woohooman, The wooden (homemade) boxes are 4 inches tall with about 3.5 inches of soil. Bottom is made from scrap sheet metal...(In my case, made from discarded metal signs.) Plastic boxes are 7 inches tall with about 5.5 inches of soil. No difference in results with either box type for onions. However, I do find that the wooden boxes generally do better for many other seedlings. Plastic boxes tend to hold more moisture and some plants don't like "wet feet". Wooden boxes don't have this issue but they do need more frequent watering. I usually plant my onions about an inch or so deep. In the above picture this would be covering about half of the white part of the stem. Onions can be planted smaller than pencil size, which would be in late Novermber (for me), but I find that plants are less fragile if I wait. Also, IME the larger plants tend to start growing sooner so there is no advantage to setting plants earlier.. might be because of our milder December climate. This post was edited by grandad on Sun, Aug 17, 14 at 12:28

The buds will drain the production of the bulb. Cut them off, as low as you can without hitting the foliage. Wait until they fall over. hortster

Onions need to be thoroughly dry before you put them into storage. After you have trimmed to tops and the roots, let them dry (out of the sun) until you can't feel any moisture where the tops were cut. This, and storage in a cool, dry place should minimize any mold problems. Unfortunately Spanish onions are not known as long keepers and, unless they are dried or frozen, have a short storage life.

You plant from seed on 10-15 and that is where the 1015y got its name from. If planted much later than 11-15 you may not develop a good bulb in spring. Depending on where you are at people in the southern part of the state plant onion sets (still have green tops) as early as December. For most of the rest of the state folks plant them from January to the end of Feb. Depending on how cold you are if planted much later you won't be able to get good sized bulbs. Not all people plant them to have the big onions for a June harvest so it is part, how you use them and part where in the state you are. Hope this helps clarify the general issues involved. I have personally never done dried onion so won't comment on the time and better or worse aspects of this type. Happy Growing whatever you choose. David