Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out 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 USDA zone info for Mentor should be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant sweet potatos.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

Frost tolerance for sweet potatos:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant sweet potatos until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos in Mentor 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. 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 Mentor. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mentor may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Mentor you get surprised by 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 Mentor

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 Low	0°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 Mentor

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