onions not growing

[2cents]

I've always had trouble with onions(green onions are easy). I got some red and white vadalia from Tractor Supply.

I had alot of storm debri available last fall and brought several yards home to the garden. I love to add organics to the soil.

The bulb onions are planted in about 50% wood chips and some broken down leaves(composted in the garden, no hot or formal composting), the rest being 25% soil and 25% old compost material from the fall before.

They did real well at first. Now they are just sitting there. Some minor browning of tips, but very little growth or no growth for 3 weeks.
Friends planted same onions 2 weeks after mine and his are 3 times the size of mine(his first garden attempt, no compost and lots of grass growing in his garden spot).

I can always give them a jolt of nitrogen/fertilizer.
But before I do that, what suggestions do you all have?

[Gary350]

Onions need Potash and Phosphate and not much nitrogen. Get a bag of Murate of Potash and Super Phophate at Tractor Supply or Farmer Co-op or other farm supply stores. You can also use wood ash from your wood stove it is about 5% Potash where the Murate of Potash is 60%.

[pharmerphil]

wood chips require high amounts of nitrogen to break down. nitrogen is leached from your plantings to break the wood chips down
wood chips need to be composted first .
we raise 300-600 onions successfully every year, we start seed, then set out transplants.

[2cents]

Well here is the dilemna, Do I add nitrogen to break down the wood chips and create a more stable environment for the onions? or Do I add the Murate of Potash and Super Phophate for the root growth?
Or is a mix of all three better? Or should I be thinking something more organic?