When to Plant Sweet Potatos in Freeport, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The first opportunity to plant sweet potatos in Freeport should be estimated by checking out 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 require warm weather you really should wait until after the last frost has passed 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 Freeport 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet potatos may not have a chance to really do well. 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 Freeport. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Freeport is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Freeport last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sweet potatos in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Freeport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Freeport

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