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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 22, 2010 12:47:39 GMT -5
Joseph, will shallots over winter inground where you live? mulched in I mean. Like Garlic divide them out in the summer when tops fall over. Shallots are not a socially favored crop here so my family has not grown them except for last year. The garlics mostly died, the shallots survived fine. I don't ever mulch anything: Too much labor and too expensive. Besides not knowing what poisons found their way into the mulch. And uuuugh!!!! have you ever touched that stuff? Or smelled it? Creeps me out. |
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Post by flowerpower on Dec 23, 2010 7:40:49 GMT -5
In my garden, onions are a biannual. What that means from a practical standpoint, is that since slicing onions freeze here overwinter that I have to store onions indoors overwinter if I am going to let them go to seed. So my onions end up being long-keepers because I have stored them in the garage over winter. I recommend getting onions (either plants or bulbs) from a small local seed store or farm co-op. (Not a big box store.) They have a lot of experience with which varieties grow well in your area. Biannual?? That means twice per year. I'm confused now. Even if I overwinter onions inside and replant for seed, I'd say they are biennial. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 23, 2010 11:28:32 GMT -5
Biannual?? That means twice per year. Just me being self-taught about biology, and too lazy to open another window in order to look up the proper usage/spelling of a word that is not part of my day-to-day vocabulary. Thanks. Chances are better that I will get it right next time. |
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Post by canadamike on Jan 9, 2011 1:08:50 GMT -5
hehe...not biannual, but biennial....
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Post by bunkie on Jan 9, 2011 10:40:17 GMT -5
joseph, i don't understand why your onions don't overwinter? could it be the variety or the type of winters you have? we go down to as low as -20F here and our onions come back every year.
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Post by darwinslair on Jan 9, 2011 16:28:31 GMT -5
we have very cold winters, but if I lose onions in the garden, they sprout the next spring.
The ones I lose though do not have bulb tops above the ground. Wonder if I could overwinter larger ones in the ground instead of storing them in the basement
just thinking out loud there.
Tom
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 17, 2011 1:10:53 GMT -5
joseph, i don't understand why your onions don't overwinter? could it be the variety or the type of winters you have? we go down to as low as -20F here and our onions come back every year. Now you got me wondering.... I'm sure I don't pick every onion. And I'm sure I leave some defective ones in the garden. But I don't get volunteer "yellow onions" or "purple onions". Ain't it sad that I don't even know what variety of onion I grow. I just go into the seed store and tell them I want onions. Could be the variety. I'm guessing that it may also have something to do with my garden being in a valley basin. So when super cold temperatures arrive here they tend to settle into the bottom of the valley and stay for weeks. In other places the cold runs down the river valleys to the ocean, and is gone in a couple days. Also for any given weather pattern my temperatures tend to be about 15 F colder than Spokane for example. I grow Egyptian onions that survive the winter gloriously. Sometimes even growing under the snow. It might also be a commercial onion growing thing... The next valley over has huge onion growing fields. They might be growing a variety that kills overwinter in order to avoid a weed/volunteer problem. I might be getting onions that are diverted from those farms. |
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Post by happyskunk on Feb 17, 2011 2:18:40 GMT -5
joseph, i don't understand why your onions don't overwinter? could it be the variety or the type of winters you have? we go down to as low as -20F here and our onions come back every year. I had a bunch of onions just sitting on the ground all winter after being harvested. It does not get really cold here but it did get below zero. Many of them survived and I just planted them hoping they will produce seed. The "frost bite" onion grex. |
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Post by 12540dumont on May 2, 2011 10:04:55 GMT -5
I have had similar troubles with onions and so this fall I'm going to start an onion trial. Has anyone out there seen onion grex's? (I already have Alan Kapuler's and the Long Island Seed Projects). I want to trial as many open pollinated onions as I can find over the next 2 years. Thanks Attachments:
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 2, 2011 10:16:51 GMT -5
Has anyone out there seen onion grex's? (I already have Alan Kapuler's and the Long Island Seed Projects). I want to trial as many open pollinated onions as I can find over the next 2 years. I grow open pollinated onion seed for my own use, and so does my father. I don't know that it could aspire be called a grex: It's just what we grow. Mine looks like yellow spanish onions with a touch of purple. Both are long-day onions. |
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Post by grunt on May 2, 2011 10:42:58 GMT -5
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the onions that I let go to seed last year have survived and come back again = they are on their third year now. I also noticed that one of the Green Glazed collards that I let go to seed last year was still alive in places, and it hadn't been mulched over or anything (neither had the onions). I may try that again this year (on purpose, with mulching) just to see if I might be able to get even earlier greens for spring consumption.
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Post by steev on May 2, 2011 21:00:57 GMT -5
Always a pleasure to find things that get by without pampering. Frees up time for the things that wont.
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Post by heidihi on May 3, 2011 7:56:17 GMT -5
I have tried to grow onions from seeds for a few years and gave up ..it takes me three seasons to get an onion that way! they take forever to grow here ...maybe it is me not knowing a trick or something but I planted fresh seed from a local grower ...and still I have some onions trying to mature and gave up using the seeds a couple of years ago ..now I buy sets from a local grower
garlic grows like crazy here but onions are troublesome for me
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 3, 2011 10:53:24 GMT -5
I have tried to grow onions from seeds for a few years and gave up ..it takes me three seasons to get an onion that way! they take forever to grow here ...maybe it is me not knowing a trick or something but I planted fresh seed from a local grower ...and still I have some onions trying to mature and gave up using the seeds a couple of years ago ..now I buy sets from a local grower My daddy's strategy for growing onions from seed is to get them into the ground as soon as the snow melts in the spring. They will germinate before the weed seeds. They produce eating size bulbs by fall. There are long-day and short-day onions. Choose long-day onions for northern gardens. There are also "bunching" onions which do not produce big bulbs. |
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bertiefox
gardener
There's always tomorrow!
Posts: 236
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Post by bertiefox on May 3, 2011 11:24:06 GMT -5
The number of poor seeds being placed on sale seems to be increasing. A few years ago I had a packet of White Paris onion seed from a reputable seed dealer and not one germinated,despite trying several test sowings, and this year I paid almost 4 euros for a small packet of Canary Creeper (Tropaeolum) seeds from a garden centre, none of which has germinated despite sowing in controlled conditions.
I wonder if the old quality checks on seeds we used to have are still being as rigorously applied? The general point about collecting your own seems to be the right way to go.
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