Onion Talk for year 2022

HU-422368488

7 months ago

last modified: 2 months ago

It's getting about time to get the itch for early spring onion planting. I'm scratching already.

Here's a few old Dawn threads about onions , growing them , varieties and such" :

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2097224/onion-question

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2099892/okiedawn

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2056032/when-to-plant-onion-sets

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2092832/onion-advice

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4443186/onions-holding-or-planting

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2078514/storm-flattened-onions

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2080038/how-do-you-know-when-onions-are-ready-to-pull

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4420742/growing-onions-sets-or-those-bundles-of-shriveled-up-dry-onions

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2062873/existing-onions-out-of-hand

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2102981/growing-onions-in-oklahoma

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2103701/are-homegrown-onions-better-than-store-bought

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2052143/my-onion-order-should-be-here

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4372366/i-m-ready-to-talk-onions

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2048465/too-many-onions

Showing results for This is long, but so much good information here.DAWN ON ONIONS WHEN TO HARVEST There will be a couple of signs. First, the growth of the onions, which should have been pretty obvious lately, will begin to slow down until it almost halts. Once the growth slows down, withhold water. This helps them dry up a little and reduces the chance they'll rot from excess moisture after being pulled. Once you notice they are no longer enlarging, watch the necks. The necks will begin to soften and eventually fall over while they are still green. Once this happens, you can pull them and cure them for a few days in a sheltered location. Then, process as desired. I always put some of the shorter-keeping types in the pantry to use in the next couple of months, and put some of the long-keeping types in the tornado shelter where they will keep for many months. The rest of the onions I either chop or slice and freeze in ziplock bags for future use in cooking. Oh, and once they are cured, you can clip off the roots and all but about an inch of the neck if you want. It helps keep rot from infiltrating the onions. Or, some people braid them the way you braid garlic and hang them in their kitchen or pantry, snipping one off when they want it. They say that well-cured sweet onions will store for at least 2 months and I have had them last up to twice that long. BIG ONIONSWater, water, water. The more water, the bigger the onions. In most cases, though, it is the water early on in the growing cycle that determines the ultimate size of the onions. The size of your onions is determined by the number of green leaves on the plant BEFORE bulbing begins, as well as the size of those leaves. So, to get large onions, you have to have a lot of water and a good amount of nitrogen from the time they are planted until they begin to bulb up. In our part of the state (and it varies from onion to onion), short-day onions usually begin to bulb up in early to mid-May, and intermediate-day and day-neutral onions begin to bulb up in mid- to late-May or earliest June. Since you are in a colder zone, I assume your onions start bulbing a little later than ours. HARVESTINGOnions grown from seedling plants or sets should be harvested the same season they are planted, except for the perennial types like Egyptian Onions or Walking Onions, which you can harvest for years and years. Once your onions flower, their quality really isn't good enough for eating. Here in southern Oklahoma, if I plant my onions seedlings somewhere between mid-Feburary and mid-March, I will harvest full-sized onions in late June to mid July of most years. In a good year, I can start harvesting green onions in April. I do always leave some in the garden to flower the following year. They are pretty and the tiny beneficial insects and bees love to visit their flowers. [She grew in far south central Oklahoma] Your planting times and harvesting times should run only 2 to 4 weeks later than mine most years. In a really mild winter, you could plant about the same time I do.COMPANION PLANTINGWith companion planting, I sometimes use "extra" onions as a border along the beds the tomatoes are in, but don't worry about whether those onions make a good crop--they are important as companions and secondary as a crop where used as companions. Those onions are smaller, but just as good as onions grown in their "own" bed (which, as you'll learn in a minute, isn't really their "own" bed at all). In the main onion bed, I planted my onions in an alternating grid pattern this year with every onion 6" away from every other onion. Those onions got all the water they wanted (for the first two months, about an inch or two a week from the hose if rain didn't fall that week), and two feedings with Vegetable-Tone organic plant food. I had enriched their bed with a lot of compost and some manure before planting. This is the bed where I have the huge onions.....maybe the best onion crop I've had since we moved here. Everything was growing so well in this bed that I couldn't let well enough alone, so..... In early May, right after our last freezing night here, I interplanted three kinds of bush beans, placing plants started in tiny bathroom-sized paper cups in between each onion plant. It was an attempt to get better use of the space AND to keep the rabbits from getting the beans if the snuck into the garden. (Last year I had a lot of trouble with everything....rabbits, pillbugs and sowbugs, deer, etc. getting the bean plants.) I had to water the beans several times in May to get them growing, so the onions benefitted from that. MORE ON HARVESTINGplant them shallowly and you won't have to pull the soil back in order to see the bulb. I plant them just deeply enough that they don't fall over when I let go of the plant that I've just planted. As they grow and enlarge the bulbs emerge above ground on their own. This works best