You can plant the onion and it will grow, but forget about the bulb, it is all downhill from here. The bulb is beginning the second year of it's life where it's sole mission is to produce seed. To do this it will use up the bulb which is it's stored food reserves from last year.

I prefer to feed them to the soil and it's inhabitants.

If you want some vertical interest in a container planting you can stick an onion in the middle and it takes the place of those spikes you often see in containers. You can also harvest the greens that grow and use them in soups, relishes, dips or whatever. They have a nice onion taste.

The bulb though is no longer suitable for eating, its quality will continue to deteriorate rapidly.

How do you plant this bulb(onion with green sprouts) with green sprouts already,just like a regular plant and how deep, what direction should the green sprouts be, up?Do you make a mound of dirt ,how far apart,how much sun?

Would like advice as I have one in my kitchen that every one wants to know about,and I want ONIONS,but have never grown them,

Thanks for any advice!

Just plant it deep enough so that the tip is not covered.
What you will get is nice green thick leaves early on. If you leave it alone, it will bolt, flower and poduce seeds. You can then plant the seeds. BUT it might not be the right kind for your area to make good bulb.

A friend of mine thinks I should cut the bottom half of my onion off and then plant it. Right now I have i sitting in a bowl that's half full of water. Do I need to cut the onion at all? Mine looks like it may be 3 plants. Do I need to separate them? And if I grow this, am I only going to get seeds and no onions? If so, how many seeds do they produce on average?

Probably too late, since it's been a few weeks...But, in my opinion the only thing you are going to get is either:

A.) Nice big green shoots, which will be delicious :)

-or-

B.) A nice little flower that will eventually produce tons and tons of seed. After the flower head dries out, simply put a paper bag over the flower head, bend it over, and snip it off. Then, to get the seeds loose you shake and shake the closed bag! Ta-da.

But as another poster commented, since you bought it at a grocery store it will be hard to tell if that particular onion will grow well in your area....I live in ND and we get onions at our markets shipped up from Texas, which in no way, shape, or form would grow anything more than a green onion up here.

Anyhoo....worth a shot. Could be a fun project.

Oh...and don't worry about cutting the bulb, and no worries about separating anything.

Hope any of that helps!

I don't thik it is too late to plant it. Onions are very though. Once planted you will get some large onion greens and a flower stalk. may be more. You can just harvest the greens and use it like green onions. Or just let it flower. You will get pretty globe shaped flower(s) that will attract a lot of bees. then let it ripe and collect the seeds. The onions grown from the seeds might not be suitable for your area but definitly you can plant them for green onion uses.

Actually, these onions can be re-grown if you follow the following procedures... the onions won't be suitable for onion rings however but good everywhere else because i did it last year. the onion will divide into 2-3 parts in the same bulb and each part will be another plant thus dividing the round bulb into multiple sections.

in the center, a stalk will come up with something round on the top. this is the flower head. remove it at the bulb as soon as it appears so all the energy will go back into growing a bulb. keep maggots away by using lime. i'm trying a new method of growing onions after researching how professional growers plant (they only plant half the onion below ground and the other half above ground making it easier to get fat and easier to harvest), i'll let you know.

The onion sprouted in your kitchen has completed half of its normal cycle, that is becoming a BULB. Next half of its life cycle (if given the opportunity) is to produce seeds. That is why it will set the stage for bolting , flowering and producing seeds. Obviously, it will produce a bulb too but not a good one. I have done this many times with my sprouted onions in the kitchen. Same story. I save the seeds to plant for scallions not for bulb onions. Because starting and growing onion from seeds(what, where, when, how..) is too technical... believe it or not. But planting for scallions is simple, just like planting chives.

I need help on what to do next. Can I plant it in a pot? I live in Florida and the dirt here is actually sand. Can it progress in sand? As you can tell I don't garden but I would like to start with this. Please help.

Clara- As others have already said, the only point in planting a sprouted onion would be for green onions or to save seed. Bulb onions are biennial. They grow and bulb in one growing season, then in the next they flower and set seed. They won't bulb again.

If you still want to plant it, then yes, you can plant it in a pot. (I've got no experience with FL sand.) Plant it as is, covering what's left of the original bulb.

Rodney

Bulb onions are as perennial as multiplier onions are. In future years they tend to divide as they produce the flower stalk. What we normally harvest as the dramatic bulbs are really nothing more than first year juvenile forms that turn into blossoming perennials with multiplying but smaller adult bulbs in subsequent years. Granted that they are often short lived and only completely winter hardy to a certain degree, but bulb onions are still true perennials. Bulbs of open pollinated varieties that survive winter storage can be planted back to produce future seed crops. You should also get some sort of bulb return along with the seeds.

One thing to be aware of is that hybrid onions are often bred to produce sterile seed if planted back for seed. Even if not, most supermarket crops anymore are hybrid and so will not only not come true from seed, but will generally not even produce a uniform stand. They may also take a few generations to resort into a dependably recurring expresssion.

I'm just planting my onions and letting them bolt so that they can produce seed.