When to Plant Pearl onions in Red Oak, IA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant pearl onions in Red Oak by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Pearl onions

Frost tolerance for pearl onions: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Pearl onions tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant pearl onions in Red Oak 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 pearl onions and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pearl onions may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pearl onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Red Oak. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Red Oak and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Red Oak it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your pearl onions if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Red Oak

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Red Oak

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Red Oak.