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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 18, 2009 6:23:11 GMT -5
They are gorgeous! And what a page! I can hardly believe the size of the leeks and I've NEVER seen such a selection of brussels sprouts!?!
I'm willing to wait a couple of years for maybe 4 seed? I'd really love some of those sprouts seeds as well!
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Post by michaeljohnson on Jun 19, 2009 23:04:01 GMT -5
Unfortunately - the leeks don't grow like that naturally , all those depicted in the photos have been specially and intensively cultivated with forced growth under lights since christmas time each year, and specially fed on all sorts of concoctions and mixtures. Brussel Sprouts- we have a very large selection over here in the UK, and most seed houses keep up to a dozen varieties. Actually there was quite a funny article in the newspaper the other day-concerning Brussel sprouts- where the captain of an english nuclear submarine had banned them from the diet and menu of the crew, and called them the (evil veg)- because apparently when in enclosed quarters under the sea in a sub, brussel sprouts are not that environmental friendly
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 20, 2009 8:05:08 GMT -5
No kidding? I'll be darned! I've never heard of doing that to a leek. It's rather popular to grow giant pumpkins in some parts of the state. Until I learn how to make "cabelle d' angel" I'm not going to try it! I could do with some giant onions though!
Tell me, does the process do anything good or bad to the flavor or the leeks?
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Post by michaeljohnson on Jun 21, 2009 2:17:51 GMT -5
No"- The leeks taste just the same as normal-if anything slightly better,
Giant Onions can also be grown to a massive fifteen pounds per Onion- which is the current world record holder in the UK, using much the same process, but a lot more fussy with them- each leaf is supported by a thin cane support so as not to break a single leaf- the idea is to get as many leaves on the plant as possible , from nineteen upwards to around twenty seven, if you should break but one single leave it reduces the weight by several ounces each time, the onions are all grown under cover on special raised beds and the whole bed covered in a black plastic mulch sheet to keep moisture in, the onions are planted through a little hole poked in the sheet about a couple of inches across, these competition onions are grown under intensive lights until complete- that's how they get to be as big as 15lbs, or more, the prize money runs into the hundreds of pounds for the winner £500 to £1,000 pounds being not uncommon
Grown in normal garden soil outside the same onions from a good strain can reach six to seven pounds in weight, four and five pounders are quite common.
Current winners for outside grown stock swear by feeding them on either-(Nitro Chalk) or on pure organic well rotted Turkey manure from the inside of a deep litter turkey rearing farm, there is something about Turkey muck that makes onions grow superbly and gives them a lovely finish to their skins, one grower won five years in a row with near perfect onions all within the six to seven pound range for outside garden grown onions.
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Post by grungy on Jun 21, 2009 2:51:41 GMT -5
Any of the giant onions a good winter keeper?
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Post by robertb on Jun 21, 2009 8:40:46 GMT -5
Pot leeks are grown mainly for show, in the UK. They're also good to eat as long as they're not ridiculously massive. They're basically very thick leeks.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 21, 2009 9:04:19 GMT -5
I'm with Val, will onions grown so large keep through winter well? I'd be really interested as I go through LOTs of onions and I prefer prepping one or two large ones to half a dozen small.
Turkey "muck" is very available around here as well. Would you suggest starting from seed or sets?
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Post by robertb on Jun 21, 2009 17:33:03 GMT -5
I'm not sure, but I could ask. There's a neighbour of mine down at the allotments who shows at the national level and grows loads of massive onions.
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Post by michaeljohnson on Jun 22, 2009 0:29:37 GMT -5
You always have to start giant onions from seed, sown traditionally on Xmas day each year, as they require a long cultivation period. There have also been experiments with growing them from the little bulbils like leeks, which appear on the seed heads in between the seed stems, but they have not had the same success as with leeks and any onions grown from them run to seed quickly rather than forming a bulb. To answer your questions on if or not they are good keepers through the winter, the answer is "No"- they are very bad keepers and at best only manage about three months at the most, so they have to be eaten up fairly quickly, and imagine what it is like trying to eat up a fifteen pound onion quickly, For seed onions they have to keep them very dry, and if any sign of rot appears they have to peel off the outer layer and let them form a new skin again in dry condition, but to get over that most showmen who exhibit giant onions usually place them in large twelve inch terra cotta pots (not plastic pots) in a mixture of dry sand and dry peat, they then usually last through until the spring before going into seed spike mode, the roots tend to burrow down into the sand and peat mixture-but you do not water them at all, The reason they do not keep very long is that they are blown up to giant size on a high nitro diet, and it is this that makes them too soft to keep long. Outside grown ones, even if fed on pure turkey much diet tend to keep a lot better, five or six months on average, but only if they are properly dried in the warm hot sun, and on no account should the leaves be bent over to help them ripen, as is common practice in some quarters, it only lets in various rotting diseases into the neck of the onion, just left to dry and ripen in the hot sun is the best for these- that is why some forms of giant spanish grown onions are longish keeping and are sweet to the taste, all the english grown really big giants are also very mild and sweet to the taste, and you could almost bite them like and apple. But still- if you have thirty or forty outside grown ones in the five or six pound class, or even two to three pound class, they take some beating, and raise lots of comments from visitors or neighbours-who always seem to ask-how the hell did you grow onions to that size, what's the secret etc, etc, But a fifteen pound onion is entirely another matter, enthusiasts strive to beat it on an annual basis, and large sums of cash are exchanged for just a few seeds of this and that strain, in the hope of getting a sixteen or seventeen pound onion and scooping the massive prize money and onion growing fame. I was in the showing and growing of leeks and onions for a while back in the early seventies, and took several certificates of merit in the large shows and came second and third on one occasion, much to my delight, on the morning of the show I had been up since the crack of dawn preparing my leeks for the show, they were laid out on a long bench, as they were the long leek type, and were nineteen inches of pure white stem with four foot leaves and as thick as you wrist through them, I carefully tied up the leaves with raffia and then wrapped them in a damp cloth ready for transport to the show, arriving at the show I carried them in very carefully and laid them out on the benches to perfection, gleaming white and long, I took a good look around at the rest of the competition by the side of them and there was nothing to touch them, so I stood back proudly to admire them when in walked another contestant with a big bundle under his arm all wrapped in cloth, my heart sank when he unwrapped them- they were massive, and three inches or more longer than mine, I thought I had it in the bag that time-but this chap beat me fair and square-the swine ;D I eventually dropped out of showing veg as I could not keep up with the competition and the expense, as some of them constructed massive heated greenhouses and installed powerful lighting systems and co2 gas enrichment etc, and would grow up to 300 onions under glass in order to pick out four for the show. Much too rich for my pocket-but it was fun whilst it lasted.
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