When to Plant Sweet Potato Vine in Chicago, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant sweet potato vine in Chicago should be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Potato Vine

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

Since sweet potato vine do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant sweet potato vine in Chicago 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 potato vine and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet potato vine may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your sweet potato vine indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Chicago. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chicago and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Chicago you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your sweet potato vine in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chicago

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chicago

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