When to Plant Sweet Potatoes
Plant sweet potato slips 3 to 6 weeks after your last frost.
Sweet potatoes at a glance
- Plant
- 3 to 6 weeks after your last frost
- Time to harvest
- 90 to 120 days from planting
- Harvest lasts
- about 8 weeks
- Spacing
- 1 plant per square foot
- Frost
- Tender: frost kills it
Growing sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes love heat: plant the slips in warm, loose, well-drained soil in full sun. The vines spread widely and need little care beyond water in long dry spells, and they smother weeds as they go.
Dates by hardiness zone
Typical dates for each zone; your ZIP code gives your own.
| Zone | Plant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 3a | The season is usually too short here; a fast variety under cover is the best bet. | |
| Zone 3b | Jun 7–28 | Sep 5–25Pick a fast variety. |
| Zone 4a | Jun 2–23 | Aug 31 – Sep 28 |
| Zone 4b | May 29 – Jun 19 | Aug 27 – Oct 1 |
| Zone 5a | May 24 – Jun 14 | Aug 22 – Oct 5 |
| Zone 5b | May 22 – Jun 12 | Aug 20 – Oct 10 |
| Zone 6a | May 20 – Jun 10 | Aug 18 – Oct 13 |
| Zone 6b | May 14 – Jun 4 | Aug 12 – Oct 7 |
| Zone 7a | May 7–28 | Aug 5 – Sep 30 |
| Zone 7b | Apr 26 – May 17 | Jul 25 – Sep 19 |
| Zone 8a | Apr 19 – May 10 | Jul 18 – Sep 12 |
| Zone 8b | Apr 7–28 | Jul 6 – Aug 31 |
| Zone 9a | Mar 23 – Apr 13 | Jun 21 – Aug 16 |
| Zone 9b | Feb 22 – Mar 15 | May 23 – Jul 18 |
| Zone 10a | Feb 15 – Mar 8Nights are still cool before mid-February, so this starts a little later. | May 16 – Jul 11 |
| Zones 10b–11b | Frost is rare here, so sweet potatoes can go in from late winter, and again in late summer for a fall crop. | |
Questions about sweet potatoes
What are sweet potato slips?
Young sprouts grown from a sweet potato. Buy them, or raise your own from a stored root in spring, then plant them out once the soil is warm.
When should I dig sweet potatoes?
Before the soil turns cold, on a dry day. Dig with a fork from well outside the plant, since the skins bruise easily and the roots spread wide.