with proper spacing so the shade from the green onion tops shades the bulbs so they don't sunburn in strong sunlight. If the green leaves on your onions are still strongly upright, they aren't ready to harvest yet. If you check and the neck of the onion, right where the green leaves come out of the bulb, is softening up and the green tops are falling over and lying on the ground, then they are beginning to mature. What you want to do, then, is wait and watch. The necks thin out as the carbohydrates from the leaves move into the bulbs. Once you think the necks have thinned out enough (which is to say "a lot"), check the leaves. Look at the youngest, smallest leaf. If it is dry and dessicated, the onions are ready to pull. It is best to leave them in the ground until they reach this point because during the time the necks are softening and the carbs are moving into the bulb, the onions also are developing a thicker skin that will help them to store well long-term. Then, you harvest them, leave the leaves on them, and lay them out someplace in the shade to dry out more and to cure. I have cured them in many places....on a bookshelf placed on the house's wraparound porch, on tables on the covered patio, on tables on the screened in porch, and on the large potting table/shelf in my potting shed. This is a very important time for them. You want them to dry adequately so they won't mold or rot in storage. I usually cure mine for a couple of weeks, or even longer if they were really wet when harvested. It is important to cure them in the shade. You also can place them in multiple single rows on the flat surface where you're curing them, with the leaves of each onion covering the onion on the row next to it. That keeps the sunshine from sunburning and ruining the onions. I store them several ways. My favorite way is to store them in mesh onion tubes I bought from Dixondale Farms, but I've also stored them in nylon stocking legs. You put an onion in the stocking, then use a rubber band, zip tie or bread bag twisty to tie the stocking above that onion, then put in another onion and repeat the process. By having some separation between each onion, you keep them from touching each other. They are prone to rot where they touch, especially if they were high in water content when harvested. I store some of mine in the darkest back corner of our walk-in pantry, which is underneath the staircase. I store the rest of them in the tornado shelter. Some years, if it is a very dry year, I've stored them in a cool, dark corner of the garage. Different varieties store for different lengths of time. Here in OK, we mostly grow either short day-length or intermediate day-length onions that are sweet. Sweet onions only store reliably for 2-4 months, but I've had some last 6 months or more if I cured them really well and stored them well. The long day-length type onions that are grown farther north often are the more pungent onions instead of the sweet types and store much longer.
Search instead for [This is long, but so much good information here.DAWN ON ONIONSWHEN TO HARVESTThere will be a couple of signs. First, the growth of the onions, which should have been pretty obvious lately, will begin to slow down until it almost halts. Once the growth slows down, withhold water. This helps them dry up a little and reduces the chance they'll rot from excess moisture after being pulled. Once you notice they are no longer enlarging, watch the necks. The necks will begin to soften and eventually fall over while they are still green. Once this happens, you can pull them and cure them for a few days in a sheltered location. Then, process as desired. I always put some of the shorter-keeping types in the pantry to use in the next couple of months, and put some of the long-keeping types in the tornado shelter where they will keep for many months. The rest of the onions I either chop or slice and freeze in ziplock bags for future use in cooking. Oh, and once they are cured, you can clip off the roots and all but about an inch of the neck if you want. It helps keep rot from infiltrating the onions. Or, some people braid them the way you braid garlic and hang them in their kitchen or pantry, snipping one off when they want it. They say that well-cured sweet onions will store for at least 2 months and I have had them last up to twice that long. BIG ONIONSWater, water, water. The more water, the bigger the onions. In most cases, though, it is the water early on in the growing cycle that determines the ultimate size of the onions. The size of your onions is determined by the number of green leaves on the plant BEFORE bulbing begins, as well as the size of those leaves. So, to get large onions, you have to have a lot of water and a good amount of nitrogen from the time they are planted until they begin to bulb up. In our part of the state (and it varies from onion to onion), short-day onions usually begin to bulb up in early to mid-May, and intermediate-day and day-neutral onions begin to bulb up in mid- to late-May or earliest June. Since you are in a colder zone, I assume your onions start bulbing a little later than ours. HARVESTINGOnions grown from seedling plants or sets should be harvested the same season they are planted, except for the perennial types like Egyptian Onions or Walking Onions, which you can harvest for years and years. Once your onions flower, their quality really isn't good enough for eating. Here in southern Oklahoma, if I plant my onions seedlings somewhere between mid-Feburary and mid-March, I will harvest full-sized onions in late June to mid July of most years. In a good year, I can start harvesting green onions in April. I do always leave some in the garden to flower the following year. They are pretty and the tiny beneficial insects and bees love to visit their flowers. [She grew in far south central Oklahoma] Your planting times and harvesting times should run only 2 to 4 weeks later than mine most years. In a really mild winter, you could plant about the same time I do.COMPANION PLANTINGWith companion planting, I sometimes use "extra" onions as a border along the beds the tomatoes are in, but don't worry about whether those onions make a good crop--they are important as companions and secondary as a crop where used as companions. Those onions are smaller, but just as good as onions grown in their "own" bed (which, as you'll learn in a minute, isn't

