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onions planted in fall

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Posted by bshroyer nor cal (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 30, 09 at 21:31

Hi, Im a long time gardener but never have planted onions till this year.. I was at my local nursury back in the fall and they had some onion sets left and tho I thought it was the wrong time of year, I bought some and put them in with my chard. (Im in northern cal so fairly mild winter)

It is now the end of march.. the tops are large and look great but I dug down to see if there were actually onions and found that what Ive got look like big green onions. The stem at the ground is about an inch thick and this goes down about an inch or so and ends with a small swelling and some roots. Is this what its gonna be or do I have to leave them till end of summer for actual bulbs? The onions I planted were Walla walla and Candy.

Thanks in advance!

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RE: onions planted in fall

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Walla Walla is a long day onion and needs 14-16 hours of day length to bulb. Candy is an Intermediate day onion and needs 12-14 hours of sunlight before bulbing starts.

Check the Dixondale site for more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dixondale Farms

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RE: onions planted in fall

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bshroyer, IMO even though you're in NorCal and have relatively mild winter temps it is still winter there and you are only probally getting sun from about 7am-5:30 or 6pm. Not enough sunlight for the Walla Walla to form bulbs. I would keep them in the ground until the tops flop over indicating they have had it. Can't hurt.

Larrick

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RE: onions planted in fall

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If you bought Candy or Walla, they should have been plants not sets. They don't make good sets. Your bigger problem will be with the Walla Walla. It is designed to bulb in late June. When they are overwintered, they will have a tendency to seed (bolt) in the spring. Candy bulbs earlier and may not bolt as readily. In any event, when you see a seedhead emerging, It is better to use then as green onions. Pinching the seedheads can slow the process a little, but you will not get good mature bulbs from a bolting plant.

  
 

 

 


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