Hi.Tom I have planted both candy and ace here in the U.P. of Michigan. The ace may get a little bigger,the candy will get 4 to 6 inches and is sweeter and will keep till spring. I plant a wide row of 4 and are 10 inches on center. I think if you try candy you will like it. I think the farther apart you plant them the bigger they will be. YOPPER

hi yopper,

i thought you told me you grew candy, i remember the beautiful photos of your garden or farm in your email from last year.

i was reading in johhny's seed catalog and they were talking about over wintering them. jss is in maine and no one would do that in this lattitude.

so i assume you start your candy seeds like all other onion seeds and transplant out in the spring? i DO NOT want to plant the plants in the fall and over winter. i start my seeds 2/25 to 3/1 and plant out about 4/21. can i do this with candy?

tom

Hi Tom I use to start my seed about the first of Feb. and plant out the midle of april or later depending on the weather. Now I just order them from dixondale.The plants from them are much easery to plant and I get bigger onions.As for wintering over I don't think it would work here as it can get to -40 degrezze. If you try candy I don't think you will go back to ace. YOPPER

I loved having the Candy Onions in years past - good size, flavor, and stored fairly well.. BUT, then they are the "property" of Monsanto/Seminis......this pops my ethics balloon and i won't be growing their seed anymore.
But, to each, their own.

Glad (and sticking to it.)

Glad Some people put ethics a head of common since. BUT as you say ,to each their own YOPPER

yopper, I planted 1000 Candy onions this year. They were as big as softballs. They are very sweet and good for salsa or just on a burger. I did have have some turn black and rot in the middle. I have no idea how that happened ? If you or anyone else can help me with that problem, I give you a big thank you

Hawk All I can do is give you my opinion. I think the weather has a lot to do with most onion problems. Some times it's good for the onions and some times it's good for rot , bugs and onion maggots. If I can harvest when it's dry I have very little problems if I have to harvest when it's wet I have more problems. Very little problems this year as it was dry here all year.The only time I watered was when I planted them and they still were good sized!!If I do have a soil decease I think the long cold winters kill it. Every year is different some good and some better. Sorry I wasn't more help. YOPPER

yopper,I tend to agree with you. Last year they were all good onions and I did'nt do anything different this year and well you read my post. I just did'nt know if something went wrong with my soil. thanks for your comments.hawk

i have finished drying my onions and have final info.

i pulled them on 8/19 about 1 week later than past years. i left them lay in the garden until 8/29 when i moved them to the shed and put them on racks to dry. on 10/8 i cut the tops and trimmed the roots. i had 3 or 4 candy that were bad and 1 that was out right rotten. all red wing and all copra were fine, not 1 single bad onion. i put each variety into a 50 pound bag and i was unable to get the last 10 pounds of candy into the bag!

candy most 5 to 6" in diameter - 52 pounds
copra most 2 1/2 to 3" in diameter - 33 pounds
red wing most 3 to 4" in diameter - 25 pounds

candy were planted 6" on center while the other 2 were 4" on center, all started from seed on 2/27, put out late on 5/5, all grown in a 4' X 4' square.

i am impressed with candy, excellent sized and only 1 onion was a double bulb which i don't care for, ace made lots of doubles. candy is now my sweet onion. i hope candy stores to february because this is a lot of onions!

tom

Tom You did good!!!! I thought you would like the candy onion. I have had candy keep until May not all do but those that sprout I give to the neighbors.They are still in the drying shed.I will have to move them indoors soon as it was 28 degrees last night. YOPPER

I planted candies last year and they were wonderful, I planted them this year in a different place and they are not sweet at all but rather hot......can anyone explain this?

The only explainations I could give are a mixup of seeds or a cross (or saving seeds from a hybrid), wrong plants if you used plants, or your different location has a higher level of sulfur or something, and maybe the weather or watering. Check pH of both locations to see if different.

Did you start seeds, or buy transplants?

Thank you Onion-Folks for this great discussion on the Candy onions. And nice to see another Zone 5-er close to me with good data on the how/when of it all. THANK YOU!

Looking for Candy Onion Seeds