Growing Onions from Seed

Thanks to 'Shoe posting a comment about his lunch that included Candy Onions with balasamic vinegar which piqued my interest, I now have some Candy Onion seeds. ^_^

I'm in Zone 9, Phoenix AZ and would like to know if direct sow is best or start indoors first? When? etc etc. I checked the Dixondale Farms site but they only talk about plants that have already been started.

Thanks for any insight.
Mary

MaryMcP,
There's a great tutorial by the Bayou Gardener on growing onions from seeds. Google him and you can view him growing from seeds.

I've wanted to grow full-size onions forever, and last season I did just that with Dixondale's Sampler packet. In the scheme of things, and from what I've read, I decided that growing from seeds is a precarious proposition, at best, so I opted to go with the starter plants.

I set mine on January 8 this year, and they were fully grown by July 8th. I kept them in place in the Earthboxes longer than I intended, just harvesting them all around the last week of July. But, they've cured nicely, and I am very happy with my success.

I have since learned I can actually start my onion plants much earlier. In fact, I believer Horseshoe or Farmerdill advised they actually grow better over the cold of winter. So, I'm about to place my order with Dixondale, and will plant the sets as early as soon as they get here, or at least by the first/second week of fall (which is only 6 weeks away!!!!!!!)

Hope this helps.

Here's a pic of my onions in the Earthboxes.

Linda

Nice Linda! Thanks for the info, I'll check out Bayou Gardener.

I think Dixondale is sold out for 2011............sorry. That's what their website said this morning when I checked.

OH, NO!!!!!!!!!!

Mary,
I just called and placed my order for delivery so I can plant out October 31st. They aren't sold out. Call them at this number, and tell Bruce I sent you!

Dixondale Farms: 877-367-1015

Hugs!

This message was edited Aug 10, 2011 12:05 PM

This message was edited Aug 10, 2011 12:06 PM

Ahhhh, I love knowing people with power! Thanks Linda.

>>"I'm in Zone 9, Phoenix AZ and would like to know if direct sow is best or start indoors first? When? etc etc."

Mary, I'd think in your area you can do either right now. If your soil temp isn't overly hot you'd get fairly good germination direct sowing. If it's extremely hot your best bet would be to start the seeds in flats or a tub or something. Either way sow the seeds about a quarter inch deep, keep moist. Once they get up and going you'll do best trimming the tops down to about an inch high until you set out your transplants.

No sense throwing away those seeds, they seldom retain their viability more than a year or so and you'd get terrible germination putting it off. You can always sow seeds and also order from Dixondale as well. As for me, I put sets out in the fall, set plants in late winter, and use seeds for bunching onion types.

Shoe (off to slice some Candy onions onto a delish tomato sammich!)

UberShoe!

Please explain, "put sets out in the fall, set plants in late winter, and use seeds for bunching onion types..."

Those terms have ALWAYS confused me. Which is why I just went with putting the starter plants out...

Linda

This message was edited Aug 10, 2011 12:39 PM

Onion growing varies with your location.
I plant Dixondale plants in mid April. We just finished harvesting Walla-Walla & Super Star onions.
Not far from here, they raise onions for commercial sales. They have peat ground. Onions are seeded in April. In the fall they are machine harvested & hauled to a warehouse. They are sorted & sent all over the country. These are the yellow onions your find in the stores year around. They store well & are very strong flavored.
Onions we raise are sweet.

A restaurant in Mankato is buying my Walla-Walla's to use as fried onion rings. He makes his own batter & is it ever yummy!

Candy onions left, Super Stars on the right.

Lookin' good ! Now THAT'S a lotta onions.

Great harvest, Bernie...

Folks, I only grow about 800-1000 onion plants per year. Bernie (Country Gardens) and son plant five times that much (if I remember correctly) and do all the planting by hand, each plant set one by one. It makes my back hurt just thinking about it. That's a great amount of work but the pay-off is a wonderful harvest like Bernie has posted. Great going, I'd say!

Mary, yep, your 100 degree soil temp is too high. Best seed germination will be between 50-75º. I'd start them inside a garage or AC back room.

Linda, "Please explain, "put sets out in the fall, set plants in late winter, and use seeds for bunching onion types..."

"Sets" are onion bulbs (about the size of marbles are best); plants are what you get from Dixondale; seeds are seeds and the "bunching onions" I mentioned are those types that tend to only grow top growth and don't bulb up, mainly used for scallions/green onions/table onions.

Shoe

Shoe,
What's the difference between the set bulbs and the Dixondale plants I get?

Plants are just that, plants. Green tops with a root system.
Sets are bulbs only, no top growth, no roots. Consider them "dormant".

Don't they sell sets down your way?

Shoe

I learned about growing onions here on Dave's. Everyone said to get plants from Dixondale Farms...

Never looked elsewheres. Now that I kind of understand, I might look closer to home.

We actually had nine cases of onion plants. 30 bunches of 60 per case.
To good of crop, may have to ship them world wide. LOL!
We started pulling the Super Star when they were still small & sold them as green onions. Then did the same with Red Candy & Walla-Walla.
This picture was from June 25.

Nice harvest Bernie!

Hiya Linda - long time no see... You know how it is in the Phoenix summer - we tend to hibernate and plan for fall. Mary, lemme know on the sets or what you're gonna do and I'm in. Always up for a new adventure. Like I said on the SW thread I had all but given up on growing them - lol.

