How do onions grow?

Now all I've got to do is get some aluminum sulfate. I'll have to look it up but I like having some nitro and such on hand for special needs. I laid in a supply of phosphate last spring but haven't had to open it.

Thank you Ernie. Bulbing onions have always been an exotic crop to me because I've never known anyone around here to try growing them. Until last year, I didn't even know they would grow here. I've already collected an assortment of seeds and will give it my best shot. I hope you get a handful of blue ribbons again next year.

Twiggy I may not even enter . Good luck.

Now someone earlier said it right when they said plant 1/2 inch deep and I need to add 4inches apart for smal types and 6inches apart for the big boys.

Start with plants not sets if you dont want to grow them yourself Dixondale farms is a great place to get onion plants

This message was edited Aug 25, 2009 11:28 PM

eweed

A couple questions for you. On your 6" to 8" clippings - how close to the ground do you clip them?

If you plant Dec 1 and clip until Spring, I assume at some point you remove the seedlings from where ever and plant them out in the garden rows at 4" to 6" spacing. Is this step done when the seedlings are a certain size? Say like 1/8" to 1/4" stem size? Or, at a time in relation to last frost or avg last frost date?

I have a couple varieties of seed and had planned to plant Oct 1, but based on your method I may wait until sometime later.

Jerry

Twiggy,
I forgot to add this. "Yes, it IS a Trinity, Cher, I GUARONTEE!"

Um, just when I think it's safe to say "I understand," I get a curve ball.

Ok. I have OLD onion PLANTS from Dixondale farms. Short day Granex. For the sake of clarification, let's just say they're still viable. WHEN would I plant them for my Zone 9a?
Also, I would be planting them like eweed said in the post explaining his friend's secret, right?

NOW. Onion SEEDS. What is the process for growing from SEEDS? And, when you plant from seeds, you DO end up with BULB onions, right?

Keep in mind, BIG BULB onions is my goal, whether from seeds or plants.

Please forgive my ignorance. I truly, truly, truly want to grow bulb onions, so any step by step on starting from plants and/or seeds is much appreciated.

Linda

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/46F14CF6-CA36-44E4-95B9-6856552C94EC/56100/Pub1980VegetablePlantingGuide2009HIGHRES.pdf

Here is LSU's recommendation for which varieties do well in the Gulf Coast area. I know there's a huge difference between zone 8 on the GC and the PNW.

I made several mistakes last year. I didn't push my seedlings and they were still thread like when I planted them too deep. It's a wonder I got anything at all. I put them out in late Oct and they made a lot of growth over the winter. I was expecting them to finish about the same time as the potatoes but they kept going until June. It really is confusing for me because the GA Vidalias are harvested in April.

Gymgirl I'm just muddling along here. Onion seed is EASY. Get one of those deep meat trays or something similar and put lots of holes in it. Soak it and plant the seeds. They'll be up in just a few days. Try not to sow too thick and cover lightly with fine soil. Use some of your rich compost or use some water soluble fert. I like to bottom water things. That's my plan. It looks like onions are heavy feeders so put it to 'em once they're up.

Thanks, Twiggybuds!
By "push" you mean feeding and fertilizing to encourage robust, BIG ONION growth?

Ya'll getting my drift here about growing BIG BULB ONIONS? ^_^^_^

Twiggy most onions have a 270 day mature date.

Jerry I grow in 4 or 6 inch pots when I trim I trim to about four inches of plant and give them more fish and kelp fertilizer and yes they are 1/8 to a shy 1/4 when I plant them out which is in late April. But Remember I am in a lot different grow zone that you are. What works for me may not be right for you.

Thanks eweed. Your description of what you do really helps me understand the process. I know that I will have to get the timing down through experience, but your 270 days may be a good indicator as to when I can plant my seeds and when to expect harvest.

It looks like it takes your seedlings about 5 months before they are ready to transplant and another four months to grow out after being transplanted in the garden. I am thinking you probably grow what's called a long day variety.

One planting guide for Central Texas that I have read suggest planting onion seed from the first week in October thru the third week in January. The guide also suggest setting out transplants from January 1 thru the end of March.

After looking at Dixondale and thinking about the short day variety for my area, the bulbing process starts when the days are 10-12 hours long. From that point it takes 110 days (just shy of four months) for the bulb to mature. On Jan 1 the Length of Day for my area is 10 h 14 min and on March 16 it is 12 hrs long. So in theory I should be able to plant transplants any time after Jan 1.

I am curious to know if warming daytime temperatures play a part in the bulbing process. I didn't notice any mention of temperature on the Dixondale website.

