Return to the Far North Gardening Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Dumb onion question
| | |
Posted by northspruce z3a MB CDA (My Page) on Sun, Aug 21, 11 at 12:26
| I've never grown full size onions before, just multipliers. After the greens die down, do the onion bulbs keep growing? Or should I pick them now? Sorry, dumb question. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
| That's okay. Yes, the onions will keep growing. An old friend of ours used to say, "It's like having money in the bank!" :> |
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
It's been a long time when I grew onions, mine stopped growing
and I pulled them out. |
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
When the tops die down pull out the onion bulbs, lay them on their side, and leave them to "cure" in the sun for a few days or a week (or in a dry garage or shed if wet weather is forecast). That prepares them for storage so they won't rot. The put them loosely in boxes or paper bags and put in a cool dark area for storage (I keep mine in the basement, under the stairs). Here's a pic of some onions I grew last year, taken in January of this year (so about 4 months storage).
 |
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
| Thanks. They're almost died down and some are the right size but some I'd like a little bigger. The bigger ones are about the size of Don's. I hope the small ones grow a bit more. |
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
| If the tops have died down, the bulbs won't grow any bigger, as they no longer have any leafy green photosynthetic parts to feed the bulbs. Leaving them in the ground just leaves them open to nematode or other insect attack. I grow my onions from seeds that I start under growlights around March 1, then transplant into the garden around May 15. Transplants produce larger onions, but they ripen later (mine are still standing and green right now). If you started yours from those green-onion sets that are sold widely in the spring, they will ripen much sooner but will tend to be smaller. |
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
| I wonder what old Sulo meant, then, about the onions being like "money in the bank". Oh well, i just assumed they were still growing, but i've never actually checked! |
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
| Most of them still have a couple of green leaves so I'll leave them in for now. They got beaten down by hail so it's hard to tell if they were done or not. Half were from sets and half were from one of those tangled "pot o roots" flats from Walmart that ends up having 400 onions in it. |
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
To "don555"
Post is a littel old but, I was wandering what is the name of onions that you show pictured,
Mine never get to that size,
Thanks |
RE: Dumb onion question
| | |
| Those are "Talon" onions, grown from seed purchased from Vesey's Seeds. I start them indoors around the start of March and transplant to the garden in mid-May. Talon is a long-storage onion that ripens early enough to grow here. It will keep in the basement until April or May. I used to grow "Norstar" which ripens slightly earlier, but it doesn't keep as long, usually sprouts or rots by March. |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Far North Gardening Forum
|
|
|
