When to Plant Potatoes: Dates by Frost, Soil and Zone

Seed potatoes go into the ground during the 3 weeks leading up to your median last spring frost, on the first day the soil 4 inches (10 cm) down holds 45°F (7°C) or warmer. Aim for 50°F (10°C) if you can wait for it. Shoots take 2 to 3 weeks to break the surface, so they usually appear around or just after the median last frost, when a light frost is still possible. The tops shrug off a light frost; a hard freeze kills them back.

Your frost date sets the week and a soil thermometer sets the day. In the cool Pacific Northwest and California's interior valleys, soil warmth rather than frost decides the date, and in Texas, Georgia and California a second crop can go in during summer.

Potato planting dates by city

In Zones 4 to 8 and in Houston, each spring window opens 3 weeks before the city's median last spring frost and closes on that date. Seattle and Sacramento follow their regional calendars instead. In the fall column, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston count back about 110 days from the median first frost. Atlanta uses the North Georgia dates, Sacramento the interior-valley dates, and the other cities plant in spring only.

Frost dates are medians from NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for each city's main weather station; in half of years the last frost falls later than the date shown. Zones are from the 2023 USDA map.

For any other town in Zones 3 to 8, or a Zone 9 town in Texas, find your median last frost date and count back 3 weeks to open the window; the frost date itself closes it. For a fall crop in Texas, count back about 110 days from your median first fall frost. Georgia and California use regional fall dates instead, covered in the fall section below.

Seattle and Sacramento show why the thermometer outranks the calendar. Their median last frosts fall in early March and early February, yet Washington potatoes go in about mid-April, and Sacramento and the rest of California's interior valleys plant in February and March.

Planting months by region

Potato planting runs from December in the low desert to May near the Canadian border.

Typical extension-recommended windows; your soil temperature picks the day.

The Intermountain West splits the window. Utah plants 2 to 3 weeks before the last frost, and only into soil of at least 50°F (10°C). Colorado plants later, from 2 weeks before the frost date up to the date itself, once soil reaches 45°F (7°C). In Maine, a 50°F (10°C) soil reading is the signal rather than a calendar date.

In Zone 10 South Florida and the low desert, potatoes are a winter crop. South Florida plants from October to January, and the crop comes out before spring heat shuts down tuber growth.

How to tell the soil is ready

The soil is ready when it reads at least 45°F (7°C) 4 inches (10 cm) down at 8 a.m. 50°F (10°C) is better still, in ground that is moist but not waterlogged.

Take the reading in the early morning so a sunny afternoon does not flatter the number, and repeat it over a few days before you commit. Temperature is only half the test. Seed pieces sitting in cold, saturated soil languish for weeks and often rot before they emerge.

If the thermometer says yes but the bed is still sodden from snowmelt or spring rain, wait. A week's delay costs far less than replanting rotted seed. Heavy, slow-draining ground is a good candidate for a raised bed, where you can control the soil mix from the start.

Choosing and preparing seed potatoes

Start from certified seed potatoes, cut the larger tubers into blocky pieces that each carry an eye, and let the cut faces heal before planting.

Certified seed is grown to be free of disease and is not treated to stay dormant, so it sprouts on schedule. Supermarket potatoes often carry a sprout inhibitor, which is why they make poor seed.

Keep seed cool, around 38–40°F (3–4°C), until about 2 weeks before planting, then bring it up to room temperature. Start green sprouting (chitting) at the same time if you like: lay whole tubers in a single layer in bright light at about 70°F (21°C) with high humidity. Plant once the sprouts are short, green and under 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. Sprouts like these come up faster and start tubers sooner than unsprouted seed, which counts most where the season is short.

Cutting and healing

Each piece should weigh 1.5 to 2 ounces (43–57 g), about the size of a medium hen's egg, and carry at least one healthy eye, though two or three is safer. A 6-ounce (170 g) tuber yields about four pieces, and 1 pound (0.45 kg) of seed gives 9 or 10. Plant tubers under 2 inches (5 cm) across whole. Budget 8 to 12 pounds (3.6–5.4 kg) of seed for each 100 feet (30 m) of row.

Let the cut pieces heal somewhere airy at 60–70°F (16–21°C). Recommended healing times run from 1 to 3 days at room temperature to 5 or 6 days. Give the longer end when your soil is cool and damp, because a sealed cut resists rot. If planting is delayed after cutting, hold the pieces at 55–60°F (13–16°C).

How deep and how far apart to plant potatoes

Bury seed pieces 3 to 5 inches (7.5–13 cm) deep and 10 to 12 inches (25–30 cm) apart. Leave 30 to 36 inches (75–90 cm) between rows and hill the stems as they grow.

