One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's the best time to plant sweet potatos is to look at the USDA zone info for Key West.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

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

Sweet Potatos do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos in Key West 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 sweet potatos and expect a good harvest is probably November. If you wait any later than that and your sweet potatos may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sweet potatos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Key West it never frosts. You can expect an average low temperature of 45°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Key West and it changes from year to year. Since it never frosts in Key West you do not have to be ready to cover your sweet potatos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Key West

Here is the info for USDA Zone 11b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	Never
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	Never
Lowest Expected Low	45°F
Highest Expected Low	50°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 45°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 50°F.

Plants to Grow in Key West

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Key West.