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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Rochester you will be able to figure out when you can plant tree onions.

Planting Calendar for Tree onions

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

You can plant tree onions slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rochester. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rochester it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your tree onions if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rochester

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