Winter Onion is another name for multiplying onions, most usually known as Potato Onion, Hill Onion, and other common names.

I'm surprised to hear you already have bulbs, though. Due to the mild fall we had it's possible that your onions actually bulbed then, which is rather unusual. But what's happening now is that the plants are feeding from those bulbs. Just let them grow like any other onions. Each of them, at bulbing time in the summer, will divide into a cluster of new onions. Some will be large, edible size. Others will be like sets.

This fall, plant some of each. The large ones will multiply into a clump of sets, and the small ones will grow into several full-sized bulbs.

Thanks for the response will they produce small bulbs on the leaf or blade tip like garlic or will they just bloom and seed?

I've never had bulbing multiplying onions send up scapes or flower heads, Showmeman. They just produce leaves and underground bulbs.

There are top-setting multipliers, however, such as Egyption Walking onion and Catawassi. These produce bulbils at the ends of stems which can be used either for planting or eating (historically they were pickled). Top setters, for the most part, do not produce bulbs of any consequence. But other than the bulbils, there are no flower heads or seeds, as you find with common onions, ornamental alliums, and some shallots.

Rakkyo, which is a bulbing multiplier from Asia, does flower. But it doesn't produce seed. The bulbs are small, more like shallots than onions. And it's a perrenial that belongs to a different species (Allium chinense) then the others, which are A. cepa, Aggregatum Group.

I have top setters, and they also have more bulbs in the soil once harvested in late summer. Mine have bulbils that range rom tiny pea sized to bigger than a marble. These are in clusters at the top of a stiff stalk. I break these off before they topple over and seperate them. Later in the same month the one in the soil get dug up and dried off. Another few weeks later and the seperated bulbil clusters get planted for the next years crop. If these go unchecked, they can overtake an area in a year or two.

When I was young and growing up in Duluth, Minnesota we had a garden which had what we called "winter onions". They consisted of small clumps of small onions that would self reproduce and winter over from year to year. Sometimes we could dig them up in the middle of winter. They looked like a simple green onion except they were a squatter bulb and the tops would grow new sets on them that would fall off and root or could be taken off and rooted.
Do you have any idea what these were and where can I get some?

Those sound like Egyptian Onions, Catawissa onions, or "walking onions." Sometimes they are called Spring onions too. Do a search here.

I live in IL and have some winter onions to share. Would anyone like some?

I would like some winter onions to get a start. My dad and I have been looking all over trying to find some.

flowerchild, I have been looking for winter onions to no avail. If you still have some to share I would be most appreciative.
Thank you.

My mother-in-law has what she calls 'winter onions' they stand almost 4 feet tall with thick green stalks. there are also small clusters of onions on the tops which have smaller clusters on the tips of those. (pictured)

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Please send me some of your winter onions! I have searched everywhere for them. Send me an e-mail at gwat1@swbell.net if you have some left and we will arrange a trade-off. Thanks!

Flowerchild2008 I would love to have some of your multiplying onions....Please EMAIL me.

Flowerchild, I would love some winter onions as well if they're still available. Please email me at saxonmjs@windstream.net and let me know how you want to handle this transaction.

Thanks! Maureen

I would like some winter onions if you still have any available. Please email me at jmahan@blomand.net.

flowergirl , I also have looked for this onion , I remmmber them from when I was a young girl, please let me know.

I would love to get a hold of the winter onions that are multiplying onions. Is there anyone that can let me know where I could get some. Please e-mail me at a1clarks@yahoo.com.
thank you,
Sharon

I NEED TO FIND SOMEONE THAT HAS THE WINTER ONIONS THAT HAVE THE BUNCHES OF SETS ON TOPS. IF SOMEONE HAS ANY OF THESE BULBS ARE SETS THAT I COULD GET A START OF I WOULD APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH, PLEASE HELP ME OUT. PLEASE EMAIL ME AT barbmatheny@hotmail.com . I LIVE IN RAVENDEN, ARKANSAS

in Arkansas we call them winter onions but the Egyptian Walking Onions is the accepted name !! they aren't the big, round globes you think of as onions. Egyptian Walking Onions are much smaller bulbs that offer the double bonus of forming smaller bulblets on top of their stems in clusters, kind of like a freaky flower head. You can eat either end, but usually you eat the bulbs from the ground and plant the bulblets for more onions. They get the moniker Walking because if you don't harvest the bulbs, these perennial plants will walk their way across your garden. you usually dont have to plant them they reseed themselves if you leave the tops !!

we just harvested these onions from last winter. I guess my husband forgot about them, and just left them still in the garden. I was going to blanche and freeze for soups and stews; and the flavor is lost that way. Maybe, I will try and sauteed with butter and freeze. How do you process them to keep any flavor?

