ONIONS & NPK

[peppero]

Is there a preferred/optimum npk ration for onions anyone could recommend?

Jon

[Worth1]

I would think equal parts would be best at least that is what I have read.
Also the ph should be like tomatoes around 6 to 6.5.

Keep watered with out drought stress and you can just about guarantee a sweet onion.
Plus sulfur will make then hotter and more pungent.

I have done this for the first time this year and the giant green onions are grrrrreat.

Worth.

[matilda'skid]

Dixondale should know. It sounds complicated but maybe it will be of some help. http://www.dixondalefarms.com/onionfertilization

[Hermitian]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I would think equal parts would be best at least that is what I have read.
Also the ph should be like tomatoes around 6 to 6.5.
Keep watered with out drought stress and you can just about guarantee a sweet onion.
Plus sulfur will make then hotter and more pungent.
I have done this for the first time this year and the giant green onions are grrrrreat.
Worth.

For gardeners and farmers that have troublesome tuber-eating grubs, keeping the pH in the 5.5-6.0 is a very good control. This can be done as some suggest with a higher sulfur content in the soil. On the otherhand, tubors are heavy nitrogen feeders. For people willing to use water-solubles, the standard 21-7-7 acid-forming formula is the way to go. Also, to get larger onions and tubers in general, supplying the plants with phosphate after the bulbs/tubors begin to form is important. For organic farmers this can be done by mixing copious amounts of bonemeal in at planting time so that it begins releasing at the time of bulb/tubor formation. Alternately, if using water-solubles the standard 11-45-8 tubor enlarger works wonders.

[peppero]

THANKS everyone for their comments. I have had no success at growing onions with bulbs of any size, PH is 7 with excellent soil tilth. I hope with this info I can do better.

jon

[matilda'skid]

I like green onions and that is all I used to grow. I didn't know how to get large onions that would keep. Someone on the Ozark forum suggested Candy onions. Those get big for me and are mild and good. I still need to work on curing them, but I am getting lots of big onions with the Candy plants. Not everyone carries them so you have to hunt for them.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by matilda'skid

I like green onions and that is all I used to grow. I didn't know how to get large onions that would keep. Someone on the Ozark forum suggested Candy onions. Those get big for me and are mild and good. I still need to work on curing them, but I am getting lots of big onions with the Candy plants. Not everyone carries them so you have to hunt for them.

Did you know there were long daylight onions and short daylight onions?

This may be the reason for you onions not bulbing at the right time.

Worth

[matilda'skid]

Yes I just found that out. Candy onions are day neutral or intermediate day length so are supposed to work over much of the country. The variety of onion makes a big difference. Also when it is dry, I don't water everything. Onions are about the last thing to get watered. I have a well and rocky fast draining soil. Water is precious in summer. I read on the Dixondale site that even though onions don't appear to wilt, they need water too.

Try Candy onions. I am not selling Bonnie. Some order from Dixondale. http://bonnieplants.com/products/veg...ns/candy-onion

[tjg911]

if you don't give onions 1" of water a week whether from rain or watering you will not have good results.

i never fertilize my onions all that much. i add the recommended bone and blood meal for the sq footage and compost at planting. i water them (not foliar spray) with neptune's harvest every 2 weeks.

tom

[Cole_Robbie]

Candy is my grandmother's favorite variety to grow. I tried to start them in trays from seed last year, but they ended up yellow and did not look so good. I am going to fertilize them more this year to see if that makes a difference.