Next year I'd like to try this, But not sure what type to plant and when do I plant them??
I usually do white onions I think they're sets come in bunches of 48 to a pack, they're just bulbs and I plant them in late March early april. Can"t do reds as the squirrels like them, I had about 100 in the ground last year and they dug them all up and took em.. Go figure that. Bold little buggers weren't even afraid of me took em while I was planting my other crops.. They must really like them..
You are talking about planting one year and harvesting the next, right?
It may work for you to try this: sowing seed as the summer temperatures began to cool but still, several weeks before the first frost.
I was able to do that with Walla Walla Sweet about 1 year out of 3, with a zone 5 winter between sowing and harvest. The other 2 years, the small plants survived just fine. However, they quickly bolted to seed. The last attempt - nearly 100% bolted.
It probably depends on the stress the plants experience before they can get to the growing season. Cold stress, is supposed to be one reason why you should not be in too much of a hurry to transplant, store-bought plants that have been grown in southern areas. They should go from their near-dormant state into growing conditions, not be slammed by severe weather. Of course, a zone 5 or a zone 6 winter is going to have some severe cold but, I suppose, if it gets too extreme or the cold comes after the plants have begun to grow again, they may just bolt to seed rather than growing thru to their usual bulbing time.
I just went to starting the seed in my small greenhouse but if your conditions are right, you may be able to sow seed, perhaps about the end of August, for an onion crop the following year. Variety choice - I'd bet - could be an important factor. Altho' I grow a few different varieties each year, it was only Walla Walla that I tried to over-winter.
BTW - I live only about 200 miles north of Walla Walla, Washington. I understand that sowing onion seed in late August works fine there.
Steve
It may work for you to try this: sowing seed as the summer temperatures began to cool but still, several weeks before the first frost.
I was able to do that with Walla Walla Sweet about 1 year out of 3, with a zone 5 winter between sowing and harvest. The other 2 years, the small plants survived just fine. However, they quickly bolted to seed. The last attempt - nearly 100% bolted.
It probably depends on the stress the plants experience before they can get to the growing season. Cold stress, is supposed to be one reason why you should not be in too much of a hurry to transplant, store-bought plants that have been grown in southern areas. They should go from their near-dormant state into growing conditions, not be slammed by severe weather. Of course, a zone 5 or a zone 6 winter is going to have some severe cold but, I suppose, if it gets too extreme or the cold comes after the plants have begun to grow again, they may just bolt to seed rather than growing thru to their usual bulbing time.
I just went to starting the seed in my small greenhouse but if your conditions are right, you may be able to sow seed, perhaps about the end of August, for an onion crop the following year. Variety choice - I'd bet - could be an important factor. Altho' I grow a few different varieties each year, it was only Walla Walla that I tried to over-winter.
BTW - I live only about 200 miles north of Walla Walla, Washington. I understand that sowing onion seed in late August works fine there.
Steve
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jal_ut
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Any onion I ever tried to overwinter just bloomed next summer. They are biennial. That is what they do, bloom after going through winter.
Small sets about the size of a penny will usually bulb if planted in the spring. A few may bloom.
I can also get small plants in a bunch at the garden store. These have bulbed just fine for me.
Small sets about the size of a penny will usually bulb if planted in the spring. A few may bloom.
I can also get small plants in a bunch at the garden store. These have bulbed just fine for me.
I did some checking on varieties. Oregon State U has some information online:
[url=https://nwrec.hort.oregonstate.edu/owonion.html]Overwintering Onions, Willamette Valley[/url]
[url=https://nwrec.hort.oregonstate.edu/onionb-e.html]Dry Bulb Onions, Eastern Oregon[/url]
I kind of resent that there are so many strains available to commercial growers
. They seem to get down to fairly specific regional choices but, I'll tell you what: I think it may have something to do with climate.
Anyway, Arbini & Locati are farms in the Walla Walla valley and "northern Umatilla County" is in Oregon but not all that far away. There isn't much information on Eastern Oregon, btrowe1. Still, I think that your home there on the Hudson isn't really in a valley like the Willamette.
I searched for the eastern Oregon varieties and began to think that I wasn't going to come up with anything but then found Imai Early Yellow onion seed at Kitazawa. In a way, this is kind of unfortunate since I have already ordered from Kitazawa and received the shipment just a couple of days ago!! [url=https://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_135-96.html]Kitazawa Seed (click)[/url]
I also found Senshyu Yellow onion seed available to UK gardeners at Suttons. Aren't Suttons seeds also available in Canada??
Steve
[url=https://nwrec.hort.oregonstate.edu/owonion.html]Overwintering Onions, Willamette Valley[/url]
[url=https://nwrec.hort.oregonstate.edu/onionb-e.html]Dry Bulb Onions, Eastern Oregon[/url]
I kind of resent that there are so many strains available to commercial growers
. They seem to get down to fairly specific regional choices but, I'll tell you what: I think it may have something to do with climate.Anyway, Arbini & Locati are farms in the Walla Walla valley and "northern Umatilla County" is in Oregon but not all that far away. There isn't much information on Eastern Oregon, btrowe1. Still, I think that your home there on the Hudson isn't really in a valley like the Willamette.
I searched for the eastern Oregon varieties and began to think that I wasn't going to come up with anything but then found Imai Early Yellow onion seed at Kitazawa. In a way, this is kind of unfortunate since I have already ordered from Kitazawa and received the shipment just a couple of days ago!! [url=https://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_135-96.html]Kitazawa Seed (click)[/url]
I also found Senshyu Yellow onion seed available to UK gardeners at Suttons. Aren't Suttons seeds also available in Canada??
Steve