When to Plant Onions in Whitefish, MT

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 Whitefish can be read to determine when it's possible to plant onions.


Planting Calendar for Onions

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

Since onions are very cold tolerant you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year 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 Whitefish 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 onions and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your onions may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your onions indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Whitefish. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Whitefish and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Whitefish you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your onions if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Whitefish

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 Whitefish

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