Bunching onions has nothing to do with growing onions close together.

Yellow Granex is a short day onion and is unlikely to form good sized bulbs in the north.

I recommend you visit Dixondale Farms and read their onion growing info to gain an understanding of how to choose varieties for the results you want based upon where you live.

Here is the long and short of onion growing. There are long, short and neutral day varieties. The day length is a misnomer as it actually refers to night length. In the north you want long day (short night onions). This means that when days are long and nights short a biological trigger is fired and the onion starts forming a bulb. This means they start forming bulbs in late spring/early summer which is ideal in the north. In the south those folks want short day onions (long nights). This just means the onions produce bulbs as temps are cooling in the south whereas in the north we do better with onions that bulb as temps are warming.

Beyond day (night) length is sweetness. With onions the more water the bulb stores the sweeter it is. The less it stores the more pungent and strong it is.

There seems to be a trend these days favoring sweet onions such as Vidali (south) and Walla walla (north), but there is a relationship between sweetness and storage. The sweeter the onion, the more water it retains and the shorter it's storage qualities before it rots.

I really hope you visit the link I provide in this thread because after reading the info there you will know more about how to grow great onions than 99.9% of the humans on the planet.

Also, onions are best and most easily sown in shallow flats and separated when they are planted in the garden.

Just a guy covered it pretty well. " bunching onions are a type of onions onions commonly called multipliers and are different from regular onions. The potato onion is a member of this group. As mentioned Yellow Granex is a short day onion, which simply means that it starts bulbing when daylenght is 10-12 hours. Typically they are are grown in winter for harvest in April. They start bulbing up in March. Long day onions need about 16 hours of daylight to begin bulbing, which means June bulbing for August-September harvest. Too hot down here for that but perfect for northern states. The day neutral onions require 12-14 hours of daylight to trigger bulbing.

It is best to get them into thier permanent location as soon as possible. The tops are usually trimmed when transplanting as it reduces transplant shock.

Thanks, everyone. I live in Denver, which (according to the Dixondale Farms site) is best for intermediate day onions. Does that mean I'm out of luck with the Yellow Granex (a long-day) or can I still make it work?

I just want to say that I am learning SO much from these garden forums. Thank you to everyone who is contributing!!

Melanie

You may get some smaller bulbs from them. But I'd plan on using most of the Yellow Granex as green or salad onions because in your location (unless maybe you are way north of Denver and the surrounding countryside can fool them into thinking the nights are shorter and the days are longer than they really are) they won't be up to your expectations for size.

But they are still good to eat! And the tops are great in salads too or braised with garlic. Try leaving a few in the ground and see what you end up with come harvest time. That way you'll have a basis for comparison next year.

Dave

melanie

Transplant your onions and see how they do. You can always snip the tops or even harvest the whole plants when small for "spring onions".

I also have Yellow Granex onion seeds, but I'm in Georgia where they grow well. I received them too late to plant for an actual onion harvest this year, but I have some growing in a few spots to use later, as much as they grow. I'll plant a serious crop in the Fall for a Spring harvest.

I think you'll be okay. I bought onion sets last Fall, and freaked out when I realized there were 100s in the package and I had to plant them all in my raised bed, which is only 8' by 6'. I was just jamming these things in everywhere. Heh heh. We've been having delicious onions with dinner most every night for a month now, and there are still a bunch left to pull.
I too was new to onions. Maybe conditions in CA are more forgiving though. That is probably the case. I got lucky.
Thanks for the onion thread justaguy!

deep roots is in CA - not good advice for northern climates.
I'd plant out those seedlings but also get some Stuttgarter onion sets and put them in and now is a good time. Your local garden centwr should have sets. Next year go for a long day variety. Always a good idea to check out what grows locally.

I recommend onion sets as well, your local garden center will have 1-4 varieties of what grows best locally. They usually sell the little bulbs for $.79 - $1.40 per pound, depending on the variety. Its a fairly fool-proof way of getting your onions. If you order from a catalog company you will need to know what variety is correct for your area.
I've tried starting my onions from seeds and the best I ended up with was a nice bunch of salad onions.

Melanie -- It is not uncommon to trim onions just after they are out of seedling stage. Just a light trim off the tip encourages a stronger root and thicker leaf bundle. I usually do mine in the seed flat then once again before transplanting to the ground. As you've already shifted yours once, give them a few days to recover then just a light haircut. (The leaves initiate at the base, so the tip trim doesn't stop growth.) To a point, onions are pretty forgiving and tolerate a couple trims. If you notice bundles of transplants in stores, you'll usually see chopped off tips.

The onion guide addresses planting started plants, so not about starting your own from seed.

The term bunching is often used a couple ways. One is the true bunching or non-bulbing onion which does not produce a bulb. These stay slender throughout the season. The other is growing the bulbing onions close together and harvesting before the bulbs start to expand very much. Even if planting sets or bulbing transplants, you can have both. Make close spacings then harvest the
middle ones at green or bunching size 'til you have your final spacing for bulbing. If you want all green onions, then just leave them close and harvest early.

The Granex series is short-day, I believe.

melanie, last year was my first starting onions from seed. I grew Mars, a big, long day red. I started them in a bunch and transplanted some singly just as you did.Some I left 2-3 to a cell where that was all that came up.

I clipped the tops a couple times when they were under lights to keep them from touching the bulb with no ill effects.

I found the singles were much bigger at planting time and started off quicker. The others I separated at planting, and some of the smaller ones didn't make it, and the rest started off slowly.

In the end though, come late August, I couldn't tell which were which originally, as all were exactly the same large healthy size!

I can't thank you enough justaguy2 !!!
I have never been able to grow decent onions and now I know why. At the 20th of June we usually have 2-3 days where it is light all night. Right now it is light at 5am until 9pm. I'd better get some onions of the right variety & soon!