Growing Onions from Seed - When to Start?

[jal_ut]

Garlic will overwinter here. Onions will not. Here we can get onion sets from the local garden store and plant sets in the Spring.

[applestar]

I need to do a systematic dedicated experiment --

It turns out that Candy is one of overwinter-able varieties. Being a day-neutral intermediate, this is probably still your best choice,@ Rainbowgardener.

I've casually tried sowing Walla Walla in the fall and covering the row with plastic low tunnel. The ones at the sturdiest double-layered end didn't make it, but the ones that came undone and flappy did. I might have some WW seeds left but if I'm going to compare, I probably should get fresh seeds....

I'd like to try Bridger too but availability seems to be limited to Johnny's and I'm not sure I can afford their high seed price out of my rapidly dwindling gardening budget. But Bridger seems to be the MOST winter hardy, according to descriptions.

I could probably pick up Candy seeds at a more reasonable cost... But my location seems to be at northern edge of intermediate onion growing areas.

I have to decide soon -- I need to start them in August according to one source.

[Peter1142]

I was excited to grow bridger, until I realized it will not bulb up until the long days of summer just like any other onion, offering only the convenience of not growing starts, at the loss of a good variety of selections... looks like a pretty generic onion.

Walla Walla is a very nice onion... I might try overwintering some. I didn't realize it was hardy, thanks for sharing.

[Taiji]

Yes, you don't want to save seeds from bolters.

I was thinking that too; that if I start plants from those seeds they might produce plants with the propensity to go to seed early also. And yet, somebody somewhere along the line had to get their plants to go to seed to get the seeds. Maybe some controlled environment forces the plants to produce seeds on purpose?

Just to be sure I'm on the same page with everyone else, when one talks of sets, you mean the actual plants that come in bundles that look like little green onions, or do you mean the little bulbs that come in the net bags? Or are the little plants in bundles called plants and not sets? (I think we're all in agreement as to what seeds are)!

Peter, I noticed in your onion photos you trimmed your greens back. Does that help, and do you do that only once?

[Peter1142]

They produce seed in a normal two year cycle...at least I would assume so. It is not bolting when they go to seed after doing what they are supposed to do.

Sets are the tiny bulbs that come in a bag. The green plants in bundles are transplants.. not sets.

I trimmed the foliage frequently, before transplanting... honestly I am not sure if it made much of a difference.

[Taiji]

Ahh, I get it, thx! That clears things up!