I would probably use them like you would shallots or scallions. You could chop them and freeze them. Add towards the end of cooking to soups, omellettes, etc. I'm not sure you really need to blanch before freezing. But, you could try freezing some in olive oil, sort of like pesto and see if that works better.
Also, unless you are in a very cold area, you could just leave them in the garden and pick as needed.

I get 25 or so catalogs a year.
Territorial seed Company 2011/ page 40: Multiplier onion XG422
"a cluster of 10-12 or more mild & sweet-flavored bulbs....
onions keep for 8-12 months in good storage".
carolynCMV, I store my onions just like my garlic, in a cool dry place. I dug the onions in June/July & they are still good, as of today.
I have planted my bulb-lets in Oct. & hope to harvest in June.
I do not eat spring onions often.

The onions pictured are the ones I have been searching for! I know this is an old posting, but does anyone have any to share? Please let me know.

Patrioticcrafts@aol.com

Lots of people grow these, myself included. I would be happy to send you some in June or July when the bulbils are ready. Repost here or contact me thru my page then.

Steve

I live in IL and will have several bulbils from my Egyptian Walking Onions that I am willing to share just for the cost of postage. You can email me at dznavor@gmail.com

i have a lot of winter onions i love to share with others

Hi, is it possible to plant winter onions in a pot? If so do you need to cover them in very cold weather?? Thanks in advance

That depends on where you are located. I grow topset onions all winter in containers in zone 7 (NC) and they do fine. Topset onions are very cold hardy. Planted in the ground I believe they can handle down to 24 or so below zero F.

Good potato onion info. http://skillcult.com/search?q=Onions

Topsets, walking onions, Eygptian onions, winter onions, there are a lot of names and a lot of varieties. Keep an eye on the heirloomonions.com website for as much variety available as one normally sees anywhere. They are frequently out of stock, though; so some patience is advised. Most common sources are local trades with other gardeners. It pays to ask around locally to see if some one of your neighbors can spare you a few bulbils or a small clump in the spring. They transplant real easy.

These are generally hardy as a stone. They go dormant towards the end of summer and resprout from multiplying clumps in the autumn and then tend to be more or less evergreen through the winter even where the ground freezes solid and deep, like here in Minneapolis, hence the common name winter onions.

They multiply into clusters of connected small bulbs, with clusters of bulbils on top of the stems. The more established the cluster the bigger the bulbils, which in some of them can eventually almost get to the size of ping pong balls, if the bed is left in place for some years. Different varieties have different eating qualities, although most bulbs tend to be strong flavored and often bitter, something the stems are not in early spring, and the bulbils generally are not either. This varies with the variety. The "whites" tend to be milder and sweeter all around, while the reds and the purples tend to be stronger flavored.

I grow spring onions from the smaller bulbils fall planted, and keep a permanent bed to produce the larger ones for soups and cooking. My current variety are reds, but I am thinking of trying some whites. I like to eat produce raw in the garden as I work it, and the reds are a touch stout at times.

Come and get'em...! These are from a raised bed that I'm rehabbing. We'll be adding these extras to the agricultural education center in one of our county parks in MO. We had the originals gifted to us from my wife's mother. They are heirlooms from their family farm in Nebraska.

Wish I could see the photo. For some reason I have not been able to view any posted photos here on the forums.

So, I've heard of winter onions. But how and where can I get some to start in my garden? Would preferably love to have the heirloom type, if possible. Thank you so much.

LOL All the topset onions, (aka walking onions, Eygptian topsets, etc) are very hardy and extremely tolerant. And they are all heirlooms. They can be planted in tubs or in the ground, in spring or in the fall and they don't seem to care a bit. Most gardeners use the early shoots for early scallions. The "bulbs" are often harsh and bitter, but not in all strains and there are quite a few different kinds; some of them are quite prolific multipliers, but the bulbs are never big. Many times they are handed down to new family members as they start their own families and gardens. IIRC they are a set of interspecies hybrids of some kind, not pure Allium cepa, although the red and yellow shallots and the potato onion type of multiplier are true Allium cepa.

Best local sources are always your local garden clubs and/or local master gardeners. Unless you are completely isolated there are probably several gardeners in easy driving distance who would be willing to share, and you might even have a choice of varieties. The local clubs and masters would almost certainly know. BTW these can be transplanted and/or dug for moving at any time. They are very forgiving. Commercial sources generally offer them for fall shipment, very often along side fall seed garlic.