Featured Answer

Nancy Waggoner

7 months ago

Lynn, that's what I decided about potatoes. But Rick inspired me. Maybe I'll give them another chance next year.

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Comments (20)

Nancy Waggoner
7 months ago
Hahaha, love the onion thread. I only wish I had more beds/more gardening space. My gardening all has to be done from the ground up, since we're a little soil on top of solid rocks. I ordered two bundles of onions from Dixondale. . . but only Candy. They did well the past 3 years. Two bundles should easily get us through a year, with some for the school, too. Yes. There IS that A**hole weather. 2-3 years ago, I planted them at exactly the wrong time, and had to run out and cover them with polar fleece blankets, frost covers, while we had freezing rain/snow 2 nights later.
HU-422368488 thanked Nancy Waggoner
slowpoke_gardener
7 months ago
I plan on planting 1015Y and some kind of red onion. This was the best onion year I have ever had as far as taste, but the spring was so wet I lost a lot to rot, plus, I dont have a good curing area.

The onions and garlic that I planted in the fall sure looks bad now. I expect them to pull through the cold, but I dont know what to expect as far as quality.
HU-422368488 thanked slowpoke_gardener
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Hey Donna, I responded to your question in Southern gardening yesterday but not really about growing full size onions. I haven't done that in a while, but to grow onions, you have to plant in the early spring. As the bulb grows, you sorta rake the dirt away from the onion. Sometimes,it is kinda iffy growing large onions due to rain. I have more trouble with red onions rotting. As far as storing these, we always tie them up with some rattan or jute or some type of string and hang them up. I think you were calling the other kind bunching onions. I wrote back saying my hubby thinks bunching is the same thing as multiplying. You can plant those in spring, summer or fall. Of course, these are usually grown for the green tops. (Just to make sure we are talking the correct onion here) These are the ones that are great to eat with turnip greens and cornbread in the fall and winter. LOL As far as leeks, I have never grown them before. They are much milder than onions. Not sure when to plant those. Fall might be a good time for those too. Good luck! Luv those onions, marie
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Captain Dirt, I plant directly into the soil, planting shallowly because that is what onions prefer. I weed the beds about once a week for the first month or so. Then I add mulch, but I put the mulch only in the open area between the onions and don't have it up so close to the onions that it touches them. (In a rainy year, wet mulch in direct contact with the onions can lead to disease issues.) I usually don't put paper on the ground under the mulch in the onion bed beacause the onions don't like being covered up...the bulbs like to sort of pop up out of the ground as they enlarge and grow, and they grow better if you let the bulbs expose themselves, so to speak. I've tried growing onions every way possible, and leaving the soil unmulched right around the onion plant works best for me in my garden. Sometimes I have to pull out weeds that pop up in that open space, but it isn't that big of a deal and the effort pays off because onions that are shallowly planted and have the mulch pushed back a little from the plant do better than those that have mulch touching them. If I were planting the way you want to plant with paper under mulch, I'd cut an "X" in the paper where each onion will go and fold back the paper around the X so the paper doesn't lie back down over the soil. So, each X'd area is a little spot of bare soil. I'd put the soaker hose under the paper before planting. So, in order to plant, prepare your soil. Then, put down your soaker hose first and turn on the hose and run it while you can look at it and make sure it doesn't leave any dry areas. If it does, rearrange the hose. If you're going to use a pelleted fertilizer, put it on the ground as a top dressing, or mix it into the soil thoroughly as you prepare the soil, under the paper, but not where the X's are cut for the onions. You don't want granular or pelleted fertilizer that close to tender young roots. Put down your paper and use something to hold it down temporarily until you're through planting and can mulch. Plant your onions through the X's cut in the paper. Lay your mulch on top of the paper at least an inch thick, but leave the X'd area unmulched so the bulb can pop up out of the ground in a couple of months as it enlarges. Water the area well. After that, strive to get your onions an inch of moisture a week. Regularly weed and remove any weeds that sprout in your mulch or in the open soil next to each onion plant. Add more mulch as time goes on, but continue to keep it back away from the onions. In roughly 90-110 days (if you're growing here in or near Oklahoma), you'll have nice, big fat onions ready to harvest. Dawn
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Well, I went through MY Evernote looking for a "Mother of a Hubbard" blog post about tying down row covers so you could raise the sides for warm weather. Couldn't find it. I am not pleased with Evernote. Periodically they have changed the format used, which in some cases requires me to go into settings to find the original post. If you're on the free version, you're only allowed a certain amount of space per month. The last update changed the home page, after 8 years of using it, and being familiar with it. It takes forever just to load and to load chosen notes. Be aware of these things before you invest too much time in it. I used to love it. When I tried to migrate it to a new note app, 99% of the notes were un-readable. I can't get excited about seeds. Of course, I'm doing a lot of napping since I got home from the hospital. Went to primary doc yesterday. He showed me with graphs just how sick I was. It was scary. If you haven't gotten the 2 pneumonia shots, DO IT. Apparently the Step P bacteria I had (not the same as step throat) is one covered by the vaccine and that means I rarely cough. I'm just tired. I've had pneumonia before. If they hadn't gone out of their way to prove it, I wouldn't believe I had it. They were treating me with steroids and Covid treatments at first (they were sure I had it at first). And heavy duty antibiotics. It seems everything they did un-balanced some other system in my body, like raising blood sugar and blood pressure and potassium was low. Happy tractoring. Make friends with some one like Larry. The local repair places will have a back log during certain times, like haying season. I don't think my collards survived the last cold spell. I should have told Ron to water them. Need to let the dogs out.
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HU-422368488
Original Author
7 months ago
I had a bad onion year last year from being too wet and lost a lot from rot.

