Sets need light to grow.

You don't need light to sprout anything, but once they sprout, everything will do better with plenty of light. If you don't have a grow light, but just window-light, things will probably be OK for a few weeks.

Sets are planted so shallow that providing "light" isn't an issue to begin with. They are exposed to light from the day of planting. Some few flower seeds are the only thing that are light-dependent for germination.

But most all varieties sold as "sets" are long-day varieties. Have you had any luck in the past growing long-day varieties in zone 8? Most of zone 8 normally requires short-day varieties (except perhaps in the Pacific northwest) to get bulbs of any size so onion plants rather than sets is the way to go.

Dave

Agree with Dave. The sets shouldn't be buried. The top of the set should be about even with the soil level.

Rodney