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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

What to do, Onions going to seed?

The onions that I planted last fall are making seeds. There is NO onion bulb just a very large green onion. The green onion is the diameter of a broom handle about 1" diameter. The onion is 3 ft tall and has a bulb on top getting ready to make seeds.

We had a month of 85 deg weather in March now it is April and we are having 50 deg weather. Crazy weather.

Someone told me to bend the tops over it will stop the plant from making seed. Will that force it to make a large onion bulb that can be sliced?

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Cut that seed leaf and take it in and eat it. Eat the whole green onion.

Onions are biennial. If planted in the fall, that is what they do, go to seed.

If you plant very small dry onion sets in the spring, they will usually make a bulb. Any larger dry onions planted in the spring will usually flower. All parts of the onion plant are edible.

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soil
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Location: N. California

we do this on purpose with some onions each year, leaving the bloom until just open so we can eat it.

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Someone told me to bend the tops over it will stop the plant from making seed.
Bending the tops is a technique used about mid August to get the tops started to dry up so the onions can be pulled to dry further for storage or shipping. Yes, it will prevent flowering, but by mid August the plants have already flowered. Bend the tops over too early, and you will slow or halt bulb formation.

I just clip the buds as soon as I see them. The plant will likely make a bulb after the bud is clipped, but it will never be as nice a bulb as one that didn't send up a flower leaf. Best thing to do is eat that onion with the bud as soon as practical. All parts of the onion are edible at any stage in their development.



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