What variety Onions do you grow, and what do you do to ensure success?

[larry_stewart]

Ive been gardening for 25 years , and grew up helping my father with his garden , so I consider myself a relatively experienced home gardener ( except when it comes to onions ).

I was just curious what varieties work for you, and if you have any techniques that ensure predictability and success from year too year.

Due to my location, Long Day varieties are advised ( and what ive been doing consistently)

Ive tried Alisa Craig, Copra, walla walla, Spanish yellow and a few other varieties.
Ive used high nitrogen fertilizers ) as directed).

As far as I know, Im following all the growing directions accurately.

I grow them in raised beds with controlled soil and irrigation

I order from: https://www.dixondalefarms.com

Its not that I never have luck, just very unpredictable. Maybe 1 out of every 4 years is good ( and never great). If it was 1 out of 4 I'd chalk it off as maybe just not ideal weather conditions, but its too frequent to give Mother Nature all the blame. Ive had other crops do well in the same location over the years so I dont think its a sun issue.

IM thinking maybe Im just putting too much thought and effort and over thinking. I just laugh when I do all this reading and prep work, follow directions and then someone I bump into, with little experience just tosses them in without a care and has a much greater year than I do.

Same thing happened with my neighbor across the street. Ive been trying to grow watermelons for years, with little or no luck ( usually they just dont have enough time to ripen fully). Anyway, he was sitting on his front stoop, spit a seed into the dirt next to his driveway, and a few months later, was sharing his harvest with al the neighbors. I just dont get it.

Anyway, back to Onions, any tips or suggestions id appreciate

Thanks

 

[pepperhead212]

Of those varieties that you listed, Copra is one I have seen listed many times on some gardening forums, as a favorite of some of those growing onions.

I had the same problems with onions many years ago, with them being unpredictable, as well as most not being good for storage. I gave up on them, for these reasons, plus the fact that they are so cheap, and one of the safer veggies to buy non-organic, since little is sprayed on onions. I grow onions for scallions, and when I have some extra space, I'll plant some shallots (had too many cloves of garlic on this planting, to plant shallots, but I might, still) - saves me more money, and more predictable.

 

[larry_stewart]

Of those varieties that you listed, Copra is one I have seen listed many times on some gardening forums, as a favorite of some of those growing onions.

I had the same problems with onions many years ago, with them being unpredictable, as well as most not being good for storage. I gave up on them, for these reasons, plus the fact that they are so cheap, and one of the safer veggies to buy non-organic, since little is sprayed on onions. I grow onions for scallions, and when I have some extra space, I'll plant some shallots (had too many cloves of garlic on this planting, to plant shallots, but I might, still) - saves me more money, and more predictable.

Pretty much my attitude, I just hate when I do everything right ( theoretically). and it just doesn't work as expected.

I already started planning next years garden and have cut amount of onions significantly, but I, still going to give it the good old college try and see if I can make any progress ( I have similar issues with beets and carrots, just not as predictable as other crops I grow, but like an ass, I keep growing them).

 

[blissful]

Larry, how did the onions go this year for you? We had medium sized keeper onions-mako type. The mako sometimes gives me two bulbs, connected, flat against each other, inside one wrapper, making one bulb.


Which brings me to this question. Pepperhead212, when planting shallots and a few of them have two bulbs, flat against each other, inside one wrapper (like the makos sometimes do), do you separate them first before planting? I'm going to plant some this fall, see if they make it through winter, with lots of mulch on top. These are going in a spare row in the garlic area. Help!

