Ordered my Onion Plants!!

Linda, I kind of thought that was the timing of the harvest. I was wondering about curing & storing them.

How do you cure them - following the direction at Dixondale: http://www.dixondalefarms.com/onionguide. Or do you use some other method?

What about storing them? I don't have a garage, so I was thinking about storing them in my closet.

Or I may skip the whole curing/storage thing & chop & freeze them all.

Jo-Ann

Jo-Ann,
No fancy curing here. They got picked and laid out on some newspaper for a quick minute, til I figured out how I was gonna keep em through the Fires of Texas Hell!

I drilled holes all over a huge clear plastic bowl, and carefully stacked the onions. They sat on my clothes dryer through the sweltering summer. It was the best I could do.

Maybe bring them inside in a closet like you said this next season.

Linda

This message was edited Jan 4, 2013 10:46 PM

We set up an old screen door between two sawhorses under our carport and laid them out. Then, because some of them would get hit by a bit of sun, I covered them with an old dark cotton sheet and tucked the ends under the door. Worked well for the onions and the garlic. For storage, you can get pantyhose and cut off the legs. Slip an onion in, tie off the top, slip another onion in, tie off the top. Repeat until you have just enough to make a loop at the open end. Hang those from a nail. This keeps them from rotting. I have visions of installing some wooden pieces in the ceiling close to the wall to hang my onions from.

Great idea, Stephanie.

Stephanie, I kind of thought of that. Since I have a large covered carport, I thought about hanging something from the ceiling - an old screen door would be perfect! Maybe on some sort of pulley system so that I can raise & lower them. The panty hole is a great idea! I'm glad you didn't day "old" panty hose, since I don't think I own a singe pair of hose anymore. Well, the dollar store has a lot of them pretty cheap!
Jo-Ann

I got my Dixondale order yesterday! If it ever stops raining, I'll get them in the groung this weekend.

Same here. My planting days for root crop are today and tomorrow.
The fog this morning is like everyday in the fall and winter in Italy, near Venice.
The car there have yellow lights to help with the fog.

Same here! Unfortunately, my Dixondale onions have dried out, since I've had them for two months. But, the onions I started from seeds are gorgeous, and ready for transplanting.

I'll save what I can from the Dixondale batch.

I planted all my onions today from Dixondale.
As soon as I got out it started to rain ... which we really need it here ... but not when I am planting ... anyway I kept working and I got soaked wet !

This is my second year of onion planting.
I think I did a big mistake last year and planted too deep. Most of my onions did well, but some were small ...
This year I follow the instructions and planted 1" deep.
I planted them kind of close, because I like to pull the small onions to use as a green onions in my cooking.
So I pull the one in the middle, letting the one around getting bigger.

I hope you have a frost cover for them. It's supposed to be down in the 20s the next several nights.

Wont hurt onions to be that cold if they arent too dried or too mushy before they are planted. especially if the dayz warmup above 38*.

Yes, bad onions we don't harvest will continue to grow the next year, even with 20 or 30 below zero temps here. One onion in the corner of the field has lived 5 years now. Been plowed up, sprayed with numerous things, it just won't die.

Umm. do runnin onionss count as bulbs, chuckl? I kinda count on mine to survive no matter what. Bulbs arent quite as tough as the running ones tho thry are close.

stephanietx
what? do I need to cover the baby onions?
Tonight it is supposed to go down to 24F ...

Since they don't have an established root system yet, I'd cover them just to be on the safe side.

Drthor,
Make some sort of tent over them and throw a couple old sheets over them.

They should be fine.

My first time, I made a cardboard tent over mine, with a sheet over that. It got down to 28°, and they didn't blink.

Mostly the protection I put up in winter is against the wind, which, as you know, can do more damage than the cold sometimes.

Thanks

IN THE RAIN???

WOW!!! Really nice!

Mine are shipping today. In the past couple of years I've planted out my onions on New Years Days. But this year Dixondale said my onions would be ready to ship until today. No matter. I'll plant this weekend if they get here in time. Fingers crossed.

Too wet and cold over the weekend for me to get outside, after being sick for 5 days last week. Didn't want to chance a relapse...

Drthor,
What kinda onions did you get from Dixondale? They sure look fat already!

This is the first time I am ordering onions. So I don't have a clue of the varieties I did order, apart that they are "short-day" or "intermediate day" varieties.
Texas Legend
1015Y Texas SuperSweet
Yellow Granex
White Bermuda Crystal Wax

I was really surprised on how beautiful these onions slips were and now I understand why everybody at davesgarden did brag about this company.

Thx!

Yellow Granex is also known as the Vidalia onion. I read that in my Dixondale newsletter last week!

