What's up with these red onions?

[paulnjgarden]

Check out the 6 onion bunches that definitely look different than the rest- those all happen to be red onions (while the rest are a mix of various regular/yellow onions).

Is that not enough water? Not enough sun? Are red onions much different than other onion varieties in terms of their water/sun/soil preferences?

As my signature indicates...I'm new at this.

Thanks!

[gumbo2176]

If that is suppose to be red onions, you have them planted in clusters and they likely won't do much. I would dig them up and separate them to individual plants and space them about 4 inches apart in all directions.

Think of it like this-----you go to the store and buy green onions in those bunches. If there is just a bit of root on those green onions, you can cut them up from the root end about 1 inch, put them in a cup with water for a couple days and they will start sending out roots. Take each individual stem and place them in the garden about 2 inches apart in all directions, keep them watered for a few days, and they will grow new green onion tops. I do this whenever I run low on green onions in the garden. Each one of the clusters you seem to have may be 8-10 or more red onion plants vying for space to grow. Separate them and see how things turn out.

[jal_ut]

Hard to say with the info given.

What are they planted in?
What is that which looks like black plastic?
Have you set these out in the garden still in tight little clumps?
Would they happen to be in peat pots?

More info please.

[DeborahL]

Gumbo, I'm going to root green onions ! Neat idea !
I tried to root grocery store spearmint but no dice. It must have been treated because as we know NOTHING stops mint. Or usually nothing.
Would parsley stems root in water?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Like James said, we need more information, but I'm pretty sure you have a spacing issue.

I like to separate the bunches.



Then plant them 4-6" apart


Eric

[paulnjgarden]

Hard to say with the info given.

What are they planted in?
What is that which looks like black plastic?
Have you set these out in the garden still in tight little clumps?
Would they happen to be in peat pots?

More info please.

They're planted in the ground (few inches of good top soil there), the 'plastic' is just porous landscaping fabric (the type that keeps weeds from popping up)- yes, we're newbies so we just planted them as they were in the transplant pots (clumps).

No peat pots, not sure what that is. Sounds like we have a case for separating them!

What about the other onions there that seem to be doing well? Separate them out as well?

Thanks so much!!

[gixxerific]

Yes you need to separate them all! As said 4- 6 inches apart. Onions don't need a ton of water either. Do not water them a week or so before harvest it helps the bulbs dry out a bit.

You said they came in pots. Never plant anything in a peat pot or any sort of constrictive environment. They tell you the pots degrade but they don't, well not nearly fast enough.

Good luck.

[paulnjgarden]

Then plant the 4-6" apart


Eric[/quote]

That looks great- thanks for such a helpful walkthrough. What's that grid for? I have some extra fence material lying around, should I make a lattice like that for the onions?

[gixxerific]

Then plant the 4-6" apart


Eric

That looks great- thanks for such a helpful walkthrough. What's that grid for? I have some extra fence material lying around, should I make a lattice like that for the onions?[/quote]

He is using that as a helpful guide for plant spacing.

[jal_ut]

Yes, definitely space them out. It will not hurt them to just dig the clump up and separate them. Even if they go bare root for a minute while you do it. Onions are amazingly tough that way. If you want onions for eating as green onions they can be planted about two inches apart.

If you want them to go for large bulbs for storage, plant them 4 to 6 inches apart. Put them about one inch to one and a half inch deep to the roots. The onion bulb will form mostly out of the ground.

Interesting thing about onions, the bulb is the lower part of the leaf. You will have a leaf for each layer on the onion. Since the bulb is a collection of leaf parts, it does not need to be under ground.

[DoubleDogFarm]

He is using that as a helpful guide for plant spacing.

He's right you know. This is part of a hog panel that I have slightly bowed. It fits my 3ft wide raised beds. Lay it down poke a plant in each square opening and move. Done!


Eric

[farmerlon]

... Onions don't need a ton of water either. Do not water them a week or so before harvest it helps the bulbs dry out a bit.
....

You're right.
However, it might be good to mention that Onions are a relatively shallow-rooted crop, and they will definitely benefit from a constant supply of moisture (during the growth period).

[jal_ut]

The onions roots will have a spread of 2 feet and go to a depth of 3 feet at maturity. Here is an interesting study of the roots of plants. Scroll down to onions and take a look.

I will add: keep those onions watered well for a couple of weeks. Their roots are quite small at present.

[sheeshshe]

Interesting thing about onions, the bulb is the lower part of the leaf. You will have a leaf for each layer on the onion. Since the bulb is a collection of leaf parts, it does not need to be under ground.

HUH! that is so cool! I never knew that! soso so cool!

[Moley]

The onions roots will have a spread of 2 feet and go to a depth of 3 feet at maturity. Here is an interesting study of the roots of plants. Scroll down to onions and take a look.

I will add: keep those onions watered well for a couple of weeks. Their roots are quite small at present.

Great link, with some fascinating info. In a perfect world the home gardener never hope to see a fully developed root system; I'm also stealing that spacing trick, I have a very similar looking piece of stainless steel I have left over from wall mounted pot racks.

[garden5]

Another thing that I want to emphasize is that, like Jal said, you don't want to plant them too deep, only 1 or 1.5 in.

Also, as they grow, do not "re-burry" them. They are supposed to sit on top of the soil surface like this:

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-1108629 ... -soil.html

[paulnjgarden]

Thanks everybody for all the advice! I'll keep you posted as to how they're doing- we separated out about 100 of these little guys (both yellow & red onions + leeks) and replanted an inch or so deep, 4" apart. The leaves are kind of falling over so i did my best to support them.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Good to hear. The new leaves will be self supporting.

Eric