Gardeners who follow planting by the moon sort the month by the Moon’s four quarters and by the zodiac sign it is in. In November 2026 the new Moon arrives on November 9 and the Beaver Moon on November 24, with traditional windows for leafy, fruiting and root crops in between. The Moon’s effect on crops is not proven, so everything here is almanac tradition. For the previous month, see October 2026.
November 2026 at a glance
The month starts with the Last Quarter Moon on November 1 at 3:28 p.m. ET, and the full Moon, the Beaver Moon in Gemini, falls on November 24 at 9:53 a.m. ET. According to almanac tradition, the planting windows run in this order:
- Leafy crops (first quarter): November 9 (Moon in Scorpio), November 13-14 (Moon in Capricorn)
- Fruiting crops (second quarter): November 18-19 (Moon in Pisces), November 22-23 (Moon in Taurus)
- Root crops, bulbs, perennials (third quarter): November 26-27 (Moon in Cancer)
This is a tradition, not a forecast. The frost calendar and soil conditions of your own area come first. If you follow the Moon at all, it only picks among days that your local calendar already allows.
The order of the windows follows the Moon itself. The new Moon on November 9 at 2:02 a.m. ET opens the first quarter, the one the tradition gives to leafy crops. The first quarter Moon on November 17 at 6:47 a.m. ET opens the second, the fruiting quarter. The full Moon on November 24 opens the third, the quarter for roots, bulbs and perennials. So the month moves through all three groups in a single pass, with root crops last.
The windows are short because two conditions have to line up. Many days inside a quarter fall under signs that the convention labels barren. November 10 to 12 (Sagittarius) and November 15 to 16 (Aquarius) sit in the first quarter, yet neither sign carries a fruitful or semi-fruitful label. The same goes for Aries on November 20 and 21, and for Gemini, Leo and Virgo after the full Moon.
The days before the new Moon belong to the fourth quarter, which the almanac treats as a rest period for weeding, pruning, turning the soil and composting. At noon ET, November 2 through November 8 all fall in that quarter. The month closes on November 30 with the Moon entering Virgo at 9:12 a.m. ET, 56% lit and waning.
What to plant in November
Almanac tradition sorts crops by the part of the plant you harvest, and each group gets its own quarter of the Moon. The lists below are the tradition’s own examples, not a suggestion of what to sow this month:
- Leafy crops that bear above ground: lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, celery
- Above-ground crops that bear seed inside the fruit: tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, corn
- Root crops, bulbs and perennials: potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, beets
Whether any of these can go in the ground in November depends on your state, and often on the part of your state. A gardener in the Gulf South and one in the northern Plains are working from very different calendars. For planting seasons, use the state planting guides rather than this page. Check them before you look at a single Moon date.
The crop-by-crop pages in the Planting by the Moon guide explain how the tradition treats each plant. The same logic applies to all of them. Find the quarter assigned to the crop type, then look for days when the Moon sits in a sign the convention labels fruitful or semi-fruitful.
The fourth quarter works differently. Gardeners who plant by the Moon treat it as a pause. The tradition assigns no crop group to it and gives it over to maintenance tasks, which is why the first week of November carries no planting window at all in the lists above.
That leaves a simple order of operations. Start with your state’s planting calendar and your local frost dates. Then, if the Moon calendar interests you, check which of the windows below land inside the weeks your local calendar already allows.
Moon phases in November 2026
Four phases mark the month. The tradition counts each quarter from one phase to the next, so these times are the boundaries for the windows later on this page.
| Phase | Date and time (ET) |
|---|---|
| Last Quarter | November 1, 3:28 p.m. ET |
| New Moon | November 9, 2:02 a.m. ET |
| First Quarter | November 17, 6:47 a.m. ET |
| Full Moon | November 24, 9:53 a.m. ET |
The full Moon of the month is the Beaver Moon, a name in Old Farmer’s Almanac usage. It peaks on November 24 at 9:53 a.m. ET, with the Moon in Gemini. The Moon had entered Gemini at 6:09 a.m. ET that morning, a few hours before the peak. At noon ET the same day it reads 100% lit, and by the next noon it has dropped to 98% and is waning.
Other months of the year are laid out in planting by the moon 2026.
Traditional planting days in November 2026
The rule behind the table
The almanac rule has two conditions. The Moon must be in the quarter the tradition assigns to the crop type, and it must be in a sign that this convention labels fruitful or semi-fruitful. A day that meets both is a traditional day for that type.
This convention labels Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces fruitful. It labels Taurus, Libra and Capricorn semi-fruitful. The other six signs are labeled barren, though almanac sources differ on Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius.
| Crop type | Quarter assigned by the tradition | Days | Moon sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leafy crops | First quarter (new Moon to first quarter) | November 9, November 13-14 | Scorpio (November 9), Capricorn (November 13-14) |
| Fruiting crops | Second quarter (first quarter to full Moon) | November 18-19, November 22-23 | Pisces (November 18-19), Taurus (November 22-23) |
| Root crops, bulbs, perennials | Third quarter (full Moon to last quarter) | November 26-27 | Cancer |
Every crop type has at least one window this month, so nothing is marked “none this month.”
Reading the days at noon ET
Each day in the table is read at noon ET. The Moon changes sign during the day, so the first or last day of a window can be only partly inside it by the clock. November 9 is the clearest case. The new Moon arrives at 2:02 a.m. ET, which starts the first quarter, and Scorpio gives way to Sagittarius at 3:35 a.m. ET on November 10. The leafy window on that date therefore stretches from the early morning of November 9 to the early morning of November 10.
The same applies at the other windows. The Moon enters Capricorn at 3:27 p.m. ET on November 12 and leaves it at 4:24 a.m. ET on November 15. It enters Pisces at 4:19 p.m. ET on November 17 and leaves at 12:52 a.m. ET on November 20. The next section lists every change with its time, so you can check the edges of each window.
