Blooming onion plants

[Rip_Some_Lip]

My onions are starting to form blooms on top. I read that it is because of the warm/cold/warm weather. What should I do at this point? I read they wont get bigger or store well.

[KEN W]

Break or cut them off.You are right,they won't store well.Onions are bi-annual plants.They grow the first year and produce seed the second.

Did you use a bundle of plants or sets?This happens most often with sets.They are to large when planted and think they are in the second year of growth.So they start making seed pods at the top.

This is why in the future,you want the smallest sets you can find.Better yet,buy a bundle of plants.I quit using sets and now use plants and don't have this problem.

[Rip_Some_Lip]

They were sets. Luckily I only planted about a dozen or so. They were getting pretty big tops compared to last years plants which never got very big bulbs. I will break them off and maybe dig one up to see how big they are. Everything else is growing like weeds too. My potatoes are really tall already, I have mounded them up once already.

[Dotch]

Break or cut them off.You are right,they won't store well.Onions are bi-annual plants.They grow the first year and produce seed the second.

Did you use a bundle of plants or sets?This happens most often with sets.They are to large when planted and think they are in the second year of growth.So they start making seed pods at the top.

This is why in the future,you want the smallest sets you can find.Better yet,buy a bundle of plants.I quit using sets and now use plants and don't have this problem.

Not to hijack the thread but Ken, maybe you could tell us how to be successful with onion plants? Being the greenhouse person she is, Mrs. Cheviot has always been a big promoter of plants. Every time she brings them home and I've planted them though, they flop. They grow poorly, about half of them make it even though they appear viable and I get very little for bulbs. When I plant sets, at least if the weather cooperates and doesn't get too hot and dry, they seem to thrive. Others say the same thing here. Just curious because the variety of plants available locally is usually better and I might be willing to try them again if I could just figure out how to make them work. Thanks!

[KEN W]

Dotch.....here you go.

There are 3 kinds of onions....Short day,Long day,and day neutral.You cannot successfully grow short day onions in the northern part of the country.Examples would be....Vidalia,Texas 1015,and Maui Sweet.Long day onions would be Walawala,Spanish Sweets,and red hamburger...A day neutral is Candy and Superstar.

Onions start to bulb when the number of daylight hours gets long.Short day onions are planted in the fall in the south.Up here the tops wouldn't be big enough when that happens.So you basically get no bulbs.

Plant onions as early as possible.They will grow in the snow.When the daylight hours reach their longest,the bulbs will start to form.Here that is in July.The larger the tops are when that happens,the larger the bulb will get.So early planting means large tops and large bulbs.

I quit growing sets when Candy was first introduced.I get a bundle of plants from a local nursery....60 plants or so for 3-4 dollars.I plant them in rows about 3-4 inches apart with the rows 8-9 inches apart.When they get as big as your finger,I start pulling every other one and eat them,so they wind up 6-8 inches apart.Around the first of July or so,I give my onions a side dressing of 10-10-10.I normally get onions as big as softballs all the time.

Around the middle of August,the tops will start to bend over.At that time I pull them and tie 8-10 in a bundle and hang them on a nail on a stud in the garage to dry.They stay there until late Oct.....or when it gets to cold and they might freeze.

Then I take them down and clean them and put them in onion sacks.I keep them in the basement in a cool room until after Christmas and then put as many as I can into the bottom of the fridge.I have a half a dozen still in the fridge from last fall.They are just starting to sprout.

I feel Candy is the best onion ever developed for the northern part of the country.They are so sweet and mild,I eat them raw all the time.I would never eat sets raw.....to hot.If they make you cry when you peel them,I don't grow them.

If sets are what you want or can only find.....try to get the smallest ones you can find.I used to buy them by the pound at the grocery store.Don't use the scoop they have there.Small sets are less likely to develope seed pods.Plus by the pound means you get more for your money with small sets.

Any other questions???

[Dotch]

Thanks Ken. That's a pretty detailed, specific explanation. Only one other question I would have and that would be the relative planting depth of plants vs. sets. With the sets, I'm used to putting them in the ground roughly 3/4" - 1" deep. These are a yellow onion of some type (Dutch yellow perhaps?) and I'd have to ask to know exactly what they were when the wife isn't so crabby. . They are generally a flatter shaped bulb, 3" - 4" diameter when they're ready. After letting them dry outside on the picnic table, they overwinter very well inside a clean heavy paper feed sack in the dry, heated garage maintained ~ 48 - 50 degrees. I'm still using some from last year when making spaghetti, etc. They have some power which I like when cooking and the green onions get your attention. Way too potent for the local Norwegians and Swedes! Good to know about the size of the sets. This year's bulbs were small and they're doing very well. I didn't have them when I put the radishes in March 18th so they went in back in early April. Thanks for the info!

[KEN W]

As far as depth.....I put in the plants an inch or so.Just so they stand upright.When they start to bulb in July,I will scratch the dirt away from them so the bulbs are on top of the ground.Keep them weed free.Onions don't like competition.

[Rip_Some_Lip]

Great info as usual Ken, Thanks.