Hi I have a nice bed planted with onions, I have noticed that a couple of them are getting a bud in the top, I would imagine this is the flower no? my question is they have not started to bulb just yet so does this mean that the ones with the buds wont bulb at all, should I just pinch the bud off so the plant produces a bulb?
onion question.
I found 2 of those buds this week and pinched them off. I don't know if that will stop the urge or not. I would use them for green onions if I knew they weren't going to do anything.
Mine are growing beautiful tops with just a few starting to swell. There will be a ring for each leaf so lots of leaves equates to lots of potential for size. I also read that it's important to keep them well fed from now on. Last year it was sometime in June when I took up my onions so they have plenty of time left.
Carmen, I recently posted this on another thread... Did some research the first time my onions got buds on them;o)
Flowering of onions is usually due to temperature fluctuation. An onion is a biennial which means it normally takes 2 years to go from seed to seed. Temperature is the controlling factor in this process. If an onion plant is exposed to alternating cold and warm temperatures resulting in the onion plant going dormant, resuming growth, going dormant and then resuming growth again, the onion bulbs prematurely flower (bolt). The onion thinks it has completed two growth cycles or years of growth in its biennial life cycle so it finalizes the cycle by blooming. Once the onion plant has bolted there is nothing you can do. The onion bulbs will be edible but smaller. Use these onions as soon as possible because they will not store well.
Thanks Twiggy mine have not bulbed yet but have nice tops as well, sometimes I wonder if they will ever bulb up. Thanks about the feeding part, I did give them a little worm compost tea but that was a while back.
Thanks kelly I am wondering will they bulb at all, the ones with the buds on them?
Well now that I pinched off those buds, I don't think I could very easily find those plants again. If I see anymore I'll just pull them up and use them as they are. I want a peek at their bottoms anyway. Thanks kelly.
In September 2008 I planted some scallions named Ishikuro that is touted as lasting a very long time without bolting. I had 3 left in a pot and just never did anything with them. A while back I noticed they'd divided and each has one or 2 new plants beside the old ones. Now the old ones have open blooms. I figured out that they were 19 months old and had survived 2 winters when the bloom buds appeared. Not bad. They're hybrid so probably won't come true but I'm going to let them go to seed and plant some of those in September just because. I really prefer the old fashioned kind with normal skinny tops. These have big fat tops as big around as my thumb.
After we harvested all we wanted for green onions we always stepped them over before they bolted, that seemed to prevent flowering. They then developed a bulb which we dried out and braided to hang in the cellar. I still do the same but don't have a cellar, so I keep them in a cool, dark place in an onion bag and check for bad ones if I get any out. The ones we do this with don't get much bigger than a golf ball but seem to store OK. Most of my favorite onions are shipped from the SE. Ric
OK, question: It's "That Time of Year", grocery store onions are starting to grow. I have, a few times, cut the edible bits off the sides, leaving a wedge or a ?? shape from the root bottom part all the way to the top. They grow, and I use them gor scallions.
The store right now has 3 pound bags of really small onions, on sale chop chop all day to get one serving. Does anyone have any idea if these would grow bigger, or are they just runts?
Melissa
They probably onion sets to plant, If you put them in a furrow 2-3's deep you'll get green onions with nice long white parts. If you place them upright 3's or so apart, barely covered, they should bulb. How large depends on the variety. Ric
O.K I am wondering, I planted my onion bed Jan 15th, the tops are growing great and I do see a few bubing up, but my question is how long should they take to bulb up completely. The ones that I am growing I bought at Lowes and are supposed to be Georgia sweet onions plus a few onions from Twiggy as well.
Also does the bulb part grow on top of the soil or can it also grow a little bellow the soil line? I was going around the onion with my finger a little bit and the small bulbs are a little below the soil line, but I know when I planted the onions I did not place them too deep.
Twiggy if you get a chance can you post a picture of yours so I can compare it and see if mine are growing at a regular rate.
Were the onions you got from Lowes small dry onions, or were they plants? I think the dry sets are usually "long-day" onions. If so, they start bulbing when the daylight hits 14-16 hours. In the south, we don't get days that long, so the plants never make large bulbs. If you bought plants, then they may be "short-day" that require 12-14 hours daylight and should do fine in Mobile. The "Vidalia" Granex type sweet onions take anywhere from 90 to 120 days to mature. The tops should start wilting and browning when the bulbs are as big as they can get.
David
Thanks David, I bought mine as plant sets, they are supposed to be short day onions. I only found a few that had a little bulb but the rest are just straight, so I was just wondering how long it would take. I had 2 so far that had little buds on them so for what I understand this ones will not get very big at all. So far no brown parts yet so I guess they still have a ways to go.
I got this today in an email newsletter from Dixondale:
Anyone who has ever had a serious vegetable garden has encountered bolting -- that is, the tendency of a plant to send up a flower or seed stalk well before it should, usually in response to environmental stress. Once this occurs, development usually stops, and the bolted onions will not store well.
Bolting in Alliums
Bolting can be a problem with onions, leeks, and related species, and generally occurs in response to cold weather stress. Sustained temperatures of less than 45º F may result in bolting with as few as five leaves present. If the temperature falls below 50º F for two weeks or more, mature plants with 7-10 leaves will bolt. A cold, wet spring followed by a hot summer can also result in bolting.
Critical Periods
The transplants you receive from Dixondale Farms usually have four leaves; the fifth will appear out of the center of the onion about four weeks after transplanting. Larger transplants tend to be more susceptible to bolting, since they reach this critical period sooner.
Besides planting time, onions and leeks also face a critical period about two months later, as the plant sends out more leaves. Cool weather during either of these periods may trick your plants into thinking they've gone through the two growing seasons necessary for them to completely mature. The result is the premature development of a seed stalk.
How to Avoid Bolting
There are several things you can try to avoid bolting. First of all, match the proper onion variety with your growing region, particularly in terms of day-length. Next, do your best to plant your onion plants at the proper time. You can't control the weather, but your plants are least likely to bolt if you get them in at the right time. Be careful not to over-fertilize, too, because overly vigorous growth may result in bolting. So can soil that is too loose; if the plant thinks the ground has been disturbed, it may respond by trying to spread its seed.
Dealing With Plants That Have Bolted
The development of flower stalks and seeds supersedes bulb development in onions and leeks, so the bulb simply isn't going to develop any further. You might as well pull it up and enjoy it while you can. You can't store bolted bulbs, either, because the seed stalk exits the top of the bulb, weakening it and leaving a place where infection can set in.
We hope this helps you with the bolting issue. Be careful with your planting date, onion type, soil and fertilizers, and pull and eat any onions or leeks as soon as they bolt. If you have any questions on the subject that we haven't covered here, don't hesitate to ask!
Thanks Steph. This is only my second year growing bulbing onions and I still have a lot to learn. I received my order from Dixondale around Jan 14 and planted them over the following 3 weeks. It looks like they all survived. While the cold winter caused a lot of things to bolt, I've only found 3 of my onions bolting....so far. They're looking good.