Tom I have'nt seen any thing like that on my onions but if your having crazy weather like I have. Most any thing is possible.Maybe all them weeds you had in them early stressed them I know they had you stressed.My onions are still growing good,finally got some rain.GOOD GARDENING TO YA YOPPER

hi yopper. i checked my onion book, they are setting seed, bolting. odd as onions do that in the 2nd year but 7 plants were doing that. i put them in the fridge and i'm eating these before the rest of them. hey i still have some red wing and copra in the fridge from last season to finish!

tom

Hi Tom,

There are several factors that can lead to onions bolting in their first year. Last year I had as many as 40% of some varieties bolt, while this year I had none. I wrote to Dixondale Farms last year about this and they provided an excellent explanation as follows:

"Onions and other commercially cultivated alliums are biennial plants, which means that they have two lives. An onion's first life begins at our farm, when we take it from a seed to a plant. When transplanted, the onion begins its second life. At a point when the plant has at least six leaves and experiences an extended period of cooling temperatures, it can go dormant a second time. As the temperature rises, the onion tries to start growing again, marking the beginning of its third life. The plant believes that it's going to die, so it tries to reproduce and grows a flower. This flower formation is called bolting or vernalization, and it's how we produce seed. Occasionally other factors, such as damage by cultivation or excessive stress, may cause bolting. That's why only a few plants may bolt in an entire plot or field. Should this occur, the onion will still be perfectly edible; however, as the seed-stem gets bigger, the ring associated with it will become piffy and inedible. If left to maturity, this ring will rot quickly and cause the entire onion to rot as well. It's best to eat the onion as soon as you see the seed-stem. Don't bend or break the top; the leaf is hollow, and breaking it will allow water to go right into the center of the onion and cause it to rot. While it is impossible to control the weather, planting at the correct time for the variety in question is the most important factor to limit premature bolting. Over-fertilizing can also contribute to bolting - if onions are too vigorous, too early in their development, bolting can result. Onions bolt as a reaction to cold weather stress. Temperatures under 45F may cause the onion to bolt when the plant has five or more leaves. Some onions are more or less susceptible to bolting than others and the process is not completely understood. Unfortunately once the onion does bolt, the quality of the onion bulb deteriorates rapidly and it should be harvested and eaten as quickly as possible."

TomNJ

thanks tom.

i ate one the other day and it was very good, crisp and hot. i usually don't eat a copra until february. they keep so long i eat the sweet variety i used to grow 1st as they kept only into january. then i'd switch to the red variety as they'd keep a bit longer. now that i grow red wing heck these keep just about as long as copra! so to eat a copra just a week after harvest, i doubt i ever did it.

tom

It's the milk!

.
. .
. .
. .
. .
. just kidding Tom!

must have been milk drift since i never sprayed them!

tom