Choose a sunny bed that has gone 3 to 4 years without tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or tomatillos, because diseases that build up in the soil under those crops also attack potatoes.

1. Open a furrow. Make it deep enough that the seed ends up under that much soil once you backfill.
2. Space the seed pieces. Lay them cut side down at that spacing. Close the gap to 8 to 10 inches (20–25 cm) for small new potatoes, and give large bakers more room.
3. Cover and wait for shoots. Backfill and expect shoots in 2 to 3 weeks. Seed buried deeper than about 5 inches (13 cm) in spring emerges slowly and is more prone to disease and decay; save 5 to 6 inches (13–15 cm) for later plantings in warm soil.
4. Hill at 6 to 8 inches. When stems reach 6 to 8 inches (15–20 cm), draw soil up around them, leaving about the top 4 inches (10 cm) of leaves in the light. New tubers form above the seed piece, so this layer is where the crop grows.
5. Hill two or three more times. Repeat every 2 to 3 weeks until the ridge stands 6 to 12 inches (15–30 cm) high. Any tuber that pushes into daylight turns green and bitter.

Straw or pine needles can stand in for soil. Cover the seed with 1 to 2 inches (2.5–5 cm) of soil, then build up a thick mulch layer as the plants grow so the tubers form under it.

Early, midseason and late varieties

Maturity class decides when you dig, and early varieties stretch the planting window because they finish before heat or a short season catches them.

Full-size tubers of every class take about 90 to 120 days.

In the Southeast, thinner-skinned Yukon Gold, Kennebec and Red Pontiac are the dependable choices, and Texas gardens lean on Dark Red Norland and Red LaSoda. Early types are the safer bet wherever spring turns hot fast, because tubers must size up before the soil warms past the point where they stop forming.

In the North, a late variety such as German Butterball makes use of the whole frost-free season, while an early variety is the one to reach for when planting runs late.

Fall potatoes in Texas, Georgia and California

Fall potatoes go in between mid-July and late August in Texas, Georgia and California's interior valleys, and from June to August on the California south coast.

In Texas, plant about 110 days before your median first fall frost, which puts planting in mid-August across most of the state. The count gives early to mid-August around Dallas-Fort Worth and mid- to late August around Houston, where the first frost comes about 2 weeks later.

Use small whole tubers about 1.5 inches (4 cm) across rather than cut pieces, which rot in hot soil. Seed is easier to find in spring, so many gardeners buy extra then and keep it cool over summer. Fall seed may still be in its rest period, so hold it warm and damp for 2 weeks before planting; it should carry small sprouts when it goes in.

Middle Georgia, the belt from Columbus through Macon to Augusta, plants fall potatoes from August 1 to 15, and South Georgia can plant somewhat later. North of that belt, including Atlanta, plant about 2 weeks earlier, in mid- to late July. California's interior valleys, including Sacramento, plant in August and the south coast from June to August. North Carolina grows potatoes as a spring crop only, pest and disease pressure makes fall potatoes a poor bet in South Carolina, and around Seattle potatoes go in once, in mid-April.

Dig the fall crop before a severe frost, since frozen tubers will not keep.

What happens if you plant too early or too late

Too early, the seed stalls or rots in cold, wet soil and emerged shoots can freeze. Too late, the plants meet soil above 80°F (27°C), which suppresses tuber formation.

Early planting shows up as gaps in the row where pieces rotted before they emerged. Late planting shows up at harvest: soil near 90°F (32°C) halts tuber set, and what does form is small and misshapen.

If a frost hits after the shoots are up

Potatoes are half-hardy, and seed 3 to 5 inches (7.5–13 cm) down is well insulated before it emerges. Emerged shoots tolerate a light frost, which may leave dead, crinkled leaves, but a hard frost or freeze kills the tops and sets the plant back. A plant frozen to the ground recovers only if its seed piece is sound, so well-healed seed planted into soil that drains is the best insurance.

Harvest, storage and safety

Dig new potatoes 6 to 8 weeks after planting, around the time the first flowers open, and leave storage potatoes in the ground for 2 weeks after the vines die so their skins set.

For keepers, cure freshly dug tubers in the dark at 55–65°F (13–18°C) for 10 days to 3 weeks, then store them dark at 38–45°F (3–7°C). Keep them away from apples and pears, which give off ethylene that pushes potatoes to sprout.

An early crop clears the row by midsummer, leaving space for a later sowing; check vegetable planting dates and when to plant garlic for what can follow. To put your potato window on a schedule with the rest of the garden, add it to Sow's garden calendar.