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jclepine

Help with my walking onions, please

jclepine
13 years ago

Hi all. As you may or may not know, it is snowing up my way. It started out nice but then the snow, cold and wind blew in out of seemingly nowhere.

The onions are one of the swap items I planted right away and they were fine yesterday and happy this morning.

Now they are all wilting!

Is it too cold for them? Should I have put them in a pot? Should I have cut them down?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,

Jennifer

Comments (4)

  • luckybottom
    13 years ago

    I would have done the same thing with them. Chances are that they would have looked wimpy even without the snow. They just go through such a change (dirt to water back to different dirt). Don't give up, they may even come back from the roots. If they don't just let me know and I will send you some tops in the fall once they have dried. bonnie

  • Skybird - z5, Denver, Colorado
    13 years ago

    SNOW??? OMG! IÂve been out in the backyard trying to get some things cut back, and cursing at the WIND, which is absolutely impossible down here todayÂbut snow! I guess this is a kwitchurbitchin situation! But the wind is so strong down here that a couple of the canes on my roses have broken offÂand itÂs hard to even stand up when the gusts hit you! ANDÂthere are some insane guys on a neighborÂs roof trying to reroof it! IÂm absolutely amazed nobody has blown off of the roofÂyet!

    With the onionsÂwhat Lucky said! TheyÂre in the "recovery room" for now, and itÂs just gonna take them a little while to "feel better!" Onions can take the cold, so I wouldnÂt worry about them that way, but (if you can get thru the snow!) I recommend cutting most of the tops off to make it easier for the roots to get going. The two little Campanulas I got were wilting pretty badly, and I was worried about themÂnot really worried, but having a lot of trouble just seeing themÂso I cut almost all the foliage off of them and theyÂre looking way better. But like I said yesterday, if you cut the tops off and they have almost no foliage, theyÂre not going to be using much water at all, so donÂt keep watering them trying to "help" them! Let the soil dry most of the way before watering, which will probably be a while if youÂre getting snowed on, and with the cool/cold temps youÂre still getting up there. Leaving the soil dry down to just below the level of where the roots were when you planted them will encourage new root growth.

    Whatever you decide to do, they should come around just fine after they have a chance to check out their new digs!

    You need a cup of hot chocolate!

    Skybird

  • jclepine
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks you two!! Well, the snow didn't stick at all, no surprise, but the flurries and the cold and wind were just silly after such a nice and warm day yesterday!

    I think I will cut the tops off as Darren really wants to cook with them...NOW!

    I hope they are happy but I won't over water them.

    Do we need to spread them out or should we just leave them in a clump? I left them in a clump because I figured they were tired from all the excitement.

    Thanks for offering more, Lucky! I'll let you know if they find their way to the grave. Hopefully, they will be happy here.

    Jennifer

  • greenbean08_gw
    13 years ago

    It was so stinkin' windy here all day I couldn't even stand to be outdoors. I did go water a few freshly transplaned veggies (glad my tomatoes weren't planted out yet) and I think the wind gave me a headache that has lasted all day (I'm blaming it on the wind at least). It's finally calmed down out there and if I can muster up some more energy after dinner, I may see what I can get done tonight. My onions are stuck being in the wet paper for now...