Onion question.....

This picture was taken several days ago. The seed planted was a mixture of several types of long day onion seed which fortunately I had saved from last year. We are still several months away from any outdoor gardening in the north here, but I like to start my seed in February so I can get a decent size for transplanting to the garden. Our temps here are about what you experienced last week. In fact, my wife is in Celina Texas playing granny nanny and she got blamed for bringing all that nasty weather with her. As you can see from the attached picture the seed was planted in a couple of the clear plastic dome covers from COSTCO's roasted chickens. Idea from a DGer which I think I'm going to like.

I placed several orders from reputable seed suppliers for onion seeds last month and both were back ordered. I don't have a clue as to what the problems are. Both Johnnie's and Pine Tree have been pretty good about getting my seed orders filled in the past, but I have had problems with corn seed being back ordered as well. Since most of the onion seeds come from the south I was curious as to whether anyone has heard of any problems. I have about come to the conclusion that hybrids won't be on my list of seed for next year, and I intend to make sure I have plenty of saved seed just in case.

morgan

When the tops of a green onion turn white, the tops are dying back, this is normal, if the roots were established, the tops grow back. I don't harvest green onions at all, the bulb stays planted and i take the green tops with a sharp blade whenever i need an onion, the tops grow back, and I cull again later. Potatoes are more tender, but after all, they grow spuds all year round in Idaho. The snows fall and the sprinklers run in the snow. All of my Thanksgiving bunches of onions I left enuff bulb on at turkey cooking day, let set a day and planted. When the cold freezes back off a bit just go deadhead your green onion tops. :)

So, Kittriana,
Do you ever get full-sized, grown onions from what you plant? I really need to get full-size onion bulbs.

green onions are always green onions, no they don't bulb. Have seen some green Spanish Onions with almost a pearl onion bulb size in Arlington at Thanksgiving, but not here. The bulb onion sets are still growing down in places like Nogales, Az and haven't reached the stores yet, not that I've seen the stock places have in awhile, but the seed to bulb stage should be getting ready to harvest, so it should be soon. Potatoes traditionally go in ground by St Pats day, and bulb onions do too as far north as the Oklahoma red river valley area. I have planted sprouting bulb onions, but cant say i remember harvesting any.

By potatoes you mean sweeties? 'Cause I put down Irish potatoes on Valentine's Day last year. I have them sprouting now and they're almost ready to be cut and sealed...

we planted enough to harvest several bushels, then spread them under a tree, they were just regular seed taters from the feedstore, some reds, some whites. Varieties now are immense, we went for feeding 13 grandkids, 3 families, on the farm, didnt worry abt specialty things. The timing is the dark of the moon in the month of spring, which is when fruits grown underground have the heat and all to grow best in ground, and at that zone. do I make sense?

Uh, yeah. I just have to figure out when "the darl of the moon in the month of spring" is in Houston!

How to tell if you're onions froze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWgSGyj2UCg

Stephanie,

Thanks for the link to the video. That seems to be a pretty definitive answer to the question. I will have to pull one or two and check after the current freeze warms up. I guess Dixondale has been getting a lot of calls about frozen onions!

David

The dark of the moon you are looking for would be Good Friday. Was told a long time ago by a very experienced veggie gardener to plant what produced underground on Good Friday. Easter is set by the moon's phase. This year it is the latest ever, last Sunday in April. Lot's of Winter left.

Stephanie - thanks for the link to Dixondale on U-tube explaining how to tell if onions have frozen.

You're welcome! I saw they had posted the video on FB yesterday and thought it was very timely for some of the folks here.

I've got onion sprouts! The Red Wing are really coming up nice, the Copra seem to be a little later, and the shallots are doing good too.

Congratulations! I need to uncover my onion plants (again). Two freaky freezy weekends in a row...don't know what I'll find underneath...

GGirl, my green onions look happier after the ice than before, and they weren't covered at all, no mulch, nothing. I did set out parsley, and some other herbs today, bulb onions make bigger bulbs after you tromp the tops later anyway. The dark of the moon in any month is normally in the vicinity of the 17th each month. The potatoes you set out on Valentines were planted in the dark of the moon, St Pats Day is in the dark of the moon, Easter is also, but Easter/Good Friday is also an equinox- a promise of super cold weather being finished- the springs official arrival. Time for more cold sensitive plants to increase growing because the sunshine's day length is what they crave. Time for colder weather plants to bolt because they miss the cold...

Kit, thanks for the explanation!

My onions are looking pretty bad. All the tops are brown/white, and there's no real sign of new growth. The roots aren't completely gone, so there may be some hope--but it looks slim. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. I'm giving them extra water, since we haven't had (and aren't expecting) any moisture.

David

how deep did u plant them? and let them get a bit more heat this week. also, are you in sand or clay based type soil- I am in sand, hard for it to hold the ice, whereas clay may hold the cold a bit longer. Let them recover a bit before you go to xtra water, the roots need to reach for their water, not have it drowning them yet...my green onions were looking pale until the ice hit, now they are green and crisping up.

kittriana, you've thrown me for a loop here..
"The dark of the moon in any month is normally in the vicinity of the 17th each month."

News to me. The moon phases are never the same each month; the dark of the moon varies monthly. And Easter is determined by "the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox" so that isn't during the dark of the moon either. Is there a chance someone has misled you, or perhaps misled me all these years? I'd like to study up on your source, please.

