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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Onions grown from seeds is a 5 month crop.

I found information that says, onions grown from seed is a 5 month crop. Has anyone else grown onions from seeds? This if from a man that has mild winter weather so this is probably not true in TN or northern states where it gets colder.

There are lots of YouTube videos but seldom does anyone give dates when seeds were planted & when onions were harvested. I'm doing several experiments this year to learn correct way to grow onions in TN. I was going to plant seeds inside the house in FEB then transplants to garden 6 weeks later but now I think timing is wrong.

I found a video where a man in southern GA plants onion seeds in NOV 1st they grow good in his warm fall weather and 15°F weather in FEB does not kill his plants as long as 15° is only a few hours every night then warmers up when the sun comes up.

I found information that show growing your own seeds is 2 to 3 weeks quicker harvest than buying transplants that have been out of the soil for several weeks.

I think I will plant 200 seeds today Dec 15, 200 seeds in JAN then buy sets to plants MARCH 1st. I may end up with 800 onion plants but one way or the other if I learn correct way to grow onions in TN then I will only need to plant 150 onions next year.

Here is an interesting video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4dsrg05wFM

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I can only grow onions from seed. It does take about five months. I plant them in October and they are ready in May. The only seed that is readily available and worth growing are Texas granex or Texas grano, which happens to be the same as Maui onion seeds. So, it is a southern variety and I am in zone 12a on the new zone map, zone 11 on the old one. Basically, no one will ship live plants to Hawaii. Lowe's used to bring in seed potatoes and onion starts in January. But they are not the right varieties so they don't really grow here. I haven't seen them send anything in a while. Last year, Walmart did not bring in any live plants at all, not even bare root roses. They did bring some live plants in for 2021, some of them would still be hard to grow. I can grow things from zone 9 and up and some zone 8 plants will also work in the right location and the more heat tolerant varieties.

I did try to grow Vidalia onion seeds. However, it is very true that at least where onions are concerned, it is not just the seeds but the soil and environment that matters.

These onions are not really worthwhile for me to grow since I cannot grow enough for a constant supply and they don't store well in a hot humid climate. They are only sweet for a couple of weeks, then turn hot and bitter. They also rot because there isn't anywhere cool in early summer to dry and store them. We still have rain in May so they cannot be left out to dry. The heat and humidity will cause them to rot. The seeds also lose viability so they do not have a long shelf life, so fresh seeds are best. Day length only varies a couple of hours throughout the year. The shortest day is a My longest day is 13hrs and 18 minutes long. The shortest day is 10 hours and 41 minutes, so I can only grow short day onions. Temperature does not vary much either. It is 80's-90 in summer and 70-80 in winter. Night temperatures are within 10 degrees of day temperatures. The ocean influences our temperature so we don't get a lot of variation. Fruits and vegetables that like long days and temperature variance struggle. It is why I can grow a lot of things all year round, but even the "giant" varieties will never get to be giants.
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Gary350
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Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

imafan26 wrote:
Wed Dec 15, 2021 12:04 pm
I can only grow onions from seed. It does take about five months. I plant them in October and they are ready in May. The only seed that is readily available and worth growing are Texas granex or Texas grano, which happens to be the same as Maui onion seeds. So, it is a southern variety and I am in zone 12a on the new zone map, zone 11 on the old one. Basically, no one will ship live plants to Hawaii. Lowe's used to bring in seed potatoes and onion starts in January. But they are not the right varieties so they don't really grow here. I haven't seen them send anything in a while. Last year, Walmart did not bring in any live plants at all, not even bare root roses. They did bring some live plants in for 2021, some of them would still be hard to grow. I can grow things from zone 9 and up and some zone 8 plants will also work in the right location and the more heat tolerant varieties.

I did try to grow Vidalia onion seeds. However, it is very true that at least where onions are concerned, it is not just the seeds but the soil and environment that matters.

These onions are not really worthwhile for me to grow since I cannot grow enough for a constant supply and they don't store well in a hot humid climate. They are only sweet for a couple of weeks, then turn hot and bitter. They also rot because there isn't anywhere cool in early summer to dry and store them. We still have rain in May so they cannot be left out to dry. The heat and humidity will cause them to rot. The seeds also lose viability so they do not have a long shelf life, so fresh seeds are best. Day length only varies a couple of hours throughout the year. The shortest day is a My longest day is 13hrs and 18 minutes long. The shortest day is 10 hours and 41 minutes, so I can only grow short day onions. Temperature does not vary much either. It is 80's-90 in summer and 70-80 in winter. Night temperatures are within 10 degrees of day temperatures. The ocean influences our temperature so we don't get a lot of variation. Fruits and vegetables that like long days and temperature variance struggle. It is why I can grow a lot of things all year round, but even the "giant" varieties will never get to be giants.
.
If your not having very hot 90° weather in winter you should be able to grow any potato you want. I have very good luck growing grocery store organic potatoes. The non organic grocery store potatoes will grow too I soak them in a 5 gallon bucket of water to soak away chemicals that prevent potatoes from sprouting. Change water in the 5 gallon bucket 3 times potatoes are easy to grow.

imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I haven't tried to grow regular potatoes. I do grow sweet potatoes. They can be grown almost year round and the leaves are also edible, so it is an easier crop to grow. I found an old bulletin that said potatoes could grow here, mostly in upcountry Maui where it is cooler and closer to zone 8 or 9. Potatoes are not a major source of food here. Rice is the staple of choice. Taro and sweet potatoes are grown more as secondary sources. I don't eat that many potatoes maybe 2-3 a month so sweet potatoes make more sense for me to grow. Even that takes up a lot of space if it is not trellised. You are lucky, you have a lot of space. I don't, so I have to get the highest yield from the space I have. Potatoes and onions are relatively cheap, and not that easy for me to grow, so I would rather grow something else in the same space.

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/EB-015.pdf



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