Understanding Onions

[Mackay]

I planted about 84 sets of onions this year...yellow, purchased at a local feed and gardening store so I assumed they were onions for developed for our neck of the woods.

Almost all went into raised beds composed mostly all of the same organic matter.

Some onions did really much better than others... some barely grew at all but had great green tops.

The onions that went in the field with next to no compost matter did the best.

Almost all the onions had great green tops but where they went into the onion they were very wide. When I look at onions in the store you can see that the tops dry out and it closes the onions up for storage... my greens are so thick and wide I don't think this will ever happen..

My red onions, I only planted about 6 that someone gave me, did not grow at all.

What do onions like? any advice appreciated.

 

[hoodat]

Most onion sets will be long day onions no matter where they were purchased. Short day onion sets are too soft to store well commercially.
Short day onions are normally plantd from seed rather than sets.
This site gives a quick run down on the two types of onions.
http://www.chestnut-sw.com/fastfact/oniontypes.htm

Your onion tops will eventually die back but it is sometimes a long process. You have to wait till the tops yellow and fall over by themselves.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I took the stuff in italics from the Oregon State site. Where I am, I need the intermediates. There are a whole lot of different varieties than the ones they list here. I don't know that Hoodat is absolutely correct in saying that most you buy are long day onions, but my limited experience sure agrees with him. I am not going to argue with him over that statement.

When I asked at my local garden center what they recommended for this area, they said short day. When I asked about intermediates, they did not know what I was talking about. When I looked at what varieties they had for sale, all but one were long day, though some were not identified. Don't depend on the ones you purchase locally being right for your area. Most are going to be labelled yellow, white, or red. They could be anything. They may or may not be suitable for your area.

Some people commend breaking over the onion tops to get them to dry out. I consider that a good way to get immature onions that don't store well. I let mine dry naturally.

Bulb onions are highly influenced by the length of days and nights, explained Jim Myers, vegetable breeder with the Oregon State University Department of Horticulture. Different types of onions have different light (and dark) requirements.

Regardless of when an onion is planted, the amount of dark and light that a bulbing onion is exposed to strongly influences when and if they will bulb, flower and set seed, said Myers.

The varieties of onions that require a shorter period (11 to 13 hours) of daylight to bulb are termed "short day" onions. Those that require the longest period of daylight (14 hours per day or more) to form bulbs are known as "long day" onions. Those with intermediate requirements (from 13 to 14 hours of light per day to bulb) are called, logically, "intermediate" onions.

Short-day onions include: Yellow Bermuda, White Creole and Eclipse onions (12 hours daylight to begin bulb formation). California Early Red, Ebenezer, Early Strasburg (13 hours).

Long day onions include: Yellow Globe Danvers (14 1/4 hours) Sweet Spanish, Yellow Flat Grant (14.9 hours) and Yellow Rynsburg, Zittan Yellow (16 hours).

Intermediate-day onions include: Early Yellow Globe, Australian Brown, White Portugal and Southport Yellow Globe (13.5 hours) Red Wethersfield, Southport Red Globe, Italian Red and Flat Madiera (14 hours).

 

[hoodat]

Ridgerunner I used to live just across the border from you (Poteau OK area) so I know what you mean about onions in that area. I was never succesful at growing storage onions there. I just settled for Egyptian onions and used the bulbils on top for cooking.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I can grow good onions but you are right. They don't store that long. I've been known to chop them and run them thorough the dehydrator for storage. They'll work for some cooking, but it is just not the same. I have also chopped them and tray-frozen them, but to use a few at a time, they have to be in a ziploc type bag and they are subject to ice crystals and freezer burn. I just haven't come up with a good solution yet. If I plant about 75 bulbs, use a lot for green onions, and let the rest mature, by the time I get to the last ones, they are stating to go bad.

All I could get locally this year was Walla Walla, a short day onion. I did not to try the long day this year. I've had some success with them but not much. I'm going to go against what few principles I have and mail order some intermediates next year. I really prefer buying local, but sometimes that is not an option.

 

[digitS']

Actually, since Walla Walla Sweets are from Corsica, at 42 North latitude, they should be an intermediate day variety but they are commonly grown in long day areas. "Walla Walla Sweets"

. . .What do onions like? any advice appreciated.

I don't know where you are Mackay. Here is some advice from Texas A & M, even tho' I suspect you are from somewhere quite a ways north of Texas. Still, they know their onions in that state : "Onions grow best in full sunlight and well-drained soils."

And here is something that is important to understand: "Each leaf forms a ring in the onion bulb. More leaves means more rings and larger bulbs."

You see, the parts of the onion that we are interested in eating does NOT include the roots . The roots are those white stringy things that work their way down into the soil. To grow nice onions, we need to feed them "leaf food" and that's mostly nitrogen fertilizer.

Texas A & M suggests 10-10-10, applied twice and quite a bit of it. I use an organic lawn fertilizer . . . for the same reason someone might use it on a lawn - to grow lots of green leaves! It works fine but the plants do get a little nervous whenever they hear the sound of a lawnmower in the neighborhood.

Steve

 

[hoodat]

Steve I can grow Walla Wallas just fine here in San Diego but they are too soft to keep long and too mild for cooking. Great for slicing on sandwiches or making onion rings though.

 

[Mackay]

Guess I will be adding nitrogen..

I am up north at least 42 degrees and high altitutued also,, 6500 ft zone 3 to 4.

I did put my onions in storage but will use them as quickly as I can..

We get long days here in the summer but a short growing season. Only the frost took the greens down.. mostly I pulled them first.. as we can get frozen ground overnight then you cant hardly get them out at all.

Meanwhile I purchased a huge bad of onions at 17cents a pound... makes me wonder why I bothered to grow them at all... well, hindsight is 20/20.

You never know! I paid over 2.00 a pound for onions last winter! so thats why I got into it.

Think I will still try again next year.

 

[Kassaundra]

From what I've read about storage onions, first of all they have to be the storage variety, second your degrees of longetude is more important then your zone. Parks seed catalog has some very good information about which onions grow at differant longitudes and you can find out your degree by googling it.

 

[bills]

I had a poor onion crop this year, and I think it may be a combination of trying to conserve water during our very dry summer,and a lack of nitrogen.

I may be adding to much" brown" material to the garden in the form of leaves in the fall, which in breaking down, uses up the existing nitrogen in the soil. Makes for very nice soil in the spring, but I believe it's lacking nitrogen. I do dig in some Sea Soil every year, which is very high in nitrogen, but perhaps I need to add more.

I am hesitant to use chemical fertilizers, as I would like to stay organic. Maybe I better feed the chickens more, so they will produce more poop..