Tidemillgardener
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When to harvest onions??

I planted onions last fall and overwintered them. They have been looking really good but are extremely tall and have flowers on them now. The necks haven't dried up yet. Should I keep them in the ground or harvest them. Bulbs are still fairly small.

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digitS'
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Location: ID/WA! border

I was prepared to say, "you can harvest onions at any time, Tidemillgardener."

Now, I'm not so sure. I think that you have lost everything but a seed crop.

Did you sow onion seed in the fall? I live only about 200 miles north of the Walla Walla valley. That onion grows fairly well for me and I harvest some as scallions, some a little larger, and wait for mature bulbs, also. Seed is started in my winter greenhouse.

There is an opportunity to sow seed in the garden about the first of September for onion harvest the following year. However, often the winter temperatures are too cold and many of the plants bolt to seed rather than develop bulbs. It sounds like my experiences with that happening is what you have described for your onions.

Steve

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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Hot weather makes onion tops blossom when this happens bend the top over or cut it off. If you allow the plant to make seeds it will not make a good onion to eat. The plant still could make a good onion so let it grow to see what happens. Onion tops are good to eat in lots of things, stir fry, soup, stew, salads, sandwiches.

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

In this clime onions won't winter over. So onion sets (small dry onions) are planted in the spring for large onion bulbs. Yes they may send up flower stalks. I just go clip the flower off. If the flower is left on the plants energy will go to producing seed, not a large bulb. Hey if you want to let a few go for making seed that is fine too. Here we may plant onion seeds for a crop of small green onions and if let go full season they will make walnut sized bulbs.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

The onions that have grown a flower stalk think they are in their 2nd year (onions are biennials) — they don’t store well because the flower stalk takes up the center of the bulb and they have expended a good part of their energy. Sometimes, the bulb will have shrunk. They don’t “cure” normally since the stalk won’t dry like the leaves to shrivel and become papery into a closed off top.

The stalk is too hard to eat, but could be used to add onion flavor for making stock.



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