When to Plant Sweet Potatos in Princeton, NJ

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 first opportunity to plant sweet potatos in Princeton can be figured out by referring to 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 has passed.

Since sweet potatos do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer 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 Princeton 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your sweet potatos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Princeton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Princeton is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Princeton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your sweet potatos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Princeton

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 Princeton

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