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Hello, its been a while since I have posted, but anyway this year I decided to give onions a try. I planted 85 White Bermuda onions bare root in the winter. They have recently taken off and the bulbs are swelling up quite a bit. Some of them are flowering now so I am cutting them off but is it true that these do not store as well? Is it true that the ones where the stem thickens up a lot do not store as well? Should I harvest these before the tops fall? Some of them are already the size of small store bought onions...

You pretty much have it right. Cut off the blossoms and yes, those do not store as well. Use them first. You can let them grow as long as they are growing. When your onions are done the tops start to fall over. At this point smash them all down and let them start to dry up a bit before pulling the onions. After you pull them let them dry for a week or maybe more till the tops are good and dry before cutting the tops off and storing the onions. It is best to store them in an onion bag and hang them in a dry place. If they get damp they will want to grow. Though I have had some in a cardboard box in the garage all winter and they are mostly still good. A few grew.

Forgot to mention that if you want some onion seed to plant for green onions, you can let a few of those flowers go to produce seed. It is easy to harvest, just shake the head over a bucket when the seed is ripe.

Thanks! Is there a reason why they are flowering? Every day I notice more have buds.

It is the nature of plants to reproduce. Onions tend to flower in their second year, sometimes in their first, but any time you plant a set, you may expect to get some flowers. The larger the bulb is, the more likely it is to make flowers. You may want to experiment with a few of several varieties next year to see if one variety will do better in your climate.

I will try a few varieties next year! I will also try growing some from sets and or seed. Like I said these were from bare root starts.