Onion sets
I planted onion sets last year and the onion never formed. Only the green part. I am still a newbie to gardening. Maybe I did something wrong. I purchased another set of onions for this year. How are they suppose to be planted? There were no directions with them... Last year I separated each little onion and planted. Are the suppose to be planted in groups? How will I know when they are ready to pick? Please help.... Thank You
Arriga,
It sounds like you have green onions. If so, they don't get much of an onion bulb/root. They are grown for the tops, hence green onions. They are used as a garnish, flavoring, or eaten by themselves, just cut the root hairs off(all they way off) and you'll have a small white onion bulb and the green tops. Since they have no b real bulb, they can be planted close together 2-3 inches apart.
For larger white onions look for onion sets that are called Walla-Walla or Vandalia, or try a purple or yellow onion.
It sounds like you have green onions. If so, they don't get much of an onion bulb/root. They are grown for the tops, hence green onions. They are used as a garnish, flavoring, or eaten by themselves, just cut the root hairs off(all they way off) and you'll have a small white onion bulb and the green tops. Since they have no b real bulb, they can be planted close together 2-3 inches apart.
For larger white onions look for onion sets that are called Walla-Walla or Vandalia, or try a purple or yellow onion.
- jal_ut
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7447
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
- Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
What I call onion sets are small dry onions about the size of a marble. Is that what you planted?
Plant onion sets very early in the spring. March or April in zones 5 and 6.
Plant them 5 inches apart in a row. They do not need to be deep. Just deep enough to cover the little onions. Onions respond well to fertile soil. Grow them until the tops fall over. Usually mid August. You can pull them then and dry them some in a shed before storing them.
Onions can be pulled and eaten at any stage of their development. If left to grow until August, they should be pretty big.
[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/onion_08.jpg[/img]
Edit to add: If what you got was small onion plants in a bundle, plant same as above. They do very well too. Bury up to the white part, and leave the green tops above ground.
Plant onion sets very early in the spring. March or April in zones 5 and 6.
Plant them 5 inches apart in a row. They do not need to be deep. Just deep enough to cover the little onions. Onions respond well to fertile soil. Grow them until the tops fall over. Usually mid August. You can pull them then and dry them some in a shed before storing them.
Onions can be pulled and eaten at any stage of their development. If left to grow until August, they should be pretty big.
[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/onion_08.jpg[/img]
Edit to add: If what you got was small onion plants in a bundle, plant same as above. They do very well too. Bury up to the white part, and leave the green tops above ground.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts: 187
- Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:23 pm
- Location: alabama
OK, I'm puzzled.
My first thought was that you had the wrong onions for the day length in your climate. Different onions are appropriate for different latitudes - in the north, you grow long-day onions, and in the south, you grow short-day onions.
If you grow short-day onions in the north, you get premature bulbing and tiny little bulbs. If you grow long-day onions in the south, you get bigger and bigger green onions (meaning, green onion stalks with no bulb - it's a stage of onion growth rather than a type of onion), and eventually you go to seed without ever getting a bulb. Which sounds like what you're getting.
So I figured that you were in the south growing long-day onions. But your latitude, in Charles Town, West Virginia, doesn't seem to qualify as "south" in onion terms. So I'm confused.
One other possibility could be that you chose onions that have a long growing season, or you planted them too late, so that the onions were stopped by cold before they could finish growing.
I think that I would recommend buying a bunch of onion plants, not sets, of a specific named variety, a relatively short season, and day length characteristics appropriate for your latitude. Johnny's Selected Seeds, among other companies, sells onion plants and gives all the details of growing season and appropriate day length, or you might find named onion plants at your local nursery and look up their details on the web.
If all of your onion space is filled with this year's sets already, you could just plan on eating green onions/scallions - get even more sets and plant them thicker, and plan on pulling them and using them green as you want them. Then you could try for bulb onions again next year.
However, to answer your other questions:
Onion sets intended for bulbs are normally planted individually, three to five inches apart depending on variety, an inch to an inch and a half deep. Onion sets intended for green onions/scallions are planted much closer together.
Green onions are just pulled and eaten whenever they look good and you want an onion; bulb onions usually take the whole season, three to five months, and you know when the tops start to die down or fall over that the bulbs are starting to mature.
Burnet
My first thought was that you had the wrong onions for the day length in your climate. Different onions are appropriate for different latitudes - in the north, you grow long-day onions, and in the south, you grow short-day onions.
If you grow short-day onions in the north, you get premature bulbing and tiny little bulbs. If you grow long-day onions in the south, you get bigger and bigger green onions (meaning, green onion stalks with no bulb - it's a stage of onion growth rather than a type of onion), and eventually you go to seed without ever getting a bulb. Which sounds like what you're getting.
So I figured that you were in the south growing long-day onions. But your latitude, in Charles Town, West Virginia, doesn't seem to qualify as "south" in onion terms. So I'm confused.
One other possibility could be that you chose onions that have a long growing season, or you planted them too late, so that the onions were stopped by cold before they could finish growing.
I think that I would recommend buying a bunch of onion plants, not sets, of a specific named variety, a relatively short season, and day length characteristics appropriate for your latitude. Johnny's Selected Seeds, among other companies, sells onion plants and gives all the details of growing season and appropriate day length, or you might find named onion plants at your local nursery and look up their details on the web.
If all of your onion space is filled with this year's sets already, you could just plan on eating green onions/scallions - get even more sets and plant them thicker, and plan on pulling them and using them green as you want them. Then you could try for bulb onions again next year.
However, to answer your other questions:
Onion sets intended for bulbs are normally planted individually, three to five inches apart depending on variety, an inch to an inch and a half deep. Onion sets intended for green onions/scallions are planted much closer together.
Green onions are just pulled and eaten whenever they look good and you want an onion; bulb onions usually take the whole season, three to five months, and you know when the tops start to die down or fall over that the bulbs are starting to mature.
Burnet