Here in Oklahoma we plant short-day and intermediate. I get great crops from both.

I've grown Copra and it bulbed up to less than half of the size it would in an area with the proper daylength. It wasn't that great of a onion, but that could be because I grew it in an area that does not meet its daylength requirements--and I knew when I tried it that I might not get any bulbing at all. I grew it because I wanted to see if you "could" grow it here, and you can, but not with great results. I am in extreme southern OK--so far south I am surrounded on three sides (south, west, east) by the Red River and Texas. Someone in extreme northern OK might have better luck with Copra.

For what it is worth, most of my sweet onions, including Candy, store 4 to 6 months, and sometimes longer, for me if I harvest them at the proper time, cure them extremely well and then store them in optimal conditions. How well they store is, I think, partly influenced by how much moisture they receive while growing. The onions I grow in a dry year store better and longer than the ones I grow in an excessively wet year. I also get the best storage most years from the ones I keep in the underground tornado shelter in net tubes that I purchase from Dixondale Farms. I usually keep some in the tornado shelter and some in the garage because I like to see how well they hold when stored in different conditions.

I also prolong the "life" of the onions by chopping up a lot of them, dicing others finely, and slicing some and then storing them in the freezer in zip-lock bags, usually in 1-cup and 2-cup portions. In the winter when I'm cooking soups, stews and other dishes that require cooked onions, I just pull a bag out of the freezer and use it. This year I am going to try dehydrating some to use in cooking. I dry lots of other stuff, but I've haven't dried onions very much.

For me, Candy stores a little longer than Texas Supersweet (1015Y) and it also stores longer than Stockton Red. This year I am growing Candy Apple Red as my red variety. I have had good harvests with all the short-day and intermediate varieties I've tried here. Contessa and Super Star (white onions) stored better than any of the yellow and red onions, although Southern Belle Red stored for about 3 to 4 months, which is much longer than you'd expect.

Where and how you store them affects how long you can store them. Basements (as long as they are not too damp), root cellars or underground tornado shelters all seem to store onions pretty well. My onions store moderately well in an unheated pantry beneath our stairwell, but not as long as they store in the garage or tornado shelter.

Hope this info is helpful.

Dawn

Dawn, you are so great. Thank you.I have been studying up on onions for a couple of days. I just love learning evrything i am learning about gardening and plants. I will try the Candy variety. Is it too late to plant them this season? I too, have chopped and bagged and frozen onions over the winter. I got some crazy good prices one summer in Texas on onions and loaded up the freezer! I have some onions planted in the garden that I bought as sets in town, they are doing great. I am thinking the best thing to do if ,say I can get the Candy to store 6 months ,would be to freeze/dry enough for the other six months. I am in SE Ok, near the Red River, by the way. Best Regards, Peg

For what it's worth, I grew Yellow of Parma, a yellow storage onion, last year. I'm growing it again this year. I still have some onions from this one, which are in great shape. We simply laid them out in our sun porch, which is certainly not ideal. Yellow de Parma is not sweet. But it is good for cooking.

On the down side, last year, our onions only attained about half size. I believe this is more environmental (like getting them in too late) than genetic.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Good Morning george, where did you purchase Yellow of Parma? I just looked it up on Dixondale Farms and it gave me Yellow Granex. Same thing? Is it too late/hot to plant onions? Peg

Good Morning Pegsol,

The OSU-recommended planting dates for onions are Feb. 15th (for southern portions of the state) through March 10th (for northern portions of the state), so it probably is too late this year. However, I have planted as early as January 1st here in southern OK (it works in a mild winter) and as late as mid-March (onions planted that late here won't get as large as onions planted in mid-Feb.).

Yellow of Parma is an open-pollinated heirloom variety from Italy and Dixondale Farms has never carried it in the years that I've bought onions from them. Usually Yellow of Parma seed can be found at retailers that specialize in heirloom seeds like Baker Creek (www.rareseeds.com) or Seed Savers Exchange (www.seedsavers.org).

Yellow of Parma is a long-day type but it seems to grow very well for George in Tahlequah. I don't know if you'd get results as good as his here in southern OK, but you'll never know until you try it.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Savers Exchange

Hum... I thought it was an intermediate. Maybe that has something to do with the smaller size. Anyway, I got my seed from Baker Creek (and a generous amount too). If it doesn't size up any better, this year, I may well change. But I am impressed that I still have nice onions setting on the shelf, from last July's harvest.

My potato onions are growing very well. Though normally smaller than seed planted onions, I really like potato onions, since they are so easy to plant and they do keep very well.

George

George, where did you buy your potato onions? I bought some "potaoo onions" from our farmers' coop a couple of years back but they turned out to be most definitely not potato onions. I've been a bit gun shy about buying any since then.

Diane

George,

It is Baker Creek that describes Yellow of Parma as a long day type. I've seen other descriptions that list them as a "long day to intermediate" type. Many sources don't list their day length which makes me think that no one is really positive if it is an intermediate or a long day type. However, based on how it bulbs up here, I think it is a long day.

It is hard to find a storage onion that is a true intermediate type, but "Fort Bragg" is one. However, I don't know anyone who has grown it here in OK. It might be worth trying it to see how well it stores.

Dawn

Dawn, George, thanks for all the info. I am such a dork! I do not live by the Red River. I live by the CANADIAN river! I am a transplant from Texas and my roots have not been firmly established, I have not climatised to my new geography and I probably need some kind of brain fertilizer! LOL Peg