When to Plant Potatos in La Crosse, WI

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when to plant potatos is to check out the USDA zone info for La Crosse.


Planting Calendar for Potatos

Frost tolerance for potatos: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Potatos can survive in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant potatos
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant potatos
Probably not a good time to plant potatos

The earliest that you can plant potatos in La Crosse 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 potatos and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your potatos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in La Crosse. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for La Crosse is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in La Crosse it frosts late in the year after May 15 so always be ready to protect your potatos in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Crosse

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in La Crosse

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Crosse.