You have got me. I don't know of any red short day onion vended by Burpee. They do not list any short day onions at all. If you really do have a short day onion ( Red Candy or Red Hamburger are not short day varieties) a cool summer in a semi shaded area might get you passible onions.

Burpees sells Red Creole and reds in a short day mix. The biggest draw back about growing short day onions north is supposed to be that normally bulbs don't size up properly, but that is said to be worse the farther north you go. Zone 6 around I70 in Ohio is not dramatically north. If it worked for you once, it may very well work for you again. If that happens then whats the old saying? "If it aint broke don't fix it."

As for my experience I have never grown vegetables as far south as any part of zone 6; so take this all with the appropriate grain of salt. To me Zone 6 in Ohio is more mid-south than north. :)

While it very well might work -- which is often the case for breaking gardening rules -- what do you have to gain? Is there some benefit to growing a short day onion? Might as well grow a variety suited for your location to increase your chances of success.

Farmerdill, you should actually go to the Burpee site before saying that. And good point Peter. I just happened to be gifted some red Creole and I really like them so I thought I would take a shot at it. At worst they will be smaller green onion style so why not. Yes olddutch, I am now on the edge if zone six near the Ohio River and I have read it may work here. I know people in Kentucky have success with short day onions. Thanks everyone for your time, I will find out the hard way in my garden soon enough won't I.

Farmerdill is correct. Burpee site does not list any short day onions, red or otherwise.

Yes, red creole is what I have. A search of Burpee can be deceptive, and has caused me miss some of their offerings until I figured it out. If they know your zone, they try to only show you varieties they suggest for your zone and in my opinion they can be strict about it. If you search "all" something or another option rather than the default you will find a lot more. For example, on my first search for red creole, I could not find it. But I knew it was there somewhere so I searched more carefully. Thank you farmerdill for your input. I read some similar stuff but my information was unsubstantiated as they say. Your confirmation helped me out. I am starting from seed indoors very early, like tomorrow and I expect(purely a farmer's unscientific judgement on my part) a mild spring to help me along so wish me luck. If it goes badly I will just have some little red scallions in my kitchen.

Yes, start ASAP as onions need at least 10 weeks from seeding to grow into proper size transplants. In Ohio I would imagine you should be transplanting into the garden no later than April 1 to give enough time for top growth before the day length triggers the short day onions to form bulbs.

Both Bermuda and Red Creole will bulb up north of the traditional short day regions, sometimes quite far north, but they usually will not make the size they would have farther south, nor can they be fall planted in most of the north country; they just are not hardy enough. That also curtails their size, but they will still be sweet and mild onions, just don't plan on full size or long storage. You seem to have already beaten the odds in Ohio. The old saying if it aint broke don't fix it; so if you can repeat you will have a technique to carry forward.

I dont get what the problem is I live in Kentucky zone 6b right across the river from you and shortday onions are all i ve ever grown the red grano is another good short day onion I do find that starting them earlier than suggested is helpful indoors under lights in december works for me

I'm doing it again this year and one thing that was a game changer was to block out the light at the 12 hr mark by putting a dark sheet over the plants. Of course I had to make a frame to hold it up off the plants so I just used sticks from my daughter's yard. Zero dollars.