When to Plant Sweet Potatos in Glen Ellyn, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Glen Ellyn can be looked at to figure out when to plant sweet potatos.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

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

It's a bad idea to plant sweet potatos until after the last frost has passed because they require warm 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 Glen Ellyn 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 fully mature. 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Glen Ellyn. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Glen Ellyn is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Glen Ellyn you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your sweet potatos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Glen Ellyn

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Glen Ellyn

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Glen Ellyn.