Walking Onion Storage

I've had walking or potato onions for 4 years and never paid much attention to them other than to give them away to friends and neighbors. Now they take up a huge part of garden I want for flowers.
I am harvesting the bulb in the ground and using for shallots. But my question is how can I keep/store all the babies that were on the tips? Is it too early to dry and store in the basement? In the refrigerator for awhile? I must have at least 200 "starts" and don't want to waste them or plant them again. I can't believe the price when you buy them online. Suggestions?

I wouldn't store them in the fridge if you want to plant them, better to store them dry at moderate temps.

Your pic shows "walking' onions, or topsets/Egyptian onions; "potato onions" are a bit different, by the way.

If you have a place to plant them now you can do that as well, not holding them over in storage.

Shoe

Shoe ~ thanks for breaking the ice on this post. I had read this and wasn't sure what to respond from the comment

Mornin', Pod...

Yep, I agree, the topsets are good for pickling, or putting in with other pickled foods. If you smash them with the flat side of a knife you can pull what little skins off easily for throwing in a stir-fry, too.

I used to grow potato onions and loved those though. Those are the ones that multiply under ground and produce a bit bigger onions. Unfortunately I have no more stock and don't like the prices of them online. Yikes! If you come across some you should jump on them.

Shoe

We inherited these when we bought our place. What a headache they became! They kept getting cultivated in spring and spread like wild onions. We spent years sitting on the ground for hours and finger hoeing them out a few square feet at a time. Every time I found even a single bulbil I pitched it over the mountainside or put it in a bucket for disposal. This is the first year we've not had them. Then I saw the price on line and now I'm going over the area where they were heaviest in hopes of finding those little dried up devils and start a patch again. I can't believe it is possible we eliminated them all. lol

Maithyme, maybe pot them up for now in a big pot if you don't want to plant them out. I think they need to be two years old before they are large enough to bloom. I wouldn't advise refrigerating them either. It might mess up their natural growth and dormancy schedule.

Ummmm..... aren't the potato onions the same as the multiplier onion? I am growing them. They aren't a big onion, maybe marble size. I plant them in Sept/Oct and they grow all winter. The greens can be used thru the growing season. When the tops die down, the clumps of bulbs can be dug and divided.

I usually leave them in an established bed. This year I am building a permanent Hugelkulture bed for them so dug them all. They are beginning to sprout and if you would like a start of them, I will be glad to accomodate. Just dmail me.

I got my start at an old feed store years ago. This year, a gardener out of Houston sent me some more. He said his was an heirloom called a gumbo onion. Got 15 of those growing already and will be interested to see if they are the same or different from mine.

Podster, the "potato" onion could easily be called a "multiplier" but the ones I grew would get much bigger than a marble. The bigger the onion you start with the bigger the plant would grow and produce more smaller onions or produce fewer bigger onions. I would average 6 to 10 onions per plant and each being about the size of a golf ball or so.

I wonder if that is what you have and you need to give them a little more phosphorus to get some bigger onions. Then again, maybe yours is a different variety/type.

Keep us posted on what the gumbo onions do, I'm interested.
Shoe

Shoe ~ I am sure you are correct. The soil was depleted which is another reason to do a new bed as I needed to improve it anyway.

It is my intention to replant only the larger ones in order to improve the size in that manner.

This is the crop waiting on the new bed.

This is a clump that was dug, measuring about a foot across.

I love that second picture, Pod. To me that's beauteous!

I believe I'd pickle those little onions, in a red wine/balsamic vinegar mix. (By the way, Laurel, the wines you recommend made my recipe come out great!)

And yes, Pod, composted manure will give you some goodness to your soil as will ground phosphate rock for onions. I have beds needing the same amendments, too.

Shoe

Thanks as always for the education. Hope you find the onions you are in search of... pod

Very kind offer Podster. Those are beautiful. What I grew formed bitty things, even smaller than what you're showing and they were growing in rich garden soil. Maybe it's about variety as well as soil. I'll DM.

Shoe, glad the wine recommends worked out for the pickling project. Now you'll have to post the recipe. (She's tapping her foot here)

Laurel ~ I changed onions in the middle of this forum I am afraid. These were a multiplier or potato onion not the Egyptian walking onion. Just wanting to make sure you followed that...

Podster, I noted that. It's the Egytian onions that drove me nutz. If I get some going again they'll go outside the garden proper. I'd very much like to try potato onions though.

Good, I just wanted to make sure.
I'll share if you want a start of these... just dmail me.

Wow, what was the topic again? Thanks alot for the information, I learned a bunch. First don't believe everything you read on the internet i.e. walking is known as potato, egypyian, winter etc.

Next by "wasting" I meant eating vs sharing. I had these onions years ago, eradicated them and then a few years ago asked for a start from an old farmer and they've been multiplying steadily since with no managmt. I think they are a neat plant to watch grow and are heirloom, I like heirloom. I'd like to get the bulbets to someone who would appreciate them.
Sell? Many DGers have this plant. I am having a plant sale this fall and will find homes for some. Last sale I gave people the shovel and said take as many as you want.

I looked up multiplier onion and the seed head looks alot like garlic chives. Walking and potato do have a similar growth habit in that you can eat the stems of both as they are growing. I think I'll keep my babies in an onion bag, sell what I can at the sale, dig a new plot at the lake and plant them and then we'll see. I hate peeling those newbies, boiling bath or side of knife. But I won't squander them either. Anybody want some?

Thanks for the offer, Maithyme. I spotted a few green onion hairs in the back garden today. If they are able to sprout despite a month with no rain I think I'm still going to be walking like an Egyptian. :>) Now when I catch them I'll move them to a spot outside the garden proper. Looks like you've got a good harvest there.

Yes, they are prolific aren't they? We're currently eating shallots which will control future plants and I've harvested most bulbets now. When I moving things in the fall the existing bed will be moved to a more advantageous place in the garden. They are in the middle now and in the way of future plans. The former veggie garden is probably 20% veggie and 80 flower, but it's a big enough area I can squeeze more perennial flowers in and still leave room for onions. Thanks for replying, I thought I was the only one that gardened on my butt. The last time I did that a baby rabbit came close enough to touch my glove with his nose before he scampered away. So cute. By then our plants were so big he couldn't hurt and I started leaving water for him during the dry spells.--he probably never drank it. So I figure this year's bunny is next year's nemisis but that's okay. Have a good weekend.

I've enjoyed the thread.

Yes, it's given information that made me decide what to do. Thanks to all for input.