When to Plant Sweet Potatos in Watseka, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Watseka should be used to figure out when it's the best time to plant sweet potatos.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

Frost tolerance for sweet potatos: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Sweet Potatos are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sweet potatos
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet potatos
Probably not a good time to plant sweet potatos

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos in Watseka is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet potatos and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet potatos may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your sweet potatos indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Watseka. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Watseka and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Watseka last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your sweet potatos in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Watseka

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Watseka

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Watseka.