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So I live in Central Texas, Zone 8.

I planted my garlic about 2-3 weeks ago and so far, so good.

I'm confused when to plant onions though. Some websites say for Zone 8 you plant in October. Then some say January.
My nursery is stocking them, so I assume some people are planting them now?

I bought regular Bermuda onion seeds.

Thanks for any advice! Should I go for it??

Yipee!

Thanks Marlingardener!

This is on my To do list tomorrow first thing!

Ok, I just had a complete epiphany last night.

Onion BULBS are different than onion SEEDS. I'm thinking they are the same thing.

Sooooooo since I do have BULBS (look like mini onions), I need to wait until January to plant.

I assume this would be the same logic for garlic. I planted BULBS from the store a few weeks ago. But then again some website say plant 'garlic' (doesnt differentiate btw seeds or bulbs) in October, and some websites say Janurary.

So did I mess up with the garlic?

And the planting schedule, is it a sunlight thing? Surely in Central Texas the weather in December is more or less the same as in Jan.

Thanks for helping me solve this puzzle?

Just make sure you planted a southern garlic variety. usually a softneck garlic works best.

I hope you mean garlic clove not "bulb".

Eric

What you buy in the grocery store is a garlic bulb, comprised of a bunch of different cloves. To plant you break it up into individual cloves and plant those. Most parts of the country that is done in October, not sure about Texas. Garlic is rarely grown from seed. Since it takes about 9 months to harvest garlic from planted cloves (at least in cold winter areas), it would take forever from seed.

Garlic that is grown for eating is usually not allowed to set seed. Even if allowed, it does not always work, needing a long period of favorable conditions. The seed has a low germination rate and may not produce true to the characteristics of the parent. Generally a seed planted early in the year would produce a small plant with round bulb like a green onion by end of the season. That is dug and replanted the next year to produce garlic cloves in the second year.

So unless someone talking about garlic specifies true seed, they are generally talking about garlic cloves.

So yes, sorry, I have garlic cloves. Once again, got excited and used the wrong term!

Ok, so it is confirmed I have onion bulbs. So I will do as you say and put them in the frig for the next month!

So what are the difference between the onion bulbs and onion shoots?(like the little green onion looking like plants?)

erins327 wrote:I'm confused when to plant onions though. Some websites say for Zone 8 you plant in October. Then some say January.
My nursery is stocking them, so I assume some people are planting them now?

I bought regular Bermuda onion seeds.

I've never done them from seeds however from what I've read, seeds are planted somewhat earlier. The Texas 1015 is named for the date they are normally planted. I imagine you could still give it a shot...

We plant the sets the first week of November, which is when they hit the feed stores here.

Last year was probably our best onion year ever. Half were over a pound (a number of those were close to 2 pounds). We are still eating off of the last crop.

Thanks Marlingardener, I feel a lot better informed now!

Hello Wild Rose! Nice to meet a fellow Central Texan. Looks like you know what you are doing with dem onions, so you have found yourself a new internet forum boards stalker/admirer!

Another thing to consider about onions is short day vs long day. Long day onions need 14-16 hour days to bulb up while short day onions need only 10-12. Northern latitudes can grow long day onions. but those in the South who don't have very long days will only get bulbs growing the short day onions.
There are some areas in Northern Texas that can also grow the intermediate onions.

Maybe your stores bring in plants at the right time for your area.

Here only Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes would bring in bulbs. They are almost impossible to order from most catalogs since they will not ship outside of the 48 contiguous states. Those stores are not locally owned and they buy for their stores all over the country so they have sent fruit trees, Japanese maple trees and bulbs that won't live long in Hawaii.

erins327 wrote:Hello Wild Rose! Nice to meet a fellow Central Texan. Looks like you know what you are doing with dem onions, so you have found yourself a new internet forum boards stalker/admirer!

Please to meet you too! We are about an hour east of you...

These are the little plants that are available here for planting in the spring. Planted early they make some very nice large onions. They can also be used as scallions if you desire.

These are onion sets for planting. They are little dry onions. They can make scallions or go for nice large onions if let go full term.

Seed is very small black round things. I don't have a pic. Onion seed planted in spring here will make scallions or some small dry onions like the sets in the picture.

Onions are also biennial in habit. If bulbs are planted in the fall, come spring they are in their second season and will flower and make seed. Very small sets planted in spring are also in their second year, but don't seem so prone to go to seed. Some will, but usually they make a nice root/bulb instead.

Onions take a long growing season to make a big onion from seed. You may be able to do that in Texas, but not here at this location. Try some things. That is the best way to find out. For sure, with onions, you will always get something to eat since they can be eaten at any stage of their development.

Then there is the long day/short day thing with onions. Since they are a cool weather plant, they need to bulb up before the days get too hot for them. It seems the day length is what triggers bulbing. In the South it warms up earlier so the onions need to bulb up with shorter days because by the time the days are long, it is too hot. Hence, Short Day Onions for the South.

In the North, you can't get on the ground that early so the onions will reach bulbing size when the days are long. So Long Day Onions for the North.

Hopefully your local stores are getting in the right kind of onions for your location. If ordering in from a nursery you must be specific.

Here is a good site for info you can even sing up for their newsletter which gives tips at the appropriate time of the season. I always order form them and they are in Texas. I have never planted onions in the winter, I normally plant sets as early as I can Mar or sooner if possible.

Once again, I find better info here than any website I can get my hands on.

Thanks again for clearing this up!

Onions are confusing. In my not-quite-south, not-quite-north location what I need are Day Neutral onions.

erins327, I would suggest to go to the dixondale farms website to clear up any confusion you have. They are one of the premier onion producer and are actually in Texas. They have customer service people available to answer questions and are very accommodating folk. I order from them and am really pleased. Just a suggestion.

marlingardener, I made that suggestion because Dixondale Farms may be closer proximity to his/her area and specialize in onions. The more sources a person looks to for more information, the better. I like this forum as well as a lot of great advise from a lot of good experienced folk, but I look for more than one source for information especially because most forums have a very wide diversity of zones. Local grower can be a real asset for any gardener.