What to do with onion seedlings????

[HunkieDorie23]

OK, started my onions from seed this year. They are still alive and actually I trimmed them yesterday because they are 6-8 " tall and WOW.

Here is my questions. Do you harden them like everything else (I am guessing YES!) and well how do you harden them? What types of temps can they take.... ? I always buy sets and I actually did buy two sets just incase I killed my seedlings. Checked the weather and here is the forecast.

Tue 57/35
Wed 67/44
Thur 80/47
Fri 80/47
Sat 80/49
Sun 76/43
Mon 65

I am thinking about hardening my tomatoes for crying out loud but anyway. Do I harden them like tomatoes, pepper, cucumber .... What are the lowest temps they can take? If I put them out today around 1:00 for an hour or so, leave them out longer each day, by Sat could I leave them out overnight?

Next question... When can I plant them outside? Planting schedule states for onions 3-4 weeks before last frost. My frost date is May 20, so that would be end of April - 1st week of May. The guy a couple of miles away has his in the ground (planted them over a week ago). I just checked temp here is 32. The big difference between my house and his is elevation. I live in the hills and he is in the valley. How much difference does this make?

 

[vfem]

When I harden off, I've learned a good warm cloudy/semi-cloudy day for the first day, 2 or 3 is best! Full force sun is NOT their friend.

However, if you have too many nice sunny days... do day one in a partially shady spot, protected from wind and such... and only leave them out a few hours. Then add an hour or so by day, and after a few days move them out of the semi shade area.

 

[digitS']

Wow! You've got a BIG warm-up for a last frost date of May 20th!

Are you real confident of that date?

Here are last frost dates for Ohio from the Weather Service

Elevation can certainly make a difference with frost but it isn't always: higher/colder, lower/warmer. One of the coldest backyard gardens that I know of hereabouts belongs to a friend. He lives right in the middle of a valley that is several miles wide. But, there is a tiny hill in that valley - almost, more of a "bump". He lives just north of that hill and his backyard is just a few feet lower than any ground nearby. That, HunkieDorie, could be the definition of a "frost pocket" !

Onion seedlings can certainly take some cold . . . my favorite location to harden-off is on the south side of my house, on the north side of a deciduous tree that leafs-out late in the spring. . . . filtered sunlight . There are even high steps on the west side of this spot to help protect it from wind.

Steve

 

[HunkieDorie23]

Yeah, pretty sure. This is my county seat.

New Lexington May 7 Apr 22 May 22

It list 3 different dates. How does that work because this is a pretty big gap. Anyway I planted very early last year and we did have a cold spell between the 15-20th and I had to cover two nights. But last year was cold. My brother has a farm just out the road and we sat outside last year in sweatshirts and had to start a fire in July. And this was before the sun set.

I don't know if you know anything about Ohio geography but if you notice the farther south/southeast you go the later the dates are. Weird Huh.

 

[ducks4you]

Onions, hardened off, will do okay, because they will sprout even with a late snow. TOMATOES need to be babied--transplant those around Memorial Day.

 

[digitS']

Yeah, pretty sure. This is my county seat.

New Lexington May 7 Apr 22 May 22

It list 3 different dates. How does that work because this is a pretty big gap. Anyway I planted very early last year and we did have a cold spell between the 15-20th and I had to cover two nights. But last year was cold. My brother has a farm just out the road and we sat outside last year in sweatshirts and had to start a fire in July. And this was before the sun set.

I don't know if you know anything about Ohio geography but if you notice the farther south/southeast you go the later the dates are. Weird Huh.

May 7 : 50% confidence of frost-free

Apr 22 : 10% confidence of frost-free

May 22 : 90% confidence of frost-free

It seems late to me for a zone 6 winter but . . . what do I know about Ohio??

(I enjoy covered bridges. There was one at my favorite swimming hole when I was a kid in Oregon. Ohio has all those covered bridges! Perry County's Covered Bridges That's what I know about Ohio )

Steve

 

[HunkieDorie23]

Not as many as we used to but not we are working to save them. At least here in Perry County. Thanks for noticing.

The dates are weird but I didn't make them up. If it were up to me gardening would be like taxes, git 'em in by April 15. Toledo and Bowling Green have early frost free dates then we do here in the SE and they are zone 5.

What I understand from frost dates are that they are not directly correlated to hardiness zones. Hardiness zones are related to the annual minimum temp. and we are usually warmer that Toledo and Cleveland in the winter. 5-10 degress on average but we do have the freaky cold spells in the spring that they are more immuned to. No idea why, as warm as it is going to be this week, Sunday and Monday we were in the 40's. A 20-30 degree temp swing in a matter of days is not unusual in any given week.

Our weather is effected by the Gulf of Mexico and Canada , I didn't make that rule either. Depending on where the jet stream is what our climate is. On a good note, it's never boring.