One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 Bay City should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time 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.

It's probably a bad idea to plant sweet potatos until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos in Bay City is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. If you wait any later than that and 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Bay City. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bay City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Bay City there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your sweet potatos in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bay City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Bay City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bay City.