Onion Forest

[DoubleDogFarm]

First time starting onions in the greenhouse. I usually buy the bare root plant bundles. Five flats, one of each - Copra, Pacific Pearl, Guardsman, Red Beard and Borrettana Cipollini. I'll be starting some Red Torpedo also.

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20Greenhouse%20Photos/DSC03178.jpg[/img]


Eric

[Des_WA]

Looking good! I'm just now getting onion sprouts myself. Last year was my first time doing onions from seed and while they started fine, they never really grew all summer; didn't die, just seemed to be in stasis. I'm going to try shortening the light timer they're under to see if maybe I had it on too long and never triggered the bulbing process (I think the timer was for 12 hours, then the got planted outside in April... not sure if it would cause the problem). This year I'm also getting some sets, so hopefully one or both kinds will work!

I had some of the red Tropeana onions on honeymoon a couple years ago in Italy - to die for! I'm hoping I can get them to grow this year and relive the taste.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Des,

We should be growing long-day or day-neutral varieties. What varieties failed last year?

Red Torpedo, Copra and Borrettana Cipollini have done well for me.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/Borrettanaonions.jpg[/img]

These flat onions are Borrettana.

Eric

[Des_WA]

Last year I tried copra and tropeana/red torpedo from seed, both of which should work in our area from what I read.

This year I'm trying tropeana from seed (gotta get them to work!), and then mars, Red Zeppelin, Ringmaster, and Walla Walla from sets.

[applestar]

Looking good Eric!

My second planting of a "flat" of onions in a quart berry container (about 45~50 of them) are just starting to spring up from the looped sprout stage. (I have about 1/2 dozen earlier sowing of experimental seedlings at about 1/8~3/16" stage). Still trying to determine the best timing to sow the seeds, so am considering sowing another smaller batch.

When do you typically plant them -- I know sets can be planted with peas but plants should be planted with... potatoes? or more like with cabbage/broccoli transplants (which I'm thinking is somewhere in between...)

[DoubleDogFarm]

Apple,

I've ordered my onion plants from Territorial Seed Co. for the last ten years. The shipments arrived between mid January and mid February. I'm feeling a little behind schedule, but richer. 4-6 doz bunch is $14.00 + SH.

Potatoes will be planted St. Patricks Day and maybe the onions also.


Eric

[annastasia76]

I planted seeds last year and the bulbs never got any bigger than 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter. don't know why they stayed so small.

[DoubleDogFarm]

anna,

What variety are you planting? Maybe they didn't have sufficient time to make top growth before switching to bulbing. Potoperiodic. Maybe to much nitrogen and not enough P-K.


Eric

[annastasia76]

I am not sure what variety it was, I just used a packet of seeds that I found at walmart. I am now using them in the garden to attempt to repel the aphids, no idea if it is working.

[DoubleDogFarm]

So it's about a month later. They look like this today.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20Greenhouse%20Photos/DSC03252.jpg[/img]

Applestar how are yours doing?

Can someone tell me if these are on schedule. Should they be bigger? Do you give them a hair cut and at what size or age?

Eric

[applestar]

I'll take some pictures and post them tomorrow.

[DoubleDogFarm]

ah thank you, thank you very much.

I hope your not going to embarrass me!

Eric

[rainbowgardener]

I planted seeds last year and the bulbs never got any bigger than 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter. don't know why they stayed so small.

Onions are very slow to bulb up. It helps to plant them in the fall, let them winter over. The next season they will form bulbs.

[arisachu]

Onions are very slow to bulb up. It helps to plant them in the fall, let them winter over. The next season they will form bulbs.

Planted in the ground? They won't die? :O This whole growing plant life thing just gets more confusing every day! I have some scallions planted, should a similar approach be taken with them? I never eat the white bulb parts, though.

[applestar]

Eric, there's not much chance that anything I grow will be doing better than yours.

Here they are:

In the back, from the left: Seeded in November, December, Jan5, Feb6
In the front: Feb22 onions on left and leeks on the right:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image8404.jpg[/img]

Here on the very left (the rest are the same as above) is a row of garlic bottoms and a couple of onion bottoms:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image8400.jpg[/img]

I have more onion bottoms of various sizes sharing containers with other indoor/overwintering plants. I'm going to plant them all out later on.
Note that I don't have any of the above onions outside yet. I just moved them out to the unheated garage light setup. They just came out today to model for the photo-shoot.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Eric, there's not much chance that anything I grow will be doing better than yours.

Apple,
Oh! Horse Manure! I may grow more, doesn't make them better.

You most of told your onions to strike a pose, they sure look good. Mine are look somewhere around Feb 14th Are you planning to cut the tops off?

Eric

[applestar]

Why, thank you.

They were practicing for their audition to American Idol.
They are letting their hair grow, but I do give them a trim now and then when they get too floppy because then they can get kinked, and crimped hair is SOOO yesterday. ...or accidentally bruised....

Wow, this imagery doesn't work to well to continue, but the trimmings make fine garnish for salads and soups, baked potatoes, etc.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Transplanting the onion seedlings
Onion seedling of about 8 weeks can be transplanted. In other criteria about 22 cm tall onion seedlings are ready for transplantation. Onion seedlings must be hardened in order to make them tolerant to transplantation shock. For it, one week drought is maintained in the nursery bed exposing sunlight and not irrigating the nursery bed.

In the transplantation day; 1 hour before uprooting the seedlings, irrigation is done in the onion seedling raising nursery bed. Please don't cut the tip of the foliage of the onion seedlings. Cutting of the tip of the onion seedlings is called topping. Topping will lower the onion bulb size leading to the growing onion less successful. About 3 cm deep transplantation of the onion bulb is good.

Flat production field is better than the raised production field with respect to the onion bulb harvest. The spacing of the onion seedling should be 15 to 10 cm if growing onion is in cool season. The spacing of 15 x 20 cm is maintained if growing onion is done in warm season. The transplanted field or transplanted onion seedlings should be irrigated after the transplantation.

I keep reading that topping is not recommended while growing onion seedlings or at transplant time. I find it unusual that the onions I've been buying from Territorial Seed Co. have both the tops and roots cut back. They been giving nice size bulbs every year.

Eric

[applestar]

I've read something similar too, but I've found in the past that iif I let them get too long, they inevitably flop over and I'll pinch them between containers, put containers on top of the trailing ones, or they get tangled up with each other --- and get bruised. so I find it better to keep them just tall enough enough to still stand up on their own.

maybe if you can grow sturdier seedlings -- air movement, temp cycles? -- they wouldn't flop over.

I think that once planted, I would agree that cutting the tops at any time would reduce the bulb size since each leaf's photosynthesis contribute to each layer of the onion.

[gixxerific]

I trim my onions when they get to "hairy". Mine look like DDF's but I have mine thinned to 1 to a cell, well for the most part they are thinned out. I was actually thinking about trashing mine since I planted close to a hundred already.

[applestar]

Don't trash them, plant them!
If they don't make it they don't make it, but at least you gave them the chance.

Not meaning any offence, but I'll be amazed if all 100 planted already grow to full maturity. After all, attrition is part of the game.