stage guide ↗
Rio Grande Valley in context