Then the rats ran off with what stored onions I did have.

Rick
OklaMoni
7 months ago
Kim was hoping to get an order done, a LARGE order, via folks here. You know, the bigger the order the cheaper the price.

She posted on our facebook page.

Moni
HU-422368488 thanked OklaMoni
Lynn Dollar
7 months ago
For the first time in approx 15 years, I'm not planting onions . To me, there's not a big diff between what I grow and what I buy at the store. Not enough of a diff to justify the work. We just can't eat what I grow fast enough. Its kind of a relief to let them go. I would be tilling the garden in a couple of weeks, but now there's no rush.
HU-422368488 thanked Lynn Dollar
HU-422368488
Original Author
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
Well , that's ok Lynn.

I can see just buying the onions versus doing all the work to grow your own.

But some of us ( like probably only me) are crazy enough to keep growing our own.

Something about listening to the north wind howling and thinking about a new beginning for the next garden this spring starting with onions seems to turn me on.

There's something fundamental in there somewhere.

How are you about potatoes.

Rick
slowpoke_gardener
7 months ago
Rick, I have say that I am with you. When I was young, nothing turned me on cute lady, but after about an hour or two I begin to wish I had never seen one. I can last much longer with a garden. I can get to the middle of a hot dry summer before I get that feeling.

I think you can buy a lady, or a garden cheaper than you can own your own, but, somehow it just is not the same.
HU-422368488 thanked slowpoke_gardener
Lynn Dollar
7 months ago
Its not easy changing my ways. I just lost too many of what I grew last year. Will see how it goes. But it will free up space in my small garden spot, for a few more tomato plants.
HU-422368488 thanked Lynn Dollar
slowpoke_gardener
7 months ago
I have access to more space than I can use. What gets in my way is being able to do the work needed, and to supply the water needed.

I hope to go out and turn the compost this afternoon, but I will have to air up at least one tractor tire. I may add more compost to a new onion area. I think it is beneficial to rotate crops, but it can be a pain because different crops like different types of soil. Sometimes if I use too much compost in my potato area I get ugly looking potatoes with dark and sometimes rough skin, I think too wet of soil enters into the problem also.
HU-422368488 thanked slowpoke_gardener
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
7 months ago
Lynn I'm with you, I just never had the footprint. I ended up not getting enough okra cause it went in after onions. I wanted to do it all organic, but you CAN buy organic if you're willing to pay for it. On the other hand if we're going to have shortages... Nope walking onions will do it. I'll grow potatoes in bags, just in case. We have garlic planted and Ron did onion sets in fall, which I've never done, but hey, cheap labor.
HU-422368488 thanked AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
HU-422368488
Original Author
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
I'd feel ashamed and guilty of myself if I didn't start a new garden year with taters and onions.

