When to Plant Sweet Potatos in El Cajon, CA

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 first chance to plant sweet potatos in El Cajon should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

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

Since sweet potatos are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer 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 El Cajon is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 September. Any later than that and your sweet potatos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sweet potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

In El Cajon the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for El Cajon is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in El Cajon you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your sweet potatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for El Cajon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in El Cajon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Cajon.