Vegetable / Cool season
American Purple Top Rutabaga
Fall storage beds where roots can size in cool weather.
Sweet, dense yellow roots for roasting and storage.
Seed spacing and maturity
- Days to maturity
- 90
- Germination temperature
- 45-85F
- Seed depth
- 0.5 inches
- Spacing
- 8 inches
- Row spacing
- 18 inches
- Start method
- Direct sow
Frost-date timing
- Direct sow
- 28 days before last frost
- Fall planting
- 12 weeks before first frost
Action plan
- Can I plant this now?
- Use your local last-frost, first-frost, and soil-temperature checks before treating this crop as plantable today.
- Start indoors or direct sow?
- Direct sow into the final bed when the soil temperature, seed depth, and moisture are ready.
- How much space?
- 8 inches in-row spacing, 18 inches between rows, and 0.5 inch seed depth.
- Best companions?
- Use crop-family rotation first, then pair with compatible timing, spacing, and canopy size rather than relying on a simple companion chart.
- Common failure modes?
- Thin promptly; crowded rutabagas stay small and misshapen. Even moisture supports smooth, mild roots. Deep, fertile, well-drained soil without fresh manure.
Is it still worth sowing this year?
Two of the 5 regions this site covers publish a rutabaga planting window, so the answer for this variety is already dated. The covered regions are Texas, North Florida, Central Maryland, New York City and York County, PA; no other region is covered yet.
- Is it too late to sow American Purple Top Rutabaga in Central Maryland this year? UMD Extension lists rutabaga for Central Maryland; the page measures that window against this variety's 90 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- Check American Purple Top Rutabaga against the New York City first frost date Cornell CCE lists rutabaga for the New York City area; the page measures that window against this variety's 90 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Even moisture supports smooth, mild roots.
- Soil
- Deep, fertile, well-drained soil without fresh manure.
- Watch
- Thin promptly; crowded rutabagas stay small and misshapen.
- root-crop
- brassica
- storage
- cool-season
Browse context
- Vegetable Catalog Category collection
- Mustard Family Rotation and family context
- Cool Season Seeds Season collection
- Direct Sow Seeds Start-method collection
- Fall-Planting Seeds Practical trait collection
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Source: CSU vegetable planting guide