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Post by zeedman on Aug 2, 2014 23:51:50 GMT -5
kazedwards, your onions look identical to the "McCullar's White" that I grow. Mine are from two different sources, but both look the same as your photos... I'll try to post one. (Don't have a photo on file yet, so need to take one.) The oldest patch has been left in place for years & pretty much neglected except for occasional weeding... it has good bulbil production this year. Haven't been paying much attention to the ground bulbs, but just took a look at them now, and they are clusters of well-rounded white bulbs about 1-1.25" across. Hopefully this year I will be able to experiment with a Fall planting of bulbils in the more fertile soil of my main garden, to see if they will form ground bulbs large enough - and with good enough flavor & texture - to make them worth growing for that purpose. Tried that last Fall, but they were all destroyed by Spring flooding, along with most of my garlic. 
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 3, 2014 3:39:14 GMT -5
kazedwards, your onions look identical to the "McCullar's White" that I grow. Mine are from two different sources, but both look the same as your photos... I'll try to post one. (Don't have a photo on file yet, so need to take one.) The oldest patch has been left in place for years & pretty much neglected except for occasional weeding... it has good bulbil production this year. Haven't been paying much attention to the ground bulbs, but just took a look at them now, and they are clusters of well-rounded white bulbs about 1-1.25" across. Hopefully this year I will be able to experiment with a Fall planting of bulbils in the more fertile soil of my main garden, to see if they will form ground bulbs large enough - and with good enough flavor & texture - to make them worth growing for that purpose. Tried that last Fall, but they were all destroyed by Spring flooding, along with most of my garlic. Well that is great because I was more interested in McCullar's than I was the fleener's. I would still like to get ahold of Fleener's so if you find any let me know. My main interest in McCullar's was that it is from Missouri as I am. There is another one from Missouri that I would like to get that is called Moritz Egyptian that a red onion. If you see or hear of it let me know. Here is also a great article about them here: www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/heirloom-onion-varieties-zewz1308zpit.aspx#axzz2odmzDPqf Thanks for the help zeedman. I really appreciate it. One more thing should I tell the person that I got the McCullar's from that they are not Fleener's or just let it be? Also there was another listing in the SSE yearbook for fleener's that I will check out and they live close. Would you like me to let you know if they are the real Fleener's? |
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Post by zeedman on Aug 3, 2014 13:43:44 GMT -5
One more thing should I tell the person that I got the McCullar's from that they are not Fleener's or just let it be? Also there was another listing in the SSE yearbook for fleener's that I will check out and they live close. Would you like me to let you know if they are the real Fleener's? If you find any of the real "Fleener's" (as will be defined below) I would definitely be interested. Likewise, I'll keep an eye out for the "Moritz Egyptian" walking onions. I will be visiting SSE's Heritage Farm at the end of the month, they may have one - or both - as part of their perennial allium collection. That collection is fairly large, but SSE has listed only a small part of it in the Yearbook, and even that infrequently. I'm wondering if there have been two different onions circulating as "Fleener's" for over a decade. PA WE W listed it since 2000 (the earliest Yearbook I have), with his source listed as IL VA L 1993... he describes it as forming "perfect pearl onions", which would match the appearance of my "McCullar's" ground bulbs. I assume that your onions are descended from those originally offered by PA WE W. IA RE R IA AR W listed "Fleener's" in 2003 - 2007 (I obtained it from him in 2006) but stated that his could form onions 3" across, and that they were a family heirloom from his great grandmother, Elizabeth Fleener. It is the one from IA RE R IA AR W which I assume to be authentic, and that I hope to grow again. It may be a white potato onion that forms topsets. As far as I can tell, no one (other than myself, before they were destroyed) ever re-offered his onions. I sure wish SSE had not taken the historical Yearbook offline, we could have followed the chain of transfer of PA WE W's line & it might have shed some light on this. The Missouri source doesn't list their onions' lineage, but it might be worth checking out. His listings appear during the time IA RE R was offering. Oops, forgot to answer the first question. Yes, I would advise letting the SSE member who supplied the onions know of our suspicion that they are most likely "McCullar's" or something similar. I would stop short of saying that they are not "Fleener's", though, since there is some question as to what the authentic strain really is. You could direct him to the info contained in this thread. |
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Post by zeedman on Aug 3, 2014 16:16:57 GMT -5
Had a break in the rain, these are photos of my "McCullar's":   |
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Post by philagardener on Aug 3, 2014 16:27:48 GMT -5
Is the characteristic of making multi-tiered tops (top onions making new top onions, sometimes several times over) unique to Catawaissa, or do other varieties of topset onions do this as well?
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 4, 2014 0:37:20 GMT -5
Thank you I really appreciate it! I will let them know. As far as catawissa onions and multi tier topsets go. I think there are a few unnamed varieties out there but I think they are just variations of the catawissa onions. I don't know if that answers your question though
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 4, 2014 0:47:54 GMT -5
IL EL A this is the member that I received mine from btw. Also have you contacted IA RE R to see if they still have them but don't offer them or know of anyone that does?
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Post by zeedman on Aug 4, 2014 16:03:45 GMT -5
Is the characteristic of making multi-tiered tops (top onions making new top onions, sometimes several times over) unique to Catawaissa, or do other varieties of topset onions do this as well? While I have several other heirloom walking onions, most (with the exception of "McCullar's") seem to be variants of "Catawissa". Those all form some secondary sets of smaller bulbils to some degree, growing on a stem extending from the first cluster. One of these will even get 3 tiers of bulbils in a good year. "McCullar's" has only a weak stalk protruding from the first bulbil cluster, and that seldom forms bulbils. I haven't yet grown any of the "Egyptian" onions, so don't know how closely they resemble the "Catawissa" types. |
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Post by zeedman on Aug 4, 2014 16:25:44 GMT -5
IL EL A this is the member that I received mine from btw. Also have you contacted IA RE R to see if they still have them but don't offer them or know of anyone that does? Oops... I listed the wrong source for "Fleener's" above, it was IA AR W, not IA RE R (corrected above). Bad eyesight, I guess... a sign I must be getting older.  No, I never attempted to contact him, but will now... glad to see he is still listing. No email, I'll have to send off a SASE. |
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Post by philagardener on Aug 4, 2014 20:19:13 GMT -5
Is the characteristic of making multi-tiered tops (top onions making new top onions, sometimes several times over) unique to Catawaissa, or do other varieties of topset onions do this as well? While I have several other heirloom walking onions, most (with the exception of "McCullar's") seem to be variants of "Catawissa". Those all form some secondary sets of smaller bulbils to some degree, growing on a stem extending from the first cluster. One of these will even get 3 tiers of bulbils in a good year. "McCullar's" has only a weak stalk protruding from the first bulbil cluster, and that seldom forms bulbils. I haven't yet grown any of the "Egyptian" onions, so don't know how closely they resemble the "Catawissa" types. Thanks, everyone, for your responses! I routinely get 2-3 tiers on my top onions and was wondering if I have "Catawissa" . . . but perhaps they are an "Egyptian" variety. "Catawissa" caught my eye because those apparently originated in Catawissa, PA. That is why I was wondering if this was a diagnostic character. |
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 5, