When to Plant Onions in Duluth, MN

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Duluth should be read to estimate when you can plant onions.


Planting Calendar for Onions

Frost tolerance for onions: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Onions are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant onions in Duluth 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 onions and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your onions may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your 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 is on May 15 in Duluth. You can expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Duluth is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Duluth last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to protect your onions if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Duluth

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-30°F
Highest Expected Low-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Duluth

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