Onions 2017

[bower]

That's so funny, they say that onions will sprout if it's too warm, while garlic needs cold to sprout. I thought I need completely different storage conditions for onions or garlic.

[AlittleSalt]

Bower, thank you for replying. I'm learning as I go.

I had read the same things "they say that onions will sprout if it's too warm, while garlic needs cold to sprout. I thought I need completely different storage conditions for onions or garlic. "

The elephant garlic I left hanging in an open faced barn all throughout summer with 100+ degree days and typical weather here in Texas. I expected the bulbs to dry up and be useless. I planted 28 of them a couple months ago and all 28 are up and growing.

I kept onions in the same barn but they did get a little daily sun during the hottest part of the day. Texas 1015Y is supposed to have a 2-3 month storage life in cool conditions, but they lasted 5 months storing them the way I did. I don't know what to say - other than, it worked.

Of course, there is gong to be differences in how onions are grown and stored between Newfoundland and Texas.

I took a vegetable that grows like weeds here and am having fun experimenting/playing with their growing conditions. The second picture on post #14 are second year onions growing in a basically useless part of our garden because of the shade. That's a tall elm tree and a juniper tree in the picture along with lots of oak leaves. There are huge oak trees that cause dappled shade at best during the Spring through Fall growing seasons. Yet, onions start growing there just fine in Fall and Winter, and they go to seed in late Spring to early Summer. Just as if they were growing in full sun.

Again, I'm not sure why? I have been keeping up with the ground temperatures - it has been around 75F in late October and November and now it's down to 50F here in December. That bed is treated like the rest of our gardens. It's sandy loam with shredded oak leaves tilled in yearly for 5 years.

I could go on about this forever It is just fun watching them grow in a place where they shouldn't. Or maybe, I'm learning they should?

[greenthumbomaha]

I saved two bags of onion sets that were purchased last summer. I had hopes of growing them as scallions during the winter indoors. I had them in a paper bag to protect them from sprouting from ambient indoor light. Sadly they lost too much moisture and are just crunchy skins now. Maybe I should do what you are doing, Robert. That is start them late in the season just before it frosts while they are still firm and pull them before the ground freezes. I have a whole year to figure it out.

- Lisa

[bower]

It is very interesting, Robert... I'm just learning and experimenting too.
As regards your 'forest grown' onions, the first thing I wondered is whether, somewhere in the far past, it could have been a natural habitat for them. Does wild garlic (ramps) grow in forest too?
We don't have wild alliums here of course, but quite a few of the forest flowers are in the lily family I believe... They seem to thrive among the tree roots - maybe because their roots are such a different type. And are happy to be fed by the trees' leaf litter....

In Spain, there are wild asparagus growing in the forest! This could never happen here, wrong kind of forest and not a rich soil.
Your onions sure look great!

[AlittleSalt]

February 1, 2017.

We planted 105 feet of onions today. It's going to take days to recover, but I'm glad they are planted.

We went with the Texas 1015Y http://www.dixondalefarms.com/produc...ort_day_onions

Crystal Wax http://www.mypatriotsupply.com/Cryst.../white_wax.htm

Red Burgundy http://www.mypatriotsupply.com/Red_B...d_burgundy.htm

[Father'sDaughter]

Hey Salt, I hope your onions are doing well! And hopefully the resulting pain has faded.

I just spent today at the kitchen sink starting onion and shallot seeds while watching my husband through the window, snow blowing the driveway after last night's storm.

It felt good to finally move from planning to doing!

I started Tropea Tondo (round) and Tropea Lungo (long) onions. These don't store well, but I primarily want them for salads so I only grow enough to pull one up as needed throughout the season. If I have extras, I pickle them.

The shallot seeds are an experiment. They are from an unknown shallot I grew last year that went to flower, so I left the flower stalk on and collected seeds after they matured. I'm not sure if they are from one of the two varieties I planted, or if they are from the mystery shallot I grew from seeds Tormato sent me last year. If they grow, I'll have my answer!

As seed germinating season is is now officially here, tomorrow I'll probably finish washing out all my starter pots while watching our next snow storm roll in...

[AlittleSalt]

I just saw your post today. I like the feeling I get when washing out the trays - it's the beginning of a new season.

So far, we have only seen one day of very light snow flurries. Which is kind of odd because there is usually a couple of snow or ice storms here in January and February. We have had a few overnight lows below 18F. One night it got down to 12F and another 10F. The onions really didn't like that. They are still growing but they are bent down about half way up.

[rnewste]

Hey Robert,

I started some Texas Grano 1015Y seeds back in September outside in self watering trays. I forgot about them all Winter until a few weeks ago when I saw about 10 of them had actually germinated. Transplanted them Jan 21 into an EarthTainer and they survived:





No special treatment other than some fertilizer.

Looks like Spring is upon us early with all the rain:



Have started some Granex 33 (Vidalia) in a tray to see what they will do.

Raybo

[AlittleSalt]

Raybo, That is cool. They are getting tall.

[AlittleSalt]

When the carrots don't germinate - plant more onions

[AlittleSalt]

The second year onions are finally looking better. The two nights of 10 and 12F were not good for them. The first two pictures are planted near the window I'm looking out beside the computer. The second picture looks cool. The last two pictures are the ones I planted out in the woods. The trees around it are around 60' tall. They are some sort of elm variety, so the area will get dappled shade/sun.

[gdaddybill]

Robert--check out www.neseed.com. They have a lot of short-day onion seed and the company is in Connecticut of all places. Good company, good seed and fast service. They also feature a number of Italian seeds.

[AlittleSalt]

I've been thinking about growing a sweet onion variety. This one looks good http://www.neseed.com/Onion-Seeds-Mr...F1-p/31792.htm with a longer shelf life.

We buy sweet onions in the winter to eat because they have a milder taste. A lot of the other grocery store onions have an overpowering almost bitter taste here in winter.

[wildcat62]

Ordered this year's Candy onions from Dixondale & got them planted the same day they arrived. Happened to be a warm day here Friday. Tiller started right up and felt good to break ground. 1st time with this variety for us. They sure looked better than the sets they have at our local coop.

[AlittleSalt]

Wildcat, I have grown both the Candy Onions and Red Candy Apple Onions from Dixondale for a few years now. The candy onions are really good here. The Red Candy Apple onions are intermediate day onions. (They should be called Candy Apple Red, but they're not.) I have planted a lot of second year Red Candy Apple onions and some are already showing signs of going to seed. If you are interested, I can send you some seeds when they are ready.

I'm thinking that Intermediate day onions should produce well in Kentucky.