When to Plant Pearl onions in Slidell, LA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Slidell can be reffered to in order to determine when you can plant pearl onions.


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.

You can plant pearl onions slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate 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 Slidell is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 September. Any later than that and your pearl onions may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your pearl onions indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Slidell. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Slidell is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Slidell you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your pearl onions if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Slidell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low20°F
Highest Expected Low25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Slidell

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