When to Plant Pearl onions in Ypsilanti, MI

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 Ypsilanti can be looked at to determine when it's a good idea to 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.

Pearl onions do well in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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 Ypsilanti 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pearl onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ypsilanti. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ypsilanti may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ypsilanti last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your pearl onions in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ypsilanti

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Ypsilanti

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