Florida · zones 8b–11a
When to plant zucchini in Florida.
Sow between Feb 10 to May 26 in a typical year, keyed to Florida's median last frost around Feb 3. A second, fall sowing fits Aug 31 to Sep 19. Dates below are state medians; your ZIP code shifts them by days to weeks.
The 2026 windows
Zucchini dates for a typical Florida season.
Direct sow
Feb 10 to May 26
Keyed to the ~Feb 3 last frost. Sow 1" deep, 24" apart.
Fall round
Aug 31 to Sep 19
Counted back from the ~Dec 15 first frost.
Harvest
~50 days later
~8 lb per plant over ~5 weeks.
Florida spans more than one climate: Zone 9 is the most common zone, but the state runs 8b to 11a. That's why the planner works from your ZIP code's frost dates, not your zone: mountain and coastal gardens in the same state can be three weeks apart.
Florida growing notes
A worm that never freezes out is Florida summer squash's real limit.
Pickleworm doesn't take a winter off
Pickleworm is a tropical caterpillar pest that cannot survive a hard freeze, which is exactly why it barely troubles summer squash in most of the country but builds into a serious, near-constant threat across Florida, where winters rarely get cold enough to knock the population back to zero. The larvae bore directly into the fruit itself, leaving a small entry hole plugged with greenish frass, and a squash that looks perfect from the outside can be hollowed out and ruined inside by the time it is picked.
Scout young fruit every few days for that telltale frass plug near the blossom end, and pick squash a little smaller and more often than usual, since larger, older fruit gives the caterpillar more time and more material to tunnel through before you get to it. Once a fruit shows entry damage, it is not salvageable; the best defense is removing ripe fruit from the vine before the worm has a chance to get established in it.
This crop runs on the cool shoulders, not the middle of summer
Zucchini bears heavily and fast, usually within about 50 days of sowing, which makes it tempting to plant right through a Florida summer, but summer heat here does double duty against this crop: it stresses the plant directly and it is also the exact stretch when pickleworm populations build to their highest numbers. Planting in the cooler shoulders on either side of that peak, rather than through the middle of it, dodges the overlap far better than a mid-summer sowing does.
Direct-sow a full inch deep either time, and expect the fall-planted round to often outperform a summer one on fruit quality alone, simply because it finishes its productive window before pickleworm pressure has built to its worst. Squash bugs and cucumber beetles, the other pests shown here, are real problems too, but neither does the specific fruit-boring damage that makes pickleworm the crop's defining Florida threat.
Squash vine borer is a lesser worry here than up north
Squash vine borer, a moth larva that tunnels into the base of the stem rather than the fruit, gets treated as the headline summer squash pest in a lot of general gardening advice, but it is simply not the pest doing most of the damage in a Florida planting. Check ten plants at the soil line each week alongside the fruit check above, and on most Florida plantings you will turn up pickleworm's frass-plugged fruit long before you find a borer's sawdust pile at a stem base. That does not mean ignore it entirely: a wilting vine with a small hole and sawdust-like frass near the soil line is still worth a look.
If borer damage does show up, slit the stem carefully with a knife, remove the larva by hand, and mound moist soil over the wound so the vine can root again above the damaged section. Between the two threats, though, a Florida gardener gets more practical return from watching the fruit for pickleworm entry holes than from watching the stem base for borer damage, simply because pickleworm is the pest actually doing the damage most seasons.
In Florida: watch for
The pests that find zucchini here.
With about 315 frost-free days, squash, summer spends longer in the ground here than in most of the country, which widens the window in which squash bugs can find it. Scout weekly from midseason and act on the first signs.
Gray shield bugs; leaves wilt and get crispy patches.
Organic fix: Lay a board out overnight and collect them at dawn; scrape bronze egg clusters off leaf undersides.
Sudden wilt with sawdust-like frass at the stem base.
Organic fix: Cover young plants; slit the stem to remove the grub, or inject Bt.
Yellow striped or spotted beetles chewing leaves and blossoms.
Organic fix: Row cover until the first female flowers open, then hand-pick.
White powder coating the leaves late in the season.
Organic fix: Space for airflow, water the soil rather than the leaves, use resistant varieties.
Your season math: Florida gives zucchini about 315 frost-free days, and it needs roughly 50 days to a first harvest. That fits about 9 re-sown rounds across the season, so you can keep it coming instead of picking once.
Planting zucchini in Florida: questions
When should I plant zucchini in Florida?+
In a typical Florida year, sow zucchini between Feb 10 to May 26, keyed to the state's median last frost around Feb 3. There's also a fall window: Aug 31 to Sep 19. Your exact dates shift with your ZIP code and microclimate.
What USDA zone is Florida?+
Florida spans zones 8b–11a, mostly zone 9. But frost dates, not zones, set planting time. The free planner uses your ZIP code's actual frost dates.
How many zucchini plants do I need?+
Depends who you're feeding. The crop page has exact counts per household size, or the free planner does the math for your family in about 60 seconds.