I'm growing onions (10/15) for the first time, 3 of them have flowers on them now.
Am I supposed to clip those off to let more energy go to the bulb?
When do I know when it's time to harvest?
Are the tops akin to chives? Edible I mean.
10/15 Onion Blooms, To Cut or Not To Cut??????
1. once an onion bolts, it diverts all its energy to reproducing. clipping the buds early will slow the process some, but the onion is best used as a green onion. It will never make a good bulb.
2. They may be harvested at any time they are big enough for your purposes. Green onions are good fixed lots of ways. The smaller ones can be used tops and all in salads. For mature onions, the tops will fall over and dry, at which time they are harvested. The 1015 like the Granex types grown here in Georgia are normally grown during the winter and harvested in April. May be a few stragglers to go, but the Vidalia harvest is for the most part over.
3. Tops are very edible when young and green.
Yes I'm wondering when you planted. If it was seeds, then they are started on 10/15. If it was "sets" then I believe they are started in January. I have not successfully grown onions just FYI.
I planted as sets (little plants from garden store) around early Feb. Thought it was rather late for onions in our area, but we had a mild Spring so decided to chance it.
Just a reminder to avoid confusion. Sets are small dried bulbs. Plants are growing baby onions. Both types are available, but sets are almost always pungent storage onion types. Sets are more prone to bolting than plants, but both will bolt when conditions merit.
Well, they looked like tiny little onions when I planted them, so I don't know which that would be. I'd say they were sort of on the dry side.
Soulds like the Onion Slips I bought from Dixondale a couple of years ago. Those grew great for me. I've never had any luck growing from seed, though I've tried that several years running. This year I am doing sets and those are doing great so far. Mine were dried bulbs - about the size of a large clove of garlic, with a bit of a start to them - about 2" or so - when I planted them. I hope they do as well as the ones from Dixondale did!
If they've already produced a bulb you'll want to use them pretty quick. With the seed stem in there, they won't keep very long.
Sets look dried and totally topless!! Plants usually have a green top on them with live roots on the bottom.
These had tops, like little tiny onions and tiny dried roots, tied with a rubber band.
So the consensus here is that I should be picking them when or before they start flowering like they are now?????????
definitely. When in doubt listen to Farmerdill is a great rule of thumb...
What about if the flower hasn't formed yet but the the little slip is present. Should it be snipped before it opens?
In this months email from dixondale, thet highlighted a disease called Bacterial Soft Rot. We have had a fairly wet Spring and A few of my onions may be exhibiting the symptoms detailed in the article (Light yellowing etc.) Hard to tell because the article didn't have any pictures. Is this disease a problem in this area and what are recommended preventative measures and or treatments?
Thanks
BB
I tried pulling one of my onions yesterday but it was tiny, only about 1" across. How do I know if I SHOULD pick it???????
How deep did you plant them Ladyborg? The bulb should be visible without you having to pull them.
BB
Yes, the tops are visible.
I was wondering if it isn't a cold-weather plant and perhaps it won't get very big now that it is getting into summer weather.
I am thinking they were planted a bit late, and temps in S.E. Texas are practically record-setting this year. Certainly much hotter (and much earlier) than last year. Something tells me they're not going to bulb up.
I don't know much about growing onions, but I thought they were influenced by day length rather than hot/cold weather. From what I have read there are Northern onions, Southern onions and indeterminate onions. I grow "Candy" onions - they are the latter type. Mine bulbed in June last year. My garlic was planted last fall - I expect it to bulb around the middle of June. When the leaves are dead - it's time to pull the bulbs.
I found out recently that garlic leaves are edible - they taste just like garlic! Don't cut too many from the plants or it will affect the bulbs.
Honeybee --try garlic shoots. They are my favorite all time vegetable. Cut them just before the seed head starts getting big and ready to open. And cut low, just above where the stem is woody. They are really very sweet and tender. Great in stir-fry.
grownut - are you describing small garlic from the ground, or the seed heads themselves? I love stir-fry!
the stems that the seed heads spring from ---garlic shoots.
Thanks, grownut - I have several garlic that have seed head shoots - I'll give them a try this weekend.
expecting another convert to my yummy world....lol.
Some of my onions have small buds that just appeared in the last three days. These are onions planted last June from 'sets' that somehow wintered over and have been creating bulbs for the last month-month and a half. I am in Zone 5A and we have had an unusual Spring. Cold, sunny, and fairly even rain.....strange enough for me to have been mowing the lawn for the last month without sinking up to the axels. What do I do? Snip off the bud only? Cut the entire bud and it's stalk? Snip, pull, and lay on the ground til brown. Pull, bring inside and use? I am so excited to see my first possible success with onions. I obviously have been doing everything backwards. Never really found out the right way, just stuck them in each spring to see what happened. Thanks
Wow, planted last June? They must be huge by now?!?!?
By "buds" do you mean seed heads?
Actually buds is the better description. The first to appear is the cone shaped flower bud on a stiff stalk. This what we are talking about snipping off ( nipping it in the bud so to speak) . Once the flowers open, it is too late to do much other than let the seedheads form. Seedheads are the final stage after pollination.
Gotcha! Thanks for the info - as she runs outside, scissors in hand...
No!. Don't run with scissors in your hand.
LOL! Must reputation must've preceded me. Actually, I ran out there with nothing in hand and just gently nudged the tips off! We do not need to rush the process here since I was late getting them out and I'm already fearing I won't get decent bulbs. (I swear, the way I overeact with my plants, it's a darn good thing I never had kids!)