When to Plant Bunching Onions in Wilmington, NC

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant bunching onions by using the USDA zone info for Wilmington.


Planting Calendar for Bunching Onions

Frost tolerance for bunching onions: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Bunching Onions are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant bunching onions in Wilmington 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 bunching onions and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bunching onions may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your bunching onions indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Wilmington and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmington last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your bunching onions if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)November 15
Lowest Expected Low10°F
Highest Expected Low15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Wilmington

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