One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant pearl onions in Pontiac should be estimated by looking at 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 do ok in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pearl onions in Pontiac 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pearl onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Pontiac. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Pontiac is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Pontiac there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your pearl onions if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pontiac

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Pontiac

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Pontiac.