Onions & a Useful Chart

[AlittleSalt]

Next is Texas 1015 Y. I got these as sets. They were huge. Some where penny and nickel size wide, and it turns out that 22 of them have seed heads on them. This would usually irritate me, but they're not hybrids - they are OP. I will be saving lots of seeds, and will plant them in flats when their name says - October 15.

[Worth1]

Look better than mine.

Worth.

[rnewste]

Robert,

When you have a moment, it would be very interesting to have your taste test impressions comparing these varieties that you have grown. Thanks.

Raybo

[AlittleSalt]

Worth, your onions needed to grow gills. As you already know, I sure was hoping yours would grow huge.

Raybo, the Red Candy Apple is so good I purposely grow them outside of their Int. day zone. I'd like to know how they taste grown in their correct day zone.

I'll be trying out the different yellow ones over the next few days.

On to the last pics for today...

[AlittleSalt]

Wow, what a long day.

The first two pictures are of the onions I started from seed indoor back in October. I don't know which ones are 502s and which are hybrids - they look and smell the same. (My labels faded).

The last two pictures are what I'm curing them on and the end results.

I learned a lot about onions over the past 9 or so months.

Is it cheaper to grow from seed? Yes, a little. If you're ordering onion sets online, growing from seed is WAY cheaper. Growing from seed has you gardening year round. It was nice tending to them in November-January. For me, it meant I was starting pepper and tomato seeds about the time I was planting onions out.

Too much rain is too much rain no matter what.

I also learned that the area I called, "The onion bed" is not a good place for them. When the oaks start leafing out - it makes too much shade. They will be planted in the middle of the main garden where there are no trees.

Possibly use a high N fertilizer to get them started and then go with 10-20-10 or higher P later on. I need to research that a lot more. Using nothing produces onions, but trying for some bigger ones will be challenging.

[whistech]

Robert, those are beautiful onions! Congratulations on a bumper crop. Mine were pretty lousy this year. Way too much rain. Most of mine were golf ball to tennis ball size. There's always next year.

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Robert,

When you have a moment, it would be very interesting to have your taste test impressions comparing these varieties that you have grown. Thanks.

Raybo

Raybo, I thought I had replied to this. Sorry for keeping you waiting.

We like all of them the same. For some reason, our onions always grow to have a sweet taste to them. They're always juicy. I wish grocery store onions tasted like ours do.

However, if I had to pick one favorite - it would be the Texas 1015Y.

The next test is seeing which ones have the longest shelf life. If there is one variety that way outlasts the others - I'll be growing that one.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Raybo, I thought I had replied to this. Sorry for keeping you waiting.

We like all of them the same. For some reason, our onions always grow to have a sweet taste to them. They're always juicy. I wish grocery store onions tasted like ours do.

However, if I had to pick one favorite - it would be the Texas 1015Y.

The next test is seeing which ones have the longest shelf life. If there is one variety that way outlasts the others - I'll be growing that one.

Salt you know how I love all things onion.

I need to find or order some onion seeds pronto.
I am going to grow big onions if I have to do it in my bedroom.

Worth

[AlittleSalt]

Worth, I was beginning to think my 1015Y seed heads didn't produce seeds. I checked today, and yes, they have seeds in them. I should have a lot of seeds soon. I also checked our local Walmart and they still have some Granex Hybrid seed packs. I believe they are Ferry~Morse.

[bower]

Robert that is really an awesome onion harvest!

I planted mine really late. I'm ashamed to say how late. Anyway one of them is called "Red Marble" so I expect I will do justice to that name. Lesson learned: don't start onion seeds unless you have a bed to plant em in. Spring is too busy for me.

[greenthumbomaha]

Salt, that's a big table and a lot of onions! You will probably have onions for a long time but here is an idea for you and Worth to keep some on hand. I had far too many plants and sets so I planted some in a window box planter which is in partial shade . They are getting a good size although they are close together. in there. Since they liked the planter I bought some sets at end of season sale to stagger in the window boxes and they made scallions really fast. Again too many grew but the sets are cheaper than the grocery store scallion bundles. I hope to keep this going and take them inside under lights in winter.

- Lisa

I shouldn't have read backwards. You knew all that!

[rnewste]

Robert,

From what I have read, if you are getting sweet tasting onions, you probably have low Sulphur soil as they do in Vidalia, Georgia.

Let us know how your 1015Y storage life test goes.

I have about 18 of the 1015Y in a seedling tray awaiting transplant into an EarthTainer for trial before I do the real September starts in about 7 weeks:



regards,

Raybo

[AlittleSalt]

Thank you all for replying. Here we are talking about onions in July.

Bower, I planted some late too. I explained it earlier in this thread post #47. I mostly just wanted to see what would happen. This is what is left of them after cooking many.

[bower]

Not a thing wrong with em!
I would much rather have a few small onions I grew than none at all.

One thing I tried this year, I started my seeds in flats as a "mass planting", but I took a few of the seedlings and transplanted into 9 cells just to see if it made any difference. The ones in cells were treated pretty roughly, got stuck outside in the rain and some of them had most of the soil washed out of them - but still, they ended up way bigger than the others at transplant time and are looking the best out in the ground. You can see the difference at a glance.
So I'm wondering if this is something that onion growers do and find worthwhile, or is it just that they are doing better because I planted out so late. My friend who farms doesn't bother with onions in cells, she just plants them from the flat - early!
Robert I see you have some in cells, I wondered if you do that with all your onions. You got a great crop!

[PhilaGardener]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

I also learned that the area I called, "The onion bed" is not a good place for them. When the oaks start leafing out - it makes too much shade. They will be planted in the middle of the main garden where there are no trees.

Great looking harvest! If that was from a not so good place, I can't wait to see how they do next year!