David, like kittriana said, I'd give your onions a few days to a week or so to get more heat, then you'll be able to peek and see if there is any green coming on from your bulb/root ball.

Shoe (who worked in 73º weather yesterday, what fun!)

David..........Here is a picture of some of my onions. They look really bad, but I believe they are going to be OK.....Most are upright, and showing a lot of green...I called Dixondale, and they said to fertilize them w/ 21-0-0........I did that this past weekend, and everyday they are looking better.......I think most will make it........The onions, and a few garlic plants are in the long beds to the left...

Beautiful beds, hornstrider. I love the lay-out. That must be a fun place to garden, hang out, and harvest great food!

Shoe

Horseshoe............thanks.....you are correct it is a fun place to hang out.....it's my man-cave.......I can't say that to many of my sports buddies.I would never hear the end of it!!

Hah! Too funny! I suppose you can just tell them you are teaching sports to Ma Nature, often playing a game on the radio; the Tomatoes are Cowboy fans, the Peppers prefer Pittsburgh, cukes love Beach Volleyball (must have something to do with the net?), etc.

Have fun! I'm looking forward to pics of your garden this year.

Best,
Shoe

Well as bad as the Dallas Cowboys were this year I suppose I could have given my sports buddies my tomato's to throw at the players as they were coming off the field after a loss.....I would have been their hero!!

Hah! How true. I hope you watched that game on tv rather than invested in a ticket. But ya gotta admit, that was great down-to-the-minute game, no matter who won.

I guess next year you need to "Plant a row of tomatoes for SuperBowl" for your buds!

Shoe

Your's should be OK.

My onions photoed a few minutes ago. These were purchased from Dixondale and planted in December. They have been watered weekly and fertilized with Ammonium Sulfate every two weeks. The root systems were pretty well established when the two cold spells hit. The second blast seemed to hurt them the worst.

This patch of onions were planted as sets in October. They have been a good source of green onions all winter.

All my multiplying onions (not pictured) faired the cold with flying colors. they were planted last Summer and have multiplied ten fold.

texasrockgarden.......Your onion look great.......yours are green, and upright.....I wish mine looked that good........How cold did it get there??.......It got down to 12 deg two days in a row never getting above 20 deg here.........

Our low was 17 but like you our high was in the mid to low 20's for several days.

TRock,
I like the way you used the cabbages as row markers! KEWL! ^^_^^

Trock, pardon the dumb question, but what are multiplying onions....ten fold???

It looks like most of my onions survived the extended cold snap in Austin. All the previous greenery is gone, and there are a few that look completely gone, but many are already showing strong signs of recovery. I've watered with a liquid, nitrogen-heavy fertilizer as suggested by Dixondale. The photo shows my Texas 1015 onions, garlic, elephant garlic, and a few of the Southern Belle Red onions. The inset photo is a close-up of the recovering onions.

David

I uncovered my EB onions yesterday, and they look like yours, David. What fertilizer are you spraying on yours? I probably need to feed mine, too.

mraider3, check your D-mail

I was right on the borderline when ordering from Dixondale and didn't know which to choose: Intermediate Day or Short Day. So I got a sample pack of both to see which did best. The intermediate day onions are fine but I think many of the short day onion are toast. It looks like 50/50 on the short day, but I'll leave them be to see what happens. The white Bermudas are fine. So I'll have some onions yet. But maybe not so many green I don't think. I planted mine fairly close together to get green onions too, but I think nature did a lot of the thinning out for me.

Or did I get myself confused? I'm not at home to double check. It could be the other way around as far as the toast situation goes. But I think I'm right =8~/.

This message was edited Feb 16, 2011 10:32 AM

Linda,

I'm not making any attempt to be organic, so I just used regular Miracle Gro (24-8-16) in a water can. I soaked along and between the plants. I will probably water again on Friday, but without fertilizer.

David

Thanks, D! I have MG 12-4-8. Your's is twice as strong as mine.

I'm late reading this thread, but thanks for the video, stephanietx -- just pulled a red onion to check one out. I was thrilled to have to give a good pull to get it out of the ground, the roots and bulb had at least doubled in size since planting, and when I dissected it, there was new growth. Yay! I know I am way too excited over an onion, lol, but it's my first time growing them -- and they're growing! Made my morning. I'm using Gymgirl's planting method of planting close together and harvesting young ones as I thin the row.

For the record, I planted a week before we got the first of two freezes. Temps were down around 20 with windchill down to 11 at one point, but my onions are in a fenced corner of the yard so probably had some protection.

Glad for the fertilizer recommendation, dreaves.

David......I think we will be OK. w/ our onions. Last night I saw an onion laying on the ground w/ the bulb exposed, but the roots still firmly in the ground. I brought the onion into the greenhouse, and split it lengthwise, and I noticed green shoots coming up the center of the bulb even though the bulb was exposed. I watched the you tube video stephanietx linked, and according to Dixondale we are in good shape........Thank you stephanietx........good job


Linda, I used 21-0-0 to fertilize my onions as I was instructed by Dixondale to do. Not organic..........but I want my 300 onions to survive...sometimes you have to compromise...

Hornstrider,
I'm not organic either, so I'll do what I need to do, too! ☺