User avatar
Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Commercial Growers, Onions in 6 months from seeds.

Watch this video. WHY can commercial growers grow large onions from seeds in 6 months and we can't. This grower is in Idaho. They have volcanic soil & cooler summer weather with short growing season. This makes me wonder if I do correct soil preparation then plant seeds can I grow large onions from seeds in 6 months? I planted 2 types of onion seed this season about last week of April and had 1" diameter onions in July. We ate them, I think I pulled them up too soon.

These videos are educational. One grower plants sweet potatoes then harvests them in 120 days. Watch the video for white potatoes. Scroll through the videos watch the ones your interested in.


User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Here in high dry Northern Utah, I don't get six months growing time. If I want a large onion I plant onion sets early in the season. If I plant seeds I will get walnut sized bulbs.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

You need to get the right onions for your climate. Onions are daylight sensitive. like Vidalia onions, local climate conditions can make them taste sweeter.

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Yes. I think in Tennessee, you would want to grow intermediate-day length onions?

... oops I might be wrong ...
(I can’t tell where TN is in that map — is it more solidly in the pink area? :oops:)


imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

People who have short growing seasons, have long days. Where growing seasons are long, days are a lot shorter. With 2/3 of the sunlight of a short season long day, plants don't grow as big or as fast. We will never get the monster plants that Alaska gets in its 24 daylight of summer or ever win a giant pumpkin contest. I can get a tomato close to a pound, but most will only be just under it. Even varieties that can make larger fruit, can only do that with a longer day.

Temperature is important as well. If I grow carrots, I have to do it while the temperatures are averaging less than 75 degrees. That happens only for a few months. Carrots kept in the ground once it hits the 80's will become woody and bitter even though they won't die. Kale can be grown year round, but will be more bitter in the summer months. Bulbing onions are almost exclusively planted from seeds in October to be harvested in May or June. We have all winter to grow the tops since there is no frost to kill them. If anything, there is only a small window to grow truly cool season crops in the tropics unless you live in elevations exceeding 1000 ft where it is cooler, longer.

User avatar
Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

There is a science in every thing we grow and it changes with our geographical location and weather conditions. My father in IL was good at growing onions the size of tennis balls but I never got the hang of growing onions TN. He use to say, when the onion has about 8 or 9 leaves use your shovel to knock the plants over. Bend the plants over 90 degrees that stops the tops from growing now the plant will put all its energy into making a large onion bulb. Illinois has about 1 hour more summer sunlight than TN. Weather was cooler in IL, we seldom saw a cloud in summer sky, evening rain almost every day at 4:30 pm for 10 minutes. TN has lots of clouds, sky is full of clouds, about 50% clouds most of the summer. TN winter is ALL clouds gray over cast for 4 whole months. IL winter often have blue sky until a storm moves in and dumps 10" of snow. My grandfather was good at growing potatoes in Illinois, I never got the hang of growing potatoes in TN. What I plant is determined by what I can buy. I often wonder if what is available to buy here is really what I should be growing. Maybe I am expecting too much for TN, onions were so easy to grow in IL, potatoes too.

Taiji
Greener Thumb
Posts: 921
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:19 am
Location: Gardening in western U.P. of MI. 46+ N. lat. elev 1540. zone 3; state bird: mosquito

I had good success with "Candy" onion variety the last 2 seasons at about your latitude. It's an intermediate day length variety. Maybe try starting the seeds indoors? I used a cheap plastic dishpan with holes punched in. Then I set the plants out before the last frost. Worked really well.

Maybe outdoors from seed right from the start exposes them to some adverse conditions and they become stunted?

User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Yep, get onions designed for your growing area. Here in High Dry Utah we plant "Long Day" type onions.



Return to “Onion Gardening Forum”