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Do you get full size onion bulbs from winter sown onion seed?

prairiemoon2 z6b MA

9 years ago

I mean a regular cooking onion. I have Copra and Redwing seeds which I am thinking of winter sowing. I have read that you should start your seed indoors in January, so I'm thinking that winter sowing is going to produce a much younger seedling to put out in the spring. Aren't onions sensitive to day length? So they need enough time in the right day length to mature to a bulb, right?

So basically, simple question, lol, have you winter sown onions [other than bunching onions] and grown them to maturity?

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Comments (4)

dawiff
9 years ago
Last year I sowed Walla Walla onions in my greenhouse in February, and grew them to quite large eating size by October/November. I don't have pictures on my own blog of them from last year, but a friend visited in early October and took photos of my garden, which you can see in her blog post about the visit. I've included a link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Flutter and Hum blog post
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
Original Author
9 years ago
Hi Alison, Looks like you are settling in quite nicely, there in Washington. :-) And I see you hosted a plant swap, too. Great way to meet new gardener friends. AND - a new greenhouse! But you are still winter sowing? So do you equate using the greenhouse to winter sowing? I imagine it is unheated.

Well, I have onion seed, so I may as well try the winter sowing, since I don't have time to start a light set up indoors this year. Really great size on your Walla Walla onions.

Lovely, to see photos of your new garden! I love that wall, did you do it yourself? And very cozy sitting area too. Very cute ceramic and glass garden art you have. I'm wondering about the metal enclosures with stacked rocks? I haven't seen that before. A really interesting way to display your pretty pots. Really well done waterfall too. I bet you get a lot of birds.

Hops is such a pretty plant, has it given you trouble with spreading at all?

How long has it been now, since you were in New England?
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When the experts (farmerdill & Dave) have spoken : Thanks gentlemen. I am in PNW and have started a batch from seeds already. But I am aiming at bunching , not bulbs, Because, growing onion bulbs is just over my head. I have to figure out short day, intermediate day, long day ... and on top of that where the heck to get seeds from and, when to plant.... So all I am interested in is bunching onions. I tried once when I was in GA. They overwintered ok but did not bulb well, BECAUSE IT WAS THE WRONG SEED. I have come to realize that growing onions is more difficult than one might think. I also tried from set, from seedlings, ... nothing good to write home about.
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In my zone 5B, I have to start them inside close to 10 weeks before the last frost date and then transplant out around 3 weeks before last frost in order to get enough top growth to get a good sized onion. I did try once direct seeding them as well as letting them reseed one year (from a couple I forgot on the harvest) and they only produced scallions - not bulbs of any size.
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Red wing is a very long day onion. They need the summer solstice to trigger bulbing. They should be getting on with it NOW for harvest in September. They have (as do all onions) high demand for water and nitrogen.
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farmerdill - Southeast 8a is great for onions. That is where Vidalia's are grown. It does require shortday onions transplanted in early December and grown through the winter. ***************************************************************** Farmerdill. I am in zone 8A just below Atlanta. Should I be transplanting my onions in December and growing them over the winter. Do you have to do anything to them to keep them from getting frozen during the winter. Do you grow shallots and garlic also. I was told to plant my garlic after the first frost but before the first freeze. Would onions follow this same planting schedule. I am a little north of you. This last spring was the first time I tried transplants and they bulbed up a little but not much bigger than a golf ball. I think they were granex transplants purchased from HD. I finally realized to use transplants instead of sets and to grow short day onions (duh). But I still need to do something different to get the large onion.
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diggerdee zone 6 CT
9 years ago
PM2, years ago I started onions via wintersowing. If I recall, the onions when harvested were on the small side. But as usual, I have to add this disclaimer - I am a VERY neglectful gardener! They were most likely planted out too late and harvested too early, lol! And probably sorely neglected in between!

If you have the seed, I would say go ahead and WS it and see how you fare. I will add, though, that last year a co-worker offered me onion sets which her husband had leftover. I had never even seen an onion set, and when I saw that they were just tiny little pips, I was skeptical but planted them (and I thought she was going to give me half a dozen or so but there were almost FIFTY in the bottom of the box! How many did he order if he had 50 leftover?). Well, they were so easy to plant, and grew so well, that I think that is the way to go from now on, at least for me. Granted, these little guys got a bit better treatment than my poor seeds, but I still think it's easier to go this route. I just don't know if there is the variety available in sets that there is in seed, but I guess I'll find out if I ever get off my butt and get my order in!

dawiff, nice onions! I'm glad to see that photo, as we were unsure as exactly when to harvest ours. They popped up out of the ground and my husband was picking them quickly (while they were still small), while my opinion was that as long as the roots were still well-embedded we should leave them to get bigger. Your photo seems to confirm my thoughts. And you have a lovely property as well! Thanks!
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks Dee, I already ordered my seeds from FEDCO. I didn't order fresh onion seed, because I have both fresh seed I collected last year and leftover commercial seed from last year. So I do plan on giving them one big gallon wintersowing container and see how they do. I do like the idea you have about the sets. I am sure I will pick up a few seedlings at Russell's in the spring, and I think they offer onion sets too. I'd love to experiment and plant half the bed with sets and the other with 'seed'lings.

The sun is out today and I can hardly wait for spring!

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