Other than good soil and favorable weather there is really only one secret to getting large, yummy onions.

Maturity.

Onions take a long time to get to the point where they are established enough to make large, tasty bulbs.

Start them from seed early and give them lots of light.

Fluorescent lights probably won't cut it.

Onions start forming bulbs when the hours of darkness reaches their triggering point. Once this triggering point is reached it's all over. Either they are well established and in the right soil with the right climate or they are not.

We can't control our climate and there is only so much we can do about soil so the variable we can most control is how well established they are before nature triggers them to form bulbs.

That's why I buy plants from Dixondale instead of starting seeds in January ;-)

I planted my onion seeds in seed boxes/flats with fertile potting soil. Once the seeds germinated I placed the boxes in full to half-day sunlight. We plant seeds in September so having warm soil for germination is not a problem. In fact, I had to place the boxes in the shade so that they would not dry out too quickly. Once the seeds were up, it did not matter how close the plants were in the box. I gave them ample nutrients and they were easy to separate. The plants were set out in early December. Onions will be harvested next month.

Our local hardware/garden center carries Dixondale plants, which I have planted before. They are excellent plants. This was my "plan B" for last fall had my seeds plantings not done well.

I planted my onion seeds in seed boxes/flats with fertile potting soil. Once the seeds germinated I placed the boxes in full to half-day sunlight. We plant seeds in September so having warm soil for germination is not a problem. In fact, I had to place the boxes in the shade so that they would not dry out too quickly. Once the seeds were up, it did not matter how close the plants were in the box. I gave them ample nutrients. When the time came they were easy to separate. The plants were set out in early December. Onions will be harvested next month.

Our local hardware/garden center carries Dixondale plants, which I have planted before. They are excellent plants. This was my "plan B" for last fall had my seeds plantings not done well.

I buy my plants from Dixondale. The more you buy the less they cost so I order with a couple of friends. I used to grow them from seed but a friend gave me some extra's he'd gotten from Dixondale once and I was hooked. It's so much easier to plant the larger size plants from Dixondale than to deal with the little toothpicks I used to grow from seed.

I fertilize with ammonium sulfate once a month until just a month prior to harvest. I've found that a deep watering every week also helps.

I just finished off last years harvest a week ago. Like everything else, the cost of onions has risen significantly in recent years. This year I hope to grow enough to last the entire year.

Sorry for my double post. The web site problems yesterday indicated that I had not posted. It said "unable to connect". Apparently this was not correct.

To elaborate on the "feeding" I had mentioned above .. this was Miracle Gro solution or an alternative substitute.

I had put another forum posting on onions which did not go into much detail on my seed planting but it did show a picture of the current status (cut and pasted into the link below).

Here is a link that might be useful:

Spring planted Walla Walla's don't give you the highest quality onion. For the biggest and sweetest you'd fall plant them. So Dixondale may be your best bet for them this year. Tom

What is Dixondales secret? Mine were started around the Jan 1 and still aren't that impressive.

I start my onions in flats around March 2. As soon as they're up, I move the flat outside, bringing it in only if the weather is going to be below freezing (that's pretty much every night for a while. When the plants get above 3 inches, I trim them back--sometimes you have to do this several times. I set out the plants in mid-late April and harvest huge onions in August. It's not rocket science.

Onion plants are started in the fall by seed in a southern U.S., short day region. I use Dixiondale because it's easier for me. But great large onions can be grown from your direct seeding and you'll have a lot more variety to chose from.

grandad, I remember my LA gardens from the early 70's - some of the best growing I've ever had. Tom