Off to the vet (the dogs, not me) then to work...

I purchased two bunches of yellow "Candy" onions from Dixondale this year and only one died. I'm planning to freeze the extras. Even the very smallest ones produced good sized onions.

After filling the bed I had set aside for them, I had some tiny ones left over, so I set them along the edge of the melon bed, and even though they were smothered by the melons' leaves, they produced well.

Onions and garlic are very easy to grow.

as part of the freebie seed set I got from DG, someone donated "Red of Florence" onions, but the packet was marked 'year grown' as 2008. they're seeds. will the seeds germinate?

It doesn't hurt to try, but if there's low probability of germination, I'll get some onion sets from somewhere....

SFC

Kelly,
So goooooooood to see yah! Come join the fall/winter garden discussion for the Zone 8-9a growers over here!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1184654/

SFC - When I lived in South Florida, I couldn't get onions to bulb. There was no internet back then, so it was years later before I learned that onions are sensitive to day length. Because you live so close to the equator, if memory serves me correctly, your day length doesn't get to be longer than eleven hours. You might check on that, 'cause it's been many moons since I lived in zone 10B!

You'll need to be sure you purchase onions that will grow at your latitude - I'm sure there are onions that will - I just didn't know about them when I lived in your area.

I don't know the answer to your question. My attempt at growing onions from seed has always been a complete failure! Having said that: I'm going to try again this fall!

Bee,
I like that, "I'm gonna try again" attitude!

Gymgirl - Thanks :)

I've always had a "I can do anything" attitude and darned if I'm going to let little black seeds say I can't. LOL

It will be "Australian Brown Onion" this time! Maybe something from down-under will be more successful.

Hmm.... I wonder if Australians dislike that expression.

AttaGirl! Will you germinate them first or direct sow? Which did you try and fail at last time?

Thanks for all the good info folks.

Thanks for the link Linda - just getting back from vacation and crazy busy at work I have been lax at visiting with you guys. I'll try and catch up though there is really nothing spectacular to report right now - lol.

Shoe what benifit is there in keeping your onion starts trimmed to 1 inch? I have trimmed mine to between 4 to 6 inches forever.Granted at 6 inches they are a bit wispy but don't they need to be that long for growth? Obviously not. Perhaps they grow even stockier. I wonder if Dixondale trims theirs LOL.

MaryMcP -

I had never even considered starting the seeds indoors under lights, and transplanting them out! they'd STILL be onion plants, right? I'd still get full sized onions from these starter plants, right?

DUH!!!!!

Ernie, nice looking onion rows (but where's the weeds that are supposed to be in everyone's garden?) *grin

Regarding "trim an inch high"...That's an old Rodale Institute tip for getting stocky tops as well as generous root growth. Like you I haven't always followed it to a T, sometimes not even trimming at all.

Shoe (who still has Candy onions that need digging up. Back to work....)

Gymgirl - I never considered that I could NOT start them indoors under lights. Now I'm wondering if it's possible...

Yes, I assume I'll get full-sized onions from the seeds ---- eventually LOL

I plan to order Candy onion sets from Dixondale just incase the seeds fail.

Here's the link to the bayou gardener planting onions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7S05OQZJBU

Ok, then, since I'm in the seed sowing process right now, I'll plan on sowing those onion seeds I bought last year.

Regarding trimming the tops, I did so out of necessity last season. They were planted so close to the edges in my EBs, they were leaning over, and they were top-heavy with leaves. So, I was advised to go ahead and give 'em a haircut. Not only did they look ready for Sunday church, they stopped flopping all over the place (at least for a minute).

So, I should keep them them trimmed back to an inch as a regular practice?

Here they are after a buzz cut.

I was at Country Gardens a couple of weeks ago (there is a thread in Market Growers) and wow, did he have beautiful onions!
I sow my onion seeds(candy and others) in a row in the garden then trim and transplant to their final growing spot. I start my seeds in October. If it is too hot I put them in damp sand in the fridge for a few days before planting.

Forgot to add, if it is hot I also shade the row with shade cloth or remay when I sow the seeds.

This message was edited Aug 12, 2011 1:55 PM

If the area where I'm planting has 85+ soil temperature I prep them with the damp sand in the fridge method. I sometimes rinse the sand off the seeds before planting (to make it easier to space the seeds, sometimes the sand makes them clumpy). I was having trouble germinating onions and other veggies that like the soil a bit cooler so came up with the fridge method. Now I get almost 100% germination. Don't leave them in the fridge too long, you don't want them to start growing because they are fragile and might break the new growth. (also radishes will bolt if prepped for more than a day or two)
I make a row in the seed bed (4 x 34 raised bed with a hoop over it with 30% shade), sow the onions in rows, thickly planted. When the seedlings are at least 4 inches tall and less than 8 I cut the tops half off, dig up the onions (they look just like the little onions you get in bundles), separate the seedlings and plant on 4 x 4 spacing in a new bed. I have also been in a hurry and planted some without cutting the tops. They really wilted and took longer to start new growth, plus they were a pain to handle.
In this photo, the seedbed is the hoop with shade cloth, second section, to the right of the tomatoes. The "pup tent" looking white covers are over pearl onions and carrots.

Gymgirl - I'm so glad you asked the questions. I needed the same answers. LOL

Calalily - thanks for the info. I'm going to save your suggestions for my own onion seed experiment.