 

[pepperhead212]

blissful I separate those shallots, at least when they come apart, with skins on both. When I remove almost all of the skins, but there seems to be just one skin left over two, I leave them attached, and plant them that way - I'm not sure if a larger cluster of shallots forms from this, than the single large ones, but sometime I'll have to do an experiment, and label them. The large ones seem to produce clusters of various sizes, while the small ones just produce large shallots. If there is room, like I had this year, I plant the small ones last, closer together, until I run out of space. And I look closely - sometimes, as you know, shallots have that black mold under that last skin. Those I keep to cook with. And, like with the garlic, I do a drench in 50% isopropyl alcohol, for 4-5 minutes (they aren't all submerged, but I shake the container several times, before removing them, and adding more) , which pretty much kills anything left on them, before planting. I learned this on a forum from a guy that used to run a garlic farm, and he said they switched to a cheap vodka to drench them in, since it cost less! I also learned from that guy that peeling the garlic is better, since you can see if there is anything wrong with them - he said they didn't do this on the farm, due to the mass numbers of cloves! But the skin simply rots away, which also happens with shallots, so I figured I should try that, to get rid of any of that mold - the problem is, they don't peel as easily, even after soaking. I tried this with a few this season, and planted them last in each row, to see if it helps at all.

 

[larry_stewart]

Larry, how did the onions go this year for you?

Compared to my previous years, it was a step in the right direction. I grew fewer onions, but had a Higher percentage of decent sized ones. I think part of my issue is the location , but I save my prime location for the tomatoes. My backyard is surrounded by trees ( which ill never cut down for privacy purposes) so I always am dealing with shade issues.

I used to pick specific varieties. This past year, I just went with an assorted long day selection.

Now with the season over, ill kinda look back and see what I did and what I can do differently to make it even better next year.

 

[blissful]

blissful I separate those shallots, at least when they come apart, with skins on both. When I remove almost all of the skins, but there seems to be just one skin left over two, I leave them attached, and plant them that way - I'm not sure if a larger cluster of shallots forms from this, than the single large ones, but sometime I'll have to do an experiment, and label them. The large ones seem to produce clusters of various sizes, while the small ones just produce large shallots. If there is room, like I had this year, I plant the small ones last, closer together, until I run out of space. And I look closely - sometimes, as you know, shallots have that black mold under that last skin. Those I keep to cook with. And, like with the garlic, I do a drench in 50% isopropyl alcohol, for 4-5 minutes (they aren't all submerged, but I shake the container several times, before removing them, and adding more) , which pretty much kills anything left on them, before planting. I learned this on a forum from a guy that used to run a garlic farm, and he said they switched to a cheap vodka to drench them in, since it cost less!

Awesome, good to know, thank you!

Yes, I treat my garlic, even if only preventative and they look good, no use introducing bugs into the soil and most of the garlic bugs also are onion bugs.

 

[blissful]

Compared to my previous years, it was a step in the right direction. I grew fewer onions, but had a Higher percentage of decent sized ones. I think part of my issue is the location , but I save my prime location for the tomatoes. My backyard is surrounded by trees ( which ill never cut down for privacy purposes) so I always am dealing with shade issues.

I used to pick specific varieties. This past year, I just went with an assorted long day selection.

Now with the season over, ill kinda look back and see what I did and what I can do differently to make it even better next year.

That's just great! We too fought our shade, we had a line of trees on the south side of the property. Over the past 5 years we've taken out more than half of them. We started putting trellises up in their place, 5-6 feet tall and they don't shade the gardens. When they are covered in vines, they make a great fence.



Onions and garlic are heavy feeders and they don't like sharing with weeds. I've grown rows of garlic or onions, most weeded, some not, and I could see a difference between the weeded ones and the ones I didn't get to. Some years are just better because of the rain in the spring and no time of droughts. They do like full sun.

 

[larry_stewart]

I mulched my garlic with mulched leaves last year, and that kept like 90% of the weeds out . My only issue was we didnt get much rain so I managed to overwater the garlic which screwed some of them up a bit.

Onions were in a slightly new location this year , I was good with the weeding and they also went in a week earlier than past years. So im assuming one if not all of those 3 things helped in having a better year ( or just luck). I wish I had more room to plant more onions, but having limited space, I prefer to use the garden for more plentiful producing crops ( like cucumbers, string beans , tomatoes....) than something that spends 4 months just to produce a single veggie. I love onions, and I go through them so quickly, but with limited space I have to make choices . But , if I can get a better % of larger onions, or just a more predictable outcome, then maybe Id devote more real estate to the onions.

