Onion sets........

[douglas]

Phil, besides organic manure, what do onions like to make them grow BIG as baseballs
Tried them before but they never did get too big so I thought I'd give em another try ;D

[Strongtower]

I put out sets and seeds !! They are not doing much though. The seeds have just come up looks like green hair....I thought I would just try it but now I want to know how to get them big too.

;D

[Pharmer Phil]

Ahh Onions! This happens to be one of my Passions, and, one of the subjects I argue, (ok, discuss) with other gardeners every year...usually while holding the Blue Ribbon, mind You!
Pholks, I will give you the whole Onion Diatribe....after work this evening, no time now ...gotta go to work! Stay Tuned for big 'O' Onions!!! Thumb 2head

[douglas]

Thanks phil, I'll be watching Thumb

[Laura]

I grow em & eat em but don't care for them that much :boese3:

[Pharmer Phil]

Seeds offer a better selection of varieties, I always 'say' I am going to go with seeds...but only have a few times.
Jerry, one of the members here, says it works best for him...I'll try to get him here on the onions from seed Subject!
Growing onion from sets reminds me of the walmart stint I worked at for 1 season.
When I inquired as to where they purchased the bags of sets, marked: Onion Sets (yellow)...they had No clue.
Hopefully, you have a knowledgable dealer, and you have the right type of onions..for your area.
Now for the Northern Gardeners, We want Long Dayvarieties.
Southern States, Short DayVarieties.
"long-day" onion varieties will quit forming tops and begin to form bulbs when the daylength reaches 14 to 16 hours while "short-day" onions will start making bulbs much earlier in the year when there are only 10 to 12 hours of daylight.

As for the feeding, You can't do Much better, organically, than compost and manure. With emphasis on the N and p elements.,side dressed in the early stages, or before planting

If you are inclined to use non Organic methods,High Phosphurus "banding' prior to planting, is a good way to go.Put at two to three inches below the planting depth.Prior to planting, aplications of a 10-10-10 fertilizer is prefered to side dressing.

The main 'killer' of a good sized Bulb would be ...weeds, all competition must be removed.
Now, My method is this, and what I argue with many about, and I fully expect to get some feedback out of this post.

Firstly, I too plant sets.
I plant them 2 inches apart.
I pull every other one, as the onions reach scallion size...Oh so yummy.Thumb

This makes room for the bulbs of the remaining onions to expand.
Even watering, throughout the season...and what really gets them going is:
I "shoulder" them Up!
I lightly work the soil, about an inch from the bulbs, then pull the soil up around the tops...everyone says this is a no/no.

When the onions start to show signs of going to flower, I gently bend the tops over with the back of a rake, and let them mature and turn brown.
I'm not saying this is the correct way...Just the way I do it, and have hauled home the County fair Blue ribbons with.2head

[douglas]

Alot of good info there phil, I'm also going with onion sets to get a head start. I have some good loose composted manure I'll place throughout a trench because I have sandy soil here in Michigan. Could I use 0-0-60 potash sprinkled in the trench or would this be too much and make them split

[Strongtower]

OK....I don't have a clue if they are long or short either and yeah they come from Wal-Mart !! Suppose to be big yellow ones. Split the pack with mom and hers are very green, mine are just so so..

The seeds are the little kind, come up very thick..will transplant, how big should they be before I bother them?

I put some chicken poop on them but may need to add a little more..

Thanx

[squashnut]

I now only grow my onions from seed. I grow only Walla Walla and Sweet yellow spanish. I fill a plastic flat with starting medium and plant in rows about 1 inch apart. I try to get a seed every 1/4 inch in the row, but I am not too picky about how close they are. i find in my zone that starting them in mid december and January has gotten me the best results.. The later you plant them the smaller mature onions will be. But you don't want them any larger than a pencil when you transplant them. I give them a hair cut when they are 3 or 4 inches tall. This seems to help them get thicker.
I plant Mine out starting April 5th and keep putting out more all spring till about june 15th or so. Planting them 2 inch on center and thinning every other one seems to be OK. but If I need more for the table I thin twice. I much with grass clippings when the onions are large enough I won't bury them and harvest the whole bed when the tops fall over.
because the onions I grow are not starage onions i pickle a lot of them with hot peppers and cann them in mixed vegatable soup. They are also good for cooking if you dice and bag them for the freezer. I don't blanch them at all.

[Strongtower]

I just read about Walla Walla and the yellow Spanish today in one of my seed books !! There are so many to choose from.

Also found the Egyptian onion that my mom was looking for !! She wants me to order but they don't ship them till fall....