Now the only area where I am still a little unclear on is how large the transplants need to be when they go into the bulbing stage.

I should probably plant some seeds in small pots on Oct 15 and some more on Nov 15 and just go from there.

Thanks for this great thread, Y'all.

Jerry

I've tagged this thread for future ref. Surely don't want to lose eweed's "secrets".

Gymgirl those multiplying onions you are growing are supposed to be dug before they flower and then dried. You take some to use and you save some to plant again. My uncle had a bed of them going for more than 20 years. He'd empty the bed, work in some goodies and turn it a few times trying to sprout all the weed seeds and then plant again in the fall. You can also use them over the winter for green onions. At this late stage, I think I'd just feed them and see what I had next year when they first start sending up flower stalks.

Jerry my tiny little nothing plants went in in late Oct and the tops grew huge before the days lengthened. I couldn't tell about the bulbing part because they were planted way too deep for my finger to reach. They also had long roots when I dug them. This leads me to think that they take the winter to settle in and get ready to hit it when the days lengthen.

270 days? That's about as long as it takes to grow a human. :o)

Twiggy,
My multipliers ARE making green onions, now so I should just keep using them until they start sending up another round of flower stalks in the Spring?

That's what I'd do. My aunt was big on green onions and would just take what she needed anytime she wanted. After you dig and dry them next summer, separate the bulbs like you would a garlic clove. Each one will make a new clump/bunch. I just love green onions in every kind of salad. It'll be a luxury for you to have them so much of the year.

I'm jumping on this thread kinda late, but onions are my favorite thing to grow. This is my harvest from this year.

Donna

Obviously you've got it figured out Donna. Those are beautiful. I think I love growing onions because of just what your photo shows. They're not plagued by insects and they last without canning, freezing or drying. I use one almost every day, year round, so they represent a lot of value. Plus I read somewhere that the commercial farmers use a lot of herbicide and fungicide on them which I'd rather avoid. I love the colors and different shapes. You did good.

NOW THAS' WHAT AHM TALKIN' 'BOUT!!!!!

Donna, send detailed notes, please.

Dmail me if you don't want to appear redundant on this thread!

Thank you Twiggybuds. I do love my onions and exactly for the reasons that you have stated above. The other reason is that you can't buy these types of onions in the store. It almost hurts me to have to eat a store bought one. Mine only store until mid April.

Gymgirl, I will Dmail you as soon as I can. Tomatoes on the stove right now. I will talk at you soon.

Thank you again for the kind words.

Donna

TRock,
I think I'm on the same schedule as you are. Do you have seeds? Where'd you get them?

Also, I've seen where they do well in raised beds, but can you grow onions in a large container?

I have from Trade Winds Fruit the following bunching onions:

Crimson Forest
Red Beard
Evergreen

And from BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED the following onions:

Red Creole
Jaune Paille Des Vertus

And of once onion plants hit the nurseries I'll just have to buy some of those too.

"but can you grow onions in a large container? " BocoBob grew beautiful onions that were big as softballs in 5-gal grow bags and coir, remember. Do a search for onions over on the Self-contained Box Gardens Discussion Forum where Joy, BocoBob and Tplant hang out a lot.

Jerry

This message was edited Aug 27, 2009 4:42 PM

Thanks TRock!

Gymgirl, you have Dmail.

Ok, ya'll, I knew this would happen. I finally got all the instructions straight, and can't find an onion plant in America. Oh, no. But the UK? They've got onions coming out the wazoo! But, I don't have British pounds!

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh.

Um, there's a guy named Jon Schultz in Houston, Texas, who grew about 1 million baseball (or larger) sized onions last season. His picture is on the Dixondale Farms success stories photo catalog. If ya'll know him, tell him I need about 30 short-day onion plants...

Duh...

Gymgirl, FYI, I just ordered these http://henryfields.com/onion-texas-grano-1015y-/p/12192/

The way I am beginning to understand onion growing in my area is that we plant seed in October and plants beginning in January - February time frame.

Here is what our Aggies have to say about it:

http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/onions/oniongro.html

The article sort of brings together everything I've read on Dave's forum.

Jerry

Edited: It looks like we can plant seeds soon just for play or order plants in January from Dixondale. I am going to play a little this year and plant seeds in October. Come January depending on how my seedlings look I may buy plants from Dixondale.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2009 12:04 PM

Thanks for that tamu link Jerry. It explains the hows and whys very well.

Excellent article Jerry. Thanks for posting! It's good to know I still have time to sow onion seeds, which I will do as soon as I locate some!