tedln
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I planted a new variety of onion!

I planted 400 Texas Legend sweet onions on January 21. It is a fairly new variety with genetics similar to the Georgia Vidalia onion. Reports from first year growers from last year are very good, reporting it as sweeter, larger consistent bulb size; and earlier harvest than the Texas 1015 Y sweet onion. They also claim it stores very well. I also planted 100, 1015 Y onions for comparison. The Legend is a short day variety and was developed to grow in the warmer southern states of the United States. Like the 1015 Y, it supposedly has some resistance to pink root disease and insect damage.

I prefer to plant my onions in mid January with harvest in early to mid June depending on when the high summer heat arrives. We normally get some high winds in late may or early June which knock the onion tops to the ground. When the wind arrives and breaks the onion tops over, growing season is over and the bulbs are harvested when the tops turn brown and start drying. Since most of the bulbs are significantly above ground, they will get sun scald if not harvested.

There is something satisfying about eating a BLT sandwich made with a large single slice of onion, a large single slice of a tomato that tastes like a tomato, and lettuce harvested from my garden. The world seems like a better place when all the elements come together to form a great BLT. :lol:

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jal_ut
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Enjoy that sandwich.

I can't even imagine planting in January. Here in Northern Utah it is 31 degrees today and there is six inches of snow on the garden plot.

tedln
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jal_ut wrote:Enjoy that sandwich.

I can't even imagine planting in January. Here in Northern Utah it is 31 degrees today and there is six inches of snow on the garden plot.
It was in the high 30's / low 40's when I planted the onions. I expect a couple of snows in February. It doesn't harm the onions unless we have a couple of hard freezes. The freezes won't harm the onions, but the onions may bolt early as if they have gone through two winters and need to bloom and set seed before they produce bulbs. One hard freeze won't hurt them.

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digitS'
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I will sow onion seeds in some flats of soil mix soon - in the greenhouse.

:) The earliest seed that will be sown in 2019. Several years ago, I tried overwintering Walla Walla sweets. It worked and didn't work. The percentages were not in favor of continuing to sow seed in late August. From my reading, that is commonly done by commercial growers but that's 200 miles south. Bolting in the spring was too common in my garden.

The seedlings sure won't grow quickly in the greenhouse and I don't want the soil to freeze. It's likely that they will need extra protection but I won't turn the heat on in there until mid-March. Around that time, the onions will be spending lots of time outdoors.

Very early in my onion growing experiences, I wanted to try a short-day Vidalia. Hey! I read the hype ... and, didn't want to be left out. Granex variety. It wasn't a terrible mistake - my Granex were ping pong ball size, or close to it :).

Steve

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jal_ut
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I usually plant Yellow Spanish, Walla Walla, and Red onions. I like to plant seed for loads of green onions. If let go full season I get walnut sized bulbs. For large onions I get some onion sets and plant the sets. These will make large onions.

tedln
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I've always been intrigued by the thought of growing some walking onions in the same manner I grow various herbs, I don't know much about them, but I like the thought of always having onion tops available and I understand they regrow every spring similar to onion chives. I love my chives simply because I know they will always be there year after year waiting for me to need some.

Jal, out of curiosity, what do you like about the yellow Spanish onion? In my mind, I've always thought the Spanish onion had more sulfur in them than a sweet onion. In the grocery store, I buy the large white onions though the yellow onions are less expensive. I cut one of the white onion's last week for sauteing. It was pretty strong while cutting, but caramelized very, very sweet.

27 degrees F. at my house this morning. Onions are fine as are all of my greens including my leaf lettuce.

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jal_ut
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"Jal, out of curiosity, what do you like about the yellow Spanish onion?"

Well this is the one that the local feed and seed store stocks. (The lil dry bulbs for planting) So I plant it because it is available. Yes it does do well at this location. The dried bulbs will keep well for winter use.

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applestar
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I came across a variety called “Utah Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion” and have been wondering if it’s the kind jal_ut grows....

tedln
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I checked my newly planted onions today and they are already producing new tops. Temp is supposed to drop to 24 degrees F tonight. It will be interesting to see if any of the new onion greens are harmed by the cold temps. It will also be interesting to see which garden greens survive the freeze and which don't. My Romaine lettuce is starting to bolt. Maybe the cold weather will either kill the Romaine or stop the bolting. The Chinese cabbage and the Collard greens and Mustard greens are getting really large. Spinach, beets, and carrots are still small. A hard freeze last year killed my chard so I don't expect it to survive the freeze tonight.

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jal_ut
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"I came across a variety called “Utah Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion” and have been wondering if it’s the kind jal_ut grows...."