The two gaps between the leafy windows and the two between the fruiting ones are not oversights. Sagittarius and Aquarius fall in the first quarter, and Aries falls in the second, so the convention’s labels leave those days out. Libra, which this convention labels semi-fruitful, is also left out of the table. It governs November 5 to 7, but those days belong to the fourth quarter, the rest period.
Moon sign changes in November 2026
The Moon moves through all twelve signs in a little under a month and passes into a thirteenth, a second Leo and then a second Virgo, before the calendar turns. The table gives the fourteen changes of the month in Eastern time. It includes the tradition’s label for each sign and the biodynamic day type from the Maria Thun calendar, a separate system.
| Date and time (ET) | Moon enters | Convention label | Biodynamic day |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 1, 12:18 a.m. | Leo | Barren | Fruit day |
| November 3, 3:27 a.m. | Virgo | Barren | Root day |
| November 5, 9:38 a.m. | Libra | Semi-fruitful | Flower day |
| November 7, 5:39 p.m. | Scorpio | Fruitful | Leaf day |
| November 10, 3:35 a.m. | Sagittarius | Barren | Fruit day |
| November 12, 3:27 p.m. | Capricorn | Semi-fruitful | Root day |
| November 15, 4:24 a.m. | Aquarius | Barren | Flower day |
| November 17, 4:19 p.m. | Pisces | Fruitful | Leaf day |
| November 20, 12:52 a.m. | Aries | Barren | Fruit day |
| November 22, 5:09 a.m. | Taurus | Semi-fruitful | Root day |
| November 24, 6:09 a.m. | Gemini | Barren | Flower day |
| November 26, 5:51 a.m. | Cancer | Fruitful | Leaf day |
| November 28, 6:20 a.m. | Leo | Barren | Fruit day |
| November 30, 9:12 a.m. | Virgo | Barren | Root day |
The signs here are tropical zodiac signs, which is what almanac calendars use. The fruitful and barren labels are the common convention of moon-sign gardening almanacs, and sources disagree on Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius. The planting windows on this page use only that convention plus the quarter rule.
The biodynamic column follows a different logic. In that system, root days are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, flower days are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, leaf days are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, and fruit days are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. It is listed here for readers who use a biodynamic calendar. It does not change the windows above.
Day by day: phase and Moon sign
Every reading below is taken at noon ET. Quarter numbers follow the tradition, where 1 runs from new Moon to first quarter, 2 to the full Moon, 3 to the last quarter, and 4 to the next new Moon.
| Date | Moon sign | Quarter | Percent lit | Waxing or waning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 1 | Leo | 3 | 52% | Waning |
| November 2 | Leo | 4 | 41% | Waning |
| November 3 | Virgo | 4 | 30% | Waning |
| November 4 | Virgo | 4 | 21% | Waning |
| November 5 | Libra | 4 | 13% | Waning |
| November 6 | Libra | 4 | 7% | Waning |
| November 7 | Libra | 4 | 3% | Waning |
| November 8 | Scorpio | 4 | 1% | Waning |
| November 9 | Scorpio | 1 | 0% | Waxing |
| November 10 | Sagittarius | 1 | 2% | Waxing |
| November 11 | Sagittarius | 1 | 6% | Waxing |
| November 12 | Sagittarius | 1 | 11% | Waxing |
| November 13 | Capricorn | 1 | 17% | Waxing |
| November 14 | Capricorn | 1 | 25% | Waxing |
| November 15 | Aquarius | 1 | 33% | Waxing |
| November 16 | Aquarius | 1 | 43% | Waxing |
| November 17 | Aquarius | 2 | 52% | Waxing |
| November 18 | Pisces | 2 | 62% | Waxing |
| November 19 | Pisces | 2 | 72% | Waxing |
| November 20 | Aries | 2 | 81% | Waxing |
| November 21 | Aries | 2 | 89% | Waxing |
| November 22 | Taurus | 2 | 95% | Waxing |
| November 23 | Taurus | 2 | 99% | Waxing |
| November 24 | Gemini | 3 | 100% | Waning |
| November 25 | Gemini | 3 | 98% | Waning |
| November 26 | Cancer | 3 | 93% | Waning |
| November 27 | Cancer | 3 | 86% | Waning |
| November 28 | Leo | 3 | 77% | Waning |
| November 29 | Leo | 3 | 67% | Waning |
| November 30 | Virgo | 3 | 56% | Waning |
A noon reading and a phase time can look out of step. The Last Quarter arrives at 3:28 p.m. ET on November 1, so noon that day still counts as quarter 3 at 52% lit, and the fourth quarter begins on November 2. The same happens at the other end, where November 9 reads 0% lit and quarter 1 because the new Moon came at 2:02 a.m. ET.
Pairing this table with the windows above takes one step. Find a date in the table, check that its quarter and sign match a crop type in the windows table, and use the sign change times to see where in the day the Moon crosses over.
Questions about November 2026
When is the full Moon in November 2026?
The full Moon, called the Beaver Moon, falls on November 24, 2026, at 9:53 a.m. ET, with the Moon in Gemini.
When is the new Moon in November 2026?
The new Moon arrives on November 9, 2026, at 2:02 a.m. ET, with the Moon in Scorpio.
Which days are the Traditional Days for root crops?
According to almanac tradition, the root crop, bulb and perennial window is November 26-27, in the third quarter with the Moon in Cancer. The Moon enters Cancer at 5:51 a.m. ET on November 26 and enters Leo at 6:20 a.m. ET on November 28. Your state’s planting calendar still decides whether any of those days is open for the crop you have in mind.