Planting onions on the fall in Idaho

flowerbug

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DD's father-in-law told her that now is the time to plant onions. What would he be planting this time of year?

onions for earlier harvest next summer if he's after bulbs and bunching onions for green onions. he may also be planting seeds to get a start on sets for next year, but generally all of these are going to need mulch unless you have a particularly hardy variety of bunching onion. i happen to have those and they're about as idiot proof as anything i've grown here.

for bulbing onions or seeds it may be too late but perhaps they'll survive and come up in the spring if they don't start this fall.
 

Gardening with Rabbits

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onions for earlier harvest next summer if he's after bulbs and bunching onions for green onions. he may also be planting seeds to get a start on sets for next year, but generally all of these are going to need mulch unless you have a particularly hardy variety of bunching onion. i happen to have those and they're about as idiot proof as anything i've grown here.

for bulbing onions or seeds it may be too late but perhaps they'll survive and come up in the spring if they don't start this fall.
I will have her ask him what kind of onions. I have never planted bunching onions, so that might be what he is doing. You plant seeds now to get bunching onions? DD and I would have had to have already had seeds and maybe planted a couple of weeks ago, but something to think about for next year. Thank you.
 

flowerbug

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I will have her ask him what kind of onions. I have never planted bunching onions, so that might be what he is doing. You plant seeds now to get bunching onions? DD and I would have had to have already had seeds and maybe planted a couple of weeks ago, but something to think about for next year. Thank you.

if you have extra seeds and want to experiment at the worst you get nothing. some seeds may sprout before the weather gets too cold but i think more likely you may seed seeds sprout more in the spring. those then can be eaten at any time as a green onion or left to go to bulb for eating. bunching onions i would have started a few months ago. anything from those that starts early could be eaten as a green onion at any time you wanted. leave enough to flower next spring and collect the seeds. you won't need to ever pay for seeds again for those...
 

digitS'

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I have no interest in walking onions. The few plants we have tolerated, near the chives, are just too strongly flavored.

Bunching onions are started from seed in the unheated greenhouse in late January. This is also where sweet onions have their start – altho both may take awhile to show up and I make an effort to protect the flat of soil from freezing.

Walla Walla Valley is several hundred miles to the south and lower in elevation. My understanding is that the onion farmers sow seed in the field in late August. I tried that twice. The first time many of the plants bolted to seed in the Spring before making bulbs. The second year, ALL of the plants bolted – no bulbs.

There are other types of onions. I think that saving seed from hybrid shallots has resulted in me being exposed to potato onions. Clustering together but they lost their French shallot shape ;). I'm okay with those and have replanted them as sets for several years. I think that any shallot could be planted at the same time as garlic and survive our Winters. Shallots are the same species as our bulb onions. I have wondered what onion sets would do, if saved from a Spring purchase in the fridge and put into the garden about now.

Steve
 

ducks4you

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Honestly I never heard about this until 2023, but I noticed that many seed companies have started to sell onion sets in the Fall and, of course, the seeds.
All of the experts here at TEG will tell you that that start their onions inside in like, January. If you miss this window, you could also do that, OR start them inside now, or next month.
They take a LOOOONNNNNNGGGGG time to mature, and only require some heat to germinate.
I would try it.
 
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