Sweet Potato is an annual grown for its root, ready to pull about 110 days after sowing. It's hardy across USDA zones 3 through 11 and handles dry spells once it's established. Its summer flowers are a modest draw for honeybees, even though the root is the prize.
Sweet Potato — the short answer
Sweet Potato: grown in zones 3–11, full sun, pH 4–8.7, about 110 days to maturity.
- USDA zones
- 3–11
- Manual horticultural correction (source not retained); NC State Extension and Missouri Botanical Garden, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation
- Soil pH
- 4–8.7
- FAO ECOCROP
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Growable Ground Plant Database
- Days to Maturity
- 110 days
- NCSU-Sweet
- Frost-kill temperature
- 41°F
- FAO ECOCROP
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS and university Extension sources — each tile names its own row's source, because per-field provenance varies.
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What Sweet Potato is
Sweet Potato grows as an annual and reaches around a foot at maturity. It blooms purple in summer.
How to grow Sweet Potato
Sweet Potato grows in USDA zones 3 through 11 and is ready to harvest about 110 days after planting. Sweet Potato does best in full sun — at least 6 hours of direct sun a day — and soil from pH 4 to 8.7. It needs around 2,400 growing degree days to mature and a growing season of at least 80 frost-free days, which is why climate matters as much as soil.
USDA Zones
3-11
USDA PHZM 2023
Soil pH
4 - 8.7
FAO ECOCROP
Sun
Full Sun
Growable Ground plant catalog
Drainage
Data pending
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost Kill Temperature
41°F
Where cold starts killing growing tissue. Not a winter-survival floor — a dormant perennial takes far colder, which its hardiness zone answers.
FAO ECOCROP
Minimum Growing Temperature
50°F
Below this it stops growing rather than dies — a pace limit, not a survival limit.
FAO ECOCROP
Days to Maturity
110 days
Sweet potato; from slips/transplants.
NCSU-Sweet
GDD Required
2400+
Growing degree-days of accumulated warmth it needs to mature — humid summers reach this faster than cool coastal ones.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Mature Height
1 ft
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost-Free Days
80+
The frost-free stretch it needs start to finish — short-season areas may need an indoor head start.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Sow directly
Sow sweet potato seed straight into the bed — root crops germinate fast and resent transplanting. Give them full sun.
Match the soil
Sweet Potato prefers pH 4 to 8.7 (FAO ECOCROP). A quick soil test from your local Extension lab tells you whether to add lime or sulfur to land in band.
Water steadily
Keep the root zone evenly moist through establishment. Match watering to the plant's drainage preference and your local rainfall.
Harvest at maturity
Sweet Potato is ready about 110 days after sowing (NCSU-Sweet). Pull while roots are young and tender — sweeter than oversized ones.
Where Sweet Potato thrives
On hardiness alone, sweet potato grows across most of the country — its range (USDA zones 3 through 11) is unusually wide. Zone is only the starting point, though: the soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific land decide how well it actually does.
A USDA zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme winter minimum, so zones 3–11 spans average winter lows from -40°F to 50°F (USDA PHZM 2023). Across the 50 states and DC, that band covers 48 outright and splits 3 more down the middle — and which side of that line your land sits on changes the answer.
Zones 3–11·Where Sweet Potato growsOpen map →
Where Sweet Potato stands, state by state
Sweet Potato is rated for zones 3–11 — a cold floor USDA puts at -40 to -30°F. Across the 50 states and DC, 48 sit fully inside that band, the line runs through 3 more, and 0 sit outside it — and inside every split state, the same line runs on at county grain.
Fully inside zones 3–11
48 states
3 of 48 shown
State zone extents: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023. A zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme minimum temperature, so a state that splits the band contains the boundary — its own page draws the county line, and a parcel report resolves which side your land sits on.
What grows around Sweet Potato
Growing guides for sweet potato
In rotation planning, sweet potato counts as a Other — beds recover best when other crops don’t follow each other in the same spot year over year. (Growable Ground derivation — crop-rotation group from botanical family)
Related plants in vegetable
Good to know
Good news for pet owners — sweet potato isn't known to be toxic to dogs or cats. (Source: ASPCA.)
Sweet Potato offers low value to bees and other pollinators.
Before you harvest sweet potato, know your soil
Anything you grow to eat takes up what's in the ground it grows in, so it's worth knowing what's documented near you before you plant sweet potato for food. Our free screen reads 9 federal source types across roughly 1.8M indexed sites and shows which sit near your address and which way they drain. It's a screening estimate from public records and proximity — not a soil test — so a nearby record means a soil test is worth it, not that your soil is unsafe.
Your land is one point inside Sweet Potato's range
This page resolves to the species. Your state page draws the county line, and a report reads the parcel — the soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost dates on your exact ground, which no species average can see.
See if Sweet Potato will thrive on your land
Zone averages are a start. Your exact soil pH, drainage, sun exposure, and frost dates shape whether sweet potato actually takes — we score it against the real conditions at your address.
Three things about your exact spot that zone averages miss:
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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How we know this about Sweet Potato
The figures above are cited per row, not per site: the pH band names this plant’s own source column, the three temperature figures each carry their own, and days-to-maturity cites the publication that actually lists it. All of it comes from the Growable Ground Plant Database — a compilation over FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources, published openly with per-field provenance.
Grounded inUSDA PLANTS Database•USDA PHZM•ASPCA
Frequently asked questions
Can I grow Sweet Potato in my zone?
Sweet Potato grows in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 11 (USDA PHZM 2023). Zone is one factor — soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific parcel also shape whether it takes.
How long does Sweet Potato take to grow?
Sweet Potato is ready to harvest about 110 days after planting (NCSU-Sweet). Your local frost dates and soil temperature move that window earlier or later.
When should you plant Sweet Potato?
Most growers plant sweet potato after the last spring frost, once the soil has warmed, leaving enough of the season for its 80-day frost-free need. Your local frost dates set the exact window — a Growable Ground report reads them for your address.
How much sun does Sweet Potato need?
Sweet Potato needs full sun — a spot that catches at least 6 hours of direct summer sun a day. In more shade it still grows, but usually gives a smaller, later crop. The catch is that a yard rarely gets even light everywhere — a fence, the house, or one tall tree can quietly take those hours. A Growable Ground report reads the real sun-hours across your land, canopy and buildings included, so you can pick the brightest bed before you plant.
What soil does Sweet Potato need?
Sweet Potato prefers soil pH 4 to 8.7 (FAO ECOCROP). Your report scores your parcel's actual soil against that using USDA SSURGO data.
Does Sweet Potato attract pollinators?
Yes — sweet potato's flowers are a modest nectar source for honeybees.
Is Sweet Potato safe for pets?
Sweet Potato is not known to be toxic to dogs or cats based on available data. Always supervise pets around new plantings. (Source: ASPCA.)