 

[blissful]

Larry, we grow 200-300 onions, but even this year, when onions went on sale for less than 30 cents/lb in bigger amounts, we bought 60 lbs worth. Same with carrots, cheap to buy, tough to grow. Potatoes, we buy a lot of those, 40-50 lbs at a time, sometimes more and we go through 10lbs a week.



When I have the choice, I like growing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, and we can/freeze/dehydrate them.

 

[larry_stewart]

I never realized how many onions i go through ( I used to just buy a 3 pound bag a week unless making onions soup or something like that ) until my son bought me a 40 pound bag of onions for fathers day. When readily available , I go through them so quickly. Right off the bat I caramelize a bunch in the slow cooker then freeze. Often when making onion soup, I finish it off with a scoop of the caramelized onions.

 

[blissful]

Our onions are in those mesh bags (leftover from selling garlic), and we hung them downstairs, across a long rope strung out. If they start to sprout I chop them and freeze them in gallon zip lock bags, flat.


The makos keep until spring.

Walla walla and Candy onions sprout at about 3 months.
The ones we bought, I have no idea, we just keep an eye on them.


Yeah, we use a lot of onions Larry. They get so nice and sweet with cooking them. When I heat them in a pan on the stove, usually my son and husband show up with 'what smells so good'.

 

[pepperhead212]

I go through a lot of onions in my cooking, but they have been expensive for the last several months, and I was wondering if it was one of the results of Covid19. Every once in a while I'd find red or white onions cheaper than yellows - usually the cheapest - which have been $2.29 for 3 lbs. This week, however, Aldi had them for $1.19 for 3 lbs, so I got 2 bags! Problem is, they are those kinds of onions that don't have a completely dry skin, maybe due to harvesting too early, or not curing long enough.

Those older onions are incredibly potent! I had one last one that I used today, and just cutting it in half made it feel like I had rubbed my eyes with hot pepper oil! I rinsed the halves, and left the room, with those goggles I should have put on before cutting that onion. After I could see well, and it had sort of cleared out, I put those goggles on, which seal around my eyes, and chopping that onion up, and starting the cooking, didn't bother me! Stupid me - why didn't I just start out with that?!

 

[bethzaring]

What variety Onions do you grow, and what do you do to ensure success?

Sierra Blanca and Patterson.

Start with onion plants.

I finally became self sufficient with onions when I started buying onion plants from Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine. This year I planted 700 plants. When I plant that many I can justify to myself starting to harvest them one month after they go into the ground in April. I start using the Sierra Blanca first, and continue using them until they run out. They are not storage onions; Patterson is a storage onion. I use the Sierra Blanca for caramelizing, fresh eating in salads and on sandwiches and for all cooking. They are huge and delicious. Here is a photo of just one wheel barrow load from this Fall.

 

[blissful]

Beth, beautiful!

We grew patterson one year too! We are always trying keeper onions to last us through the winter.



Here's our plants started in Feb-March, outside, in milk jugs, from seed, then we plant those plants into the garden in May.

 

[larry_stewart]

Beth, beautiful!

We grew patterson one year too! We are always trying keeper onions to last us through the winter.



Here's our plants started in Feb-March, outside, in milk jugs, from seed, then we plant those plants into the garden in May.

About what time/ month do you harvest the onions ?

I usually get sets late March/ Early April and harvest about mid July.

(I already got a bunch of milk jugs , definitely trying it this year)

 

[blissful]

Larry, if you get them in early enough you can harvest in July. Since we didn't want to take chances with snow/frost we put them in late May.


The long day onions, grow greens first. They are triggered to grow the bulb when the daylight hours are 14 hours long. Our 14 hour days quit Aug 13th. The green part of the onion starts to brown and topple over after that. We harvested the 3rd and 4th week of august.