Big onions

[catjac1975]

I had to share this with you.How did I do? Yea, I'm lieing. From some competition.

 

[Lavender2]

and I was feeling real good about my onion harvest, til now.

Nah, I had a good harvest, just wish I could grow them all clean like that in the garden.. instead of rain and mud.

Nice looking onion, do you know what kind it is?

 

[catjac1975]

No. Just goggle giant onions. I seriously doubt it would be tasty to eat. Just grown for a competition. But-so beautiful to look at. I dry mine on a rack in a shed. The can easily be wiped clean.

 

[valley ranch]

What a beautiful plant. He must have enjoyed making them.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Speaking of onions and size . . . I'm disappointed with my onions this year. I had three 50 ft. rows. So far two rows were small and not very attractive. I have two 20 lb. bags of puney onions. Maybe it's the soil here. This was my first season in this garden.

I usually only plant the yellow variety and sometimes I have a hard time finding the "big onion" sets. It's so easy to run into the big-box garden shop and grab three or four handfulls of those nice looking onion sets but they always turn out as itty-bitty green onions. I always look for the bundles of onions with the four to six inch green stalks held together with a rubber band or string.

Being an old country boy I don't always know the proper names of the stuff I plant. What are some of the names of the big onions we see in the grocery stores?

 

[journey11]

That is pretty how the greens fan out to either side. Wonder what size that pot is? The onion might be bigger than it appears.

I had a bad year for onions too. I put mine out right on time and fertilized them well. They got nice and big, but most rotted in the ground from all of the rain we had. I think I will stick to raised beds for them from now on. Onions are one of those things that if you can grow them well, they really do save you money in the long run. Now I have to watch for them on sale at the store and dehydrate a bunch.

 

[Lavender2]

Most of the sets available around here are short day onions and I have not had luck getting large onions from sets. I grow long day, Walla Walla and Spanish sweet red. The Walla's store very well, mine average 8-12 ounces this year.
The nursery here sells small seedlings, about 200 to a pack and they have worked out well most years. A few years I have had many one pound+ beautiful onions and I don't know what I did! , so I'm blaming the weather.

And now I want to try these ... Stokes - Ailsa Craig , unless someone stops me.
They are not a good storing onion, but might be good for freezing or dehydrating.

 

[so lucky]

Ahem!.....
As a general rule, the sweeter onions are not very good keepers. The hotter onions are generally better for storage.
As a general rule, buy onion sets (bulbs) to grow green onion tops; Buy onion plants (skinny 6" long plants in bundles) for growing large round keeping onions.
I think @jackb has the secret. He fertilized every week, and I bet his didn't drown or dry out too much. And he kept the weeds out of them.

 

[so lucky]

And there are always exceptions to rules.............
And I didn't even try to grow onions this year.

 

[catjac1975]

Speaking of onions and size . . . I'm disappointed with my onions this year. I had three 50 ft. rows. So far two rows were small and not very attractive. I have two 20 lb. bags of puney onions. Maybe it's the soil here. This was my first season in this garden.

I usually only plant the yellow variety and sometimes I have a hard time finding the "big onion" sets. It's so easy to run into the big-box garden shop and grab three or four handfulls of those nice looking onion sets but they always turn out as itty-bitty green onions. I always look for the bundles of onions with the four to six inch green stalks held together with a rubber band or string.

Being an old country boy I don't always know the proper names of the stuff I plant. What are some of the names of the big onions we see in the grocery stores?

When I have trouble with plants that form bulbs, onions, beets, or for that matter any particular veggie that singles itself out. I use greensand. I was told by an organic master gardener that you use it every 5 rears on a tired bed. Works for me. What is ti? Green sand that has micro nutrients. You may find it locally or you can by it online.