2011-13 Onion Trial

[littleminnie]

Can I make an onion report too?
I put in 4 beds planted with the jab seeder through black plastic sheeting with four drip lines underneath. These were planted right on time and right upon receipt. I ordered from Dixondale. I forget how many bunches but it was around 1700 plants. I planted the bigger ones and gave away the smaller because they sent me way too many!
Walla Walla, Red marble and Torpedo were in one bed since they were earliest. Yellow Cippolini, Big Daddy and Ringmwaster were also together. The cippos (chippos) were first done of that bed. Sweet Spanish and Red Candy Apple were in another. Copra and red Wing were in the fourth bed.
Some remaining extras were planted with the zucs for spring onions.

I weeded the holes a couple times so they all grew great. All the Wallas were enormous and excellent sellers. I easily get $1 per onion. I bunched the Torpedos together and sold out! The cippos I braided but accidentally let them rot. So the ones I didn't braid I will be bagging. They are gorgeous.
Sweet Spanish was next harvested. the medium ones went to the CSAs and the big ones went in the Walla Walla basket at market. Same with the Big Daddy. Both are very nice. My favs go Walla, Big Daddy then Sweet Spanish for growth. Although Big Daddy stores longer than the other two. Ringmaster did just ok. Red Candy Apple indeed did not size up as Dixondale said because they are intermediate day.
Copra did great. Redwing look wonderful but will be pulled Tuesday. Both will be dried real well for storage and bagged for market.


Early season


Beds with Walla pulled.


copras from Friday.

[12540dumont]

Minnie, Copras are one of my favorite storage onions. Your's look great!

[12540dumont]

Miss Rosa Savonese 2012.

She's a lot like Miss America, but she has onion breath.

This was a very nice onion from www.growitalian.com/

I did trial all of their onions and if you are in a day neutral location the two best are Savona & the Firenze Torpedo.

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[12540dumont]

I planted 100 Savonese onions, 75 germinated, and I harvested 68.

The gophers were snacking....

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[12540dumont]

And here are the Mill Creek onions.

These were from Bountiful Gardens, and if they ever offer seeds again, I'm planning on ordering enough seed to plant a dozen rows. These are beautiful day neutral onions.

120 planted 120 germinated 82 harvested. This is another of those perfect red onions. Hard as a rock, and stores like a dream.

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[12540dumont]

These are the onions I got out of the Long Island Grex. This looks like a long keeper.

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[richardw]

Nice looking crop there Holly, even Miss America ;D and they are a nice size also,i find onions grown here seem to get too big to be used in one meal

[12540dumont]

Richard,
Cesar sent me some torpedo onions from NZ. They did not do well here in the Spring Planting, but in the Winter Planting they did fabulous.

So, I think they are on Island time

So, I will now plant NZ torpedos in the winter and Italian torpedos in the spring.

AND OMG that Green Nutmeg squash has no intention of slowing down it's growth. Cinderella move over, there's a new coach in town.

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[littleminnie]

I had some gopher damage too but it was them just trying to free their tunnel and get out and onions seemed to be in the way. I pulled a nice one that was all top half and no bottom half and then there was the tunnel under it.
The redwing are at home drying. I see my drying hammock ripped and half fell today. All 3 housecats are accounted for and no broken backs.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Here's what my direct seeded landrace bulbing onions (cepa) looked like this morning. Many of these are from seed grown in my garden last summer. Any bulb that stores until spring will be a candidate for the seed crop next year. That's a one bushel basket, so I have finally learned the techniques, and acquired the germplasm to be able to grow nice onions by direct seeding into my garden. About 2/3 of the onions that were trialed didn't form appropriate bulbs in the available growing season and are being taken to the farmer's market as scallions.



I also grew a grex of bunching onions. I am separating them into two groups: bulbing fistulatum, and straight stemed non-bulbing fistulatum. (I hope I'm sure not able to tell a difference in leaf shape, which is supposedly the way to distinguish! )

[12540dumont]

Really nice Minnie & Joseph.

[ilex]

Is it common to pick them with so many green leaves on? I pick mine when really dry.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I pick three kinds of onions:

• Scallions: Which have a perfectly intact neck/greens.
  
• Early Season bulb onions: Intended to be eaten immediately.
  
• Storage Onions: Where the tops have been removed.
  

If I pick an onion as a scallion, I expect it to have a hard/firm and undamaged neck. Doesn't matter if the bulb is as big as my fist, the top has to be perfect if I sell it as a scallion.

After the onions get bulbs and I just have to have something for weekly baskets, I'll pull the plant and cut the top off and put it wet into the baskets. I may leave a good portion of the neck if it is mostly intact, or I'll cut the neck off if it is floppy.

With my super low humidity and short growing season I dry storage onions in the field. About the time that the tops just start tipping over, I'll walk up the row and step on the tops so that they all lay down. The next day I'll step on them again, just to make sure that I got them all. Then in about a week I pull the onions and leave them to dry in the field for perhaps another week. Then I cut tops off in the field and put them in boxes. My daddy puts the onions into boxes immediately after pulling and dries them tops and all in the tractor shed for about a month.

In my soil, it is easier for me to pull onions with a somewhat strong top on them than it is to dig onions without a top. I miss harvesting a fair number of Walla Walla onions because the tops dry down so fast, and I can't see them.

[12540dumont]

I bend them over and as soon as possible get them out of the ground before the gophers eat them all.

[Leenstar]

I'm curious how the walking onions I sent performed for you Holly.

I pull up the bulbs and they are small but store decently well. They are very thin walled between layers but strongly flavored.