When to Plant Sweet Potatos in Carbondale, 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.

You will be able to estimate when to plant sweet potatos by checking out the USDA zone info for Carbondale.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

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

You should not plant sweet potatos until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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 Carbondale 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 grow to maturity. Starting your sweet potatos indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Carbondale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Carbondale is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Carbondale you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your sweet potatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carbondale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Carbondale

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