Last edited by shiny on November 08, 2026. View history
Pearl Drop Onion
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- planting
- 0
- harvests
- 1
- seed packet
Pearl drop onion facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For pearl drop onion, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 4°C and a shortest growing cycle of 85 days at its best temperature, about 1233 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your pearl drop onion will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing pearl drop onions
- Sow seeds in trays 8 weeks before planting out
- Dig compost into the bed 1 week before planting out
- Water regularly at planting out every week
- Weed around the plants 2 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
- Feed with a nitrogen fertiliser 4 weeks after planting out every month
- Stop watering as the tops fall over 1 week before first harvest
- Lift the bulbs at first harvest
- Dry the bulbs in an airy place 1 week after first harvest
How members grow pearl drop onions
Sunniness
Planted from
Photos
Photos
Pearl drop onion plantings
Pearl drop onion harvests
Video
Where pearl drop onions grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about pearl drop onions
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Who's planted pearl drop onions
- shiny Vege garden plot 2 · Wellington, NZ
Pearl drop onion harvests
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 85 to 175 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Allium cepa L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Liliidae Asparagales Alliaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | biennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about pearl drop onions
Resources outside Growstuff.