What's in a name? Yes it is very likely this is the same thing I plant though the feed store calls it Yellow Spanish onion

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jal_ut
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tedlin, thanks for sharing your story on the gardening there in Texas. Here today 23 degrees and 6 inches of snow on the lot. Nothing growing but ice.

tedln
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No snow on the ground in north Texas. We have only experienced a couple of light dustings of snow this winter and only three or four deep freezes which only occurred at night and only lasted a few hours. In February most years, my greatest weather concern is freezing rain which makes the roads very slick with a thin layer of ice and sometimes builds up enough to break the tops and branches from trees. Most of the garden plants I winter plant seem to hold up well in ice. They may bend to the ground from the weight, but they seem to spring back when the ice melts.

In February most years, my greatest concern seems to be keeping my germinated seedlings from growing so fast they out grow their room under the lights before it is warm enough to plant them out. Some years, I give up and plant them out in mid March which is ideal, but I usually have to cover them a couple of times at night to protect them from late frosts. I hope this year to not plant out until the first week of April. With most open pollinated, indeterminate; plants; it seems to be a fine line getting them to the blooming, fruit setting stage before the high summer heat arrives. This year, I am only planting tomatoes which thrive in the heat, so I can plant out later than normal.

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jal_ut
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Yep, gardening in Texas is going be different from gardening in Northern Utah. Here today 35 degrees, sunny, calm, 8 inches snow on the lot. Nothing growing but ice. Thanks for sharing your story. :P

Taiji
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I bought some new Candy onion seeds to plant in flats in few weeks. I had such great success with these the last couple of years in AZ. Don't know how they will do in the Upper Peninsula. They are a day neutral onion for intermediate latitudes, but are supposed to do well almost anywhere.

I'm thinking I will plant the seeds around mid March, but won't be able to put them in the ground til at least mid May. Don't want them to get stunted in there. I'll see what happens I guess.

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digitS'
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With Utah at about 40° North latitude, it's a little surprising that the Utah Sweet is a long-day variety and does just fine here at 48° North.

Walla Walla is a long-day, according to some, although its original home in Corsica is at 42° North. Utah Sweet does a little better for me than Walla Walla. (The city is about 200 miles south of here. [Spain is north of Corsica.] :wink: )

DW likes Candy. I have found that if they are in any shade that they don't do well. The bulbs aren't especially large in their best location but I shouldn't inhibit their growth and then they will be okay.

Steve

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Gary350
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My father use to plant onions in May then harvest them about August. His soil was better than my soil and his weather is 10 degrees cooler than mine. He use to say, let tops grow until they have a minimum of 10 leaves, 12 to 14 leaves are better. Knock the tops over with your foot or knock top over with the hoe then plants can not go to seed. After tops are knocked over onion bulbs will grow larger. When sun gets hot shade onions with news paper. Paper keeps sun off & breeze blows threw to remove heat. He made it look so easy and grew baseball size onions. I need a spot just for onions with soil preparation just for onions maybe my onions will do better. You should be able to grow a good garden in TX when I lived in Phoenix AZ area I planted garden Nov 1st best garden I every had, I grew things I can not grow in TN. 70 degree winter temperature was perfect for AZ garden.

tedln
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I've never had to knock the tops over. I plant seedlings in January or February and in late April or late May, we get winds that always knock the tall tops over. Some of the bulbs are large in mid June while some are only average size, yet all grew in identical conditions. I'm hoping the Texas Legend variety will produce a more consistent, large bulb size than the Texas 1015 has in the past. If some of the plants reach the ten to fourteen leaf size before the wind blows them over, I will knock them over and see what happens. It should be interesting.

I also planted some generic white sets the other day to produce onion tops for consumption. I'm not sure why, but it always bothers me to pull small bulbing onions in order to only harvest the tops.

Taiji
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Planted my Candy onions in flats about a week ago. Germination is very good; they all seem to be coming up.

I also ordered some Ailsa Craig seeds the other day; seems like they get huge in northern latitudes. Germination is very good too. All seem to be coming up in my flats.

When ordering the Ailsa Craigs, I was only able to get 1200 seeds at a time. Much more than I'll ever use though I will put some seeds directly into the garden for green onions. If anyone would like to try some, just pm me your address and I'll send out 25- 30 seeds. Don't worry about postage, I have plenty of discount postage laying around. Might as well get rid of them, I don't think onion seeds are as viable a year or 2 later.

They are considered a long day northern latitude onion though.

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I found that more than variety matters with onions. Soil and environment matters a lot whether onions are sweet or not. I usually plant Texas Granax at the end of October since it is a short day onion. When I harvest in May, they are very sweet but after 2 weeks they get very hot. Storage is an issue in warm humid climates.

tedln
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My Texas Legend onions are doing great with tops about one foot tall. I will need to pull some in about three weeks when I plant my pepper plants. I always plant my peppers among the onions. They get along fine and I get green onions every year. We are supposed to get a storm tonight with wind gusts up to seventy miles per hour. I hope it doesn't break my onion tops over.



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