When to Plant Pearl onions in Steilacoom, WA

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 Steilacoom can be read to figure out when you can 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 ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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 Steilacoom 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. Any later than that and your pearl onions may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pearl onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Steilacoom the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Steilacoom and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Steilacoom last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your pearl onions in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Steilacoom

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)November 15
Lowest Expected Low15°F
Highest Expected Low20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Steilacoom

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