When to Plant Potatos in Imperial, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when to plant potatos in Imperial by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Potatos

Frost tolerance for potatos: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant potatos much earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant potatos in Imperial is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant potatos and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your potatos may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Imperial. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Imperial may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Imperial last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to cover your potatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Imperial

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 Imperial

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