Ube Harvest Planner
Ube takes 8 to 10 months in the ground, so the month you plant decides the month you sell, and the month you sell decides who else is selling beside you. Pick a planting month and see where you land.
You harvest around
July
the following year
That is outside the main glut.
You come out away from the November to December peak, when fewer growers are selling at once. Published off-season farmgate prices run higher, roughly PHP 80 to 120 per kilo, though an average across a market is never a promise about your own sale.
Planting months that miss the peak
On a 10 month cycle, these planting months bring you out clear of November and December.
Why the calendar decides the price
Ube is harvested by nearly everyone at once. When the November to December peak arrives, supply floods in over a few weeks and the farmgate price falls to its yearly floor. A grower who planted without thinking about the window arrives at the same time as everyone else, holding a perishable tuber, with limited bargaining room.
The counter is not clever timing alone, since weather, land and planting material all constrain when you can plant. It is knowing which window you are aiming at before the setts go in the ground, and arranging a buyer for that window in advance. For what those prices actually look like across the year, see the farmgate price data.
Frequently asked questions
How long does ube take to grow?
Ube runs an 8 to 10 month growing cycle on a climbing vine, followed by a dormancy period before the next planting. That length is why timing matters so much: you commit to a selling window most of a year before you reach it, and you cannot shift harvest much once the crop is in the ground.
When is ube harvest season in the Philippines?
The peak harvest season is November and December. That is when the most ube reaches the market at once, and published farmgate prices for standard cultivars sit at their lowest, roughly PHP 40 to 85 per kilo, against roughly PHP 80 to 120 per kilo in the off-season.
When should I plant ube to get the best price?
Work backwards from the selling window rather than forwards from a convenient planting date. On a 10 month cycle, planting in January or February brings you out around November or December, straight into the glut. Planting later in the year brings you out away from the peak, when fewer growers are selling. Weather, land availability and planting material supply all constrain this, so it is one factor among several rather than a rule.
Does harvesting off-season guarantee a higher price?
No. The published price ranges are averages across a whole market and say nothing about what any individual buyer will pay you on the day. Off-season harvesting also carries its own costs and risks, including weather exposure across a different part of the year. The point of planning the window is to avoid arriving at market with everyone else by accident, not to promise a number.
Know your window. Now line up the buyer.
The worst position in ube is a harvested crop and no buyer. Talk to us before you plant, not after.
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