But hey , that's just me.

Rick
Lynn Dollar
7 months ago
There's nothing I'd rather eat fried than " taters and onions " . Man, I love that combo.

And I don't have room to rotate crops. Bout 3 years ago, my onions got some kind of white spotted disease. I sent a pic to Dixondale, they told me I needed to rotate. But there's not much rotating I can do.
HU-422368488 thanked Lynn Dollar
HU-422368488
Original Author
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
I'm lucky I got the space that I do. But with all the stuff I try to put in I don't do a lot of rotating either.

But I do a lot of tilling. Both over the winter blending in manure and later on trying to keep the grass and weeds out of the thing. I figure the tilling keeps any disease broke up as well.

Rick
slowpoke_gardener
7 months ago
Lynn, I have the same problem with onions. I think that I have a lot more problems with disease because of wet soil. I need to rotate also, but my house gardens are small, the two together are only about 2500 sq. ft. Some crops need a trellis, some crops like better soil, then I have peas and okra that will grow about anywhere, but if I can get all soil in top shape I think I can rotate crops easier.

What I am trying to do is place trellises about 6 or 7 feet apart so I can till between them. With the trellises about 12 inches above the soil and 7 ' apart I can till very close to the trellis with the tractor, then work under the trellis by hand. If I have more trellises than I need it gives me more options. The crops that dont need a trellis can still be planted next to a trellis, and I can use the trellis for support when I harvest the peas, or what ever I have planted there.

I got my compost pile turned, I had to air up 3 tractor tires before I could start the task. I think I have a larger supply of compost and mulch than I have ever had, but I suppose that is a good thing because it seems that those thing are harder to find, plus cost more.

I just noticed the min/max thermometer and it looks as though I should have tilled yesterday, the temp is dropping, and we may have snow before I get a chance to till again.
HU-422368488 thanked slowpoke_gardener
hazelinok
7 months ago
Larry, I like your trellis idea. That will give you great options.

Lynn, that sounds so good--fried potatoes and onions!

You are making the right choices for your small garden. Some years you do something different or don't grow something and that is okay. It's your garden and you know it best.

I'm not experimenting much this year with veggies. (I need to spend my time digging out Bermuda grass.) Pretty much sticking with what I know I'll eat. Onions, though, I will be trying all new varieties. Rick ordered them--enough to share. I'm not doing lots of onions this year....just 3 rows that are approx. 16 feet long each. (I think).
HU-422368488 thanked hazelinok
slowpoke_gardener
7 months ago
Jennifer, I started the trellis idea the summer before covid, but just two trellises. The year of covid I added a couple of trellises, and planted a double row of beans between one set of trellised, and a double row of okra between the other set of trellises. I now have beets, walking onions, and garlic between a pair of trellises. I did the double up idea because of not knowing what to expect of the food supply. I need to keep the size of the plants down between the trellised because of crowding. I have another pair of trellises that I plan on planting onion plants between, and then planting tomatoes or peppers at the base of the trellis. I hope to add two more trellises before planting time, and then adding two trellises to the wildlife garden. If we ever get back to normal I will quit planting between the trellises and leave it open so I can use the tractor to till between the rows for weed control, I will never have enough mulch for the wildlife garden. I have also wanted to just try mulching the row, and mowing between the trellises, but I am afraid that will be begging for Bermuda grass attack.
HU-422368488 thanked slowpoke_gardener
Kim Reiss
7 months ago
In case y’all didn’t read it on fb I canceled the onion order. It makes more sense to buy locally than to pay high price for so few bundles. Next year😁
I am going to find a Dixondale vendor and get Texas legend and 1015. And some type of red one. AND I have winter sowed some other types and will be doing more. As soon as I get over this round of crud.
HU-422368488 thanked Kim Reiss
Nancy Waggoner
7 months ago
So sorry, Kim. I hope it passes quickly. What will you do with all those onions!

I was happy with Candy last year, so just ordered more for this year--2 bunches will be plenty for us. I'm quite excited about garlic AND onions.
HU-422368488 thanked Nancy Waggoner
Kim Reiss
7 months ago
Nancy I eat lots of onions. Last year was terrible so this year I want extras to dehydrate and I’ll powder some of those. Plus I like to precarmelize and freeze.
HU-422368488 thanked Kim Reiss

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