[douglas]

I have a few of them walking onions started from some tops a few years ago........they are hard to find, haff to find a better spot where they can be left alone a few years......

[Pharmer Phil]

Douglas, I have some of them Walkin' Onions also, same deal , will have to move them, they are commencin' to "walk" into my Asparagus!
Sorry it's been a couple of days...Darn Old Job ;D
Douglas, Your sandy soil is great soil, but the nutrients do tend to leach out more, because of the drainage capabilities of the sand, So, before I added any Potash, I would get a cheapo test kit, or call the Ag office or extension office to get a test kit, and then, I'd be careful with the 0-0-60! Heck if it'll blow a punkin to smithereens

StrongTower
I do hope you meant that you're using, Aged chicken Manure?
Because if not, your plants are getting way to much nitrogen, and they will probably be damaged.
Again, out of the three, N-P-K
a little Nitrogen, medium phosphorus, and minimal K(potash)

I have a ph meter, and know the nutrient balance, have a good handle on where in the garden My soil is a lil sweeter...This takes time and alot of Manure/compost.
Soils that are sandy are some of the best soils you can have, as long as it is not ALL sand. Loam, a excellent mixture of organic, sand, and clay will outgrow some of the Best mixed garden soil there can be made.

[Strongtower]

The poop was only bout 4 months old so I lightly sprinkled in path, not directly at anything. Hoping it would gently "wash" toward plants, but there has been no rain....too much rain or not enough....

"Walking Onions"? Sounds like the same I found them in Nicoles Garden Nursery book. They are in Oregon I think. They have some hard to find items. Well hard to find here in the south anyway.

[douglas]

The tops are great for salads and just to chew on Thumb

[Pharmer Phil]

Yes they are Doug, and they are quite potent...All alliums,to varing degree's are your Hearts Phriend! Thumb

[douglas]

Now all I need is a couple grilled hamburgers and a plate of green onions Thumb

[mckenzygirl]

I have a question!
What can you plant with onions? I planted red onions, and I used "sets" I only have two rows because this is the first time for me to try onions.

Can I plant my peas in the same raised bed with my onions? I red somewhere that beans do not do well with onions,so I'm wondering if peas can be planted with onions??

[Pharmer Phil]

we did, go ahead...lots of things like onions, as for beans, I would say that the onions would get too much nitrogen from the Beans, if anything.

[Deleted]

This is how i get them BIG.............when the onion gets about the size of a golf ball i pull the dirt away from them untill about half the bulb is above ground.
I know it sounds crazy, but they (some) get about the size of a softball with mostly only the roots in the soil.

[douglas]

Thanks caveman, I'll give it a shot and see what happens

[GrannyG]

They have the Texas 1015's in now at the feed store, plan to buy a couple bundles and get them planted this weekend. They are such a nice, sweet onion. They don't store that well, guess because of the sweetness in them, but we eat them up fast anyway. The little wild green onions thrive around here as well.

[Pharmer Phil]

I had some of those brought to me once from down south, they were very sweet and delicious!

[jeanette]

aren't you supposed to bend the tops down right before they flower???..

oh gosh you guys it won't be much longer and we'll be out there freezing our little fingies off planting onions and tators...

[Pharmer Phil]

Yes jeanette, carefully bend,(with the back of a rack,etc.) the tops over, to make the bulbs swell.

[jeanette]

i did that last year and my bulbs swelled ;D ;D no really it worked...

[crazy1]

Like cave man,I also dig "fluff up" the soil around them when they get as big as a golf ball. Always have good size onions. We plant ours inbetween the taters, 1 tater plant 2 onions ........ Then when we pick one, we replace it with another.

[flowerpower]

I just picked up some onion sets- a yellow variety called Ebeneezer. I put a good amt of spoiled hay on the bed. Lots of nice dry goat pellets in there since the pile overwintered.

I just barely push them into the soil and cover with an inch of hay. I have had awesome results. Last year some were as big as softballs. The bulb was mostly above ground.

[digger48]

Ive tried all three ways of growing onions. Prefer onion sets as they are quick and easy. Unusually plant in a block of 4x 6 feet. Six inch rows. Garden is an old hog lot and cattle lot so lots of humus in it. When the onions are picked for green onions they are three to four inches apart, and about a foot tall hoe em and then cover with grass clippings that are dried. Hate to weed so let em grow and have had em as large as kitten balls. Jeanette already got onions going on 4 inches tall. Had some that didn't do too good last year so planted em to see what they will do this year. First time I planted onions in the fall. Just might have some green onions for Easter.

[deb65802]

I have a few onions and garlic that I bartered for up and running. I have them mulched under a couple of inches of leaves. I can't wait to eat a few.