I received my order from Dixondale - Texas Legend & Southern Belle Red. I planted them yesterday & have so many leftover it's unbelievable. 1 bunch would have been plenty, but I really wanted to try these 2 varieties. I have another very small place that I can plant a few more, plus. Thanks to Linda, I'm going to try 2 earthboxes. I'm sure one of my gardening friends will take the extras, or I can place an add on craigslist to sell the extras.

My little onions looked so nice after I planted them, and after repairs from the chickens who got in the raised beds! If I didn't like these chickens, I think they'd be chicken soup after the destruction they can do. I only let them free range in the whole yard when I'm out there, but I can't turn my back on them at all. Little sneaky things!

Then we had torrential rains last night & I thought the onions would be flat this morning, but it all looks just fine.

I had to reorder.... between weather, health, and Christmas guests I let several bundles dry up! Ordered on a Monday and had onions by Thursday. Waiting for the ground to dry enough to plant after the 3.5 inches of rain last week. Hopefully I won't let all these dry out too. Stephanie-- remember that the Yellow Granex can only be called "Vidalia" if it is grown it that specific area of Georgia. They have a trademark or something. :)

Tastes are different when Vidalias are grown in Georgia than when grown in Texas- but the 1015s the stores can't keep in stock in the spring . They are so sweet.

David,
Same thing happened to my onions that I've had since November.

But, the candy and yellow granex seeds I sowed in October took off, and look just like a new batch from Dixondale! So, I'll save what I can from the dried up bunches, but will work mostly toward growing my own onion transplants.

oh oh ... surprise snow ... my poor onions ...

Drthor,
They might be ok. I just read somewhere that snow actually can be an insulator, so, depending on how comfortably they had gotten, they might not be affected.

Let us know. I know how hard you worked to set them all. Beautiful layout, BTW!

Linda

Snow!? And I thought it was cold here.

My second garlic attempt - a gift from a relative - is at least doing one good thing in my front garden bed. It's keeping the ants away! I've got fire ants up the wazoo in the front garden, but they've gotten nowhere near the garlic. The garlic itself was reddish grey on the skins, and came from way up north in Quebec, so who knows if it's bayou-friendly. :)

The onions I salvaged from my order were musty and mildewed, but seem to be going along well. I don't have a lot of space to give them, does anyone plant anything between the onion rows?

Nola_Nigella,
I don't plant anything right now between the onions ... there is no room.
I plan to harvest every other onion while I'm cooking. I am born and raise in Italy and I love to cook, I bet just like you.
I use the small one as green onions ... delish.
Later in the season I plan to keep a few onions in the ground here and there to repel bugs.

drthor, the yellow and white onions should be OK. I've found that the red onions are a little more delicate, but most--if not all--should be OK as it didn't be much below the high 20's last night (in my area anyway). If you have some straw or mulch you could snuggle some up around the babies to help with the cold tonight.

Good advice, all. I've got my onions in-between the chard and the collards, which the bugs seem to like, but are leaving alone a bit more on the onion-y side. Or maybe I'm just trying to pretend that's true, so I can make an excuse to plant more onions!

terri_emory, thanks for the suggestion.
I think everything will be fine. The snow did melt already and even the tender lettuce is standing up.

Finally getting back into the swing of the garden & thought I might try to get some onions going. I plan on making a RB using PVC for the frame and weedcloth/gardencloth for the material... Is it going to be too late to try, or will it work??

Planned size is 10' long by 3' wide and 12" deep, do those numbers sound feasible? I've got plenty of full-sun space to this and could probably do a dozen beds that size, so I can put it anywhere...

Planned crop will be the 1015's, if I can still get them, may have to take a run down to Dixondale to pick them up myself...

Any thoughts....

Kevin

Okay, Linda.... You see what happens after a single phone call with you... LOL....

Kevin

Dixondale just started shipping the 7th- it shouldn'be hard to get the 1015s still

Not too late at all Kevin! I don't plant my onions until early to mid Feb, and you're just a couple of weeks ahead of me, so go for it!

Dixondale just sent me a notice stating they shipped my onions today! Woohoo!

Kevin,
I'd have answered at 1:22 a.m., but my eyes wouldn't let me see the keyboard!

GO FOR IT!

Except, I'm a bit confused on your pvd RB construction. Is the frame out of pvc, and you're using weed block/garden cloth for the sides? If so, that would be a pretty cool, portable vessel.

So, Betty's gonna sew slip casings for the pvc frame, yes, and you'll slide the tubes through and connect the corners with elbows?

SUH-WEET!

I think we just solved my onion bed dilemma!!! (I think I mentioned I have two industrial machines that will sew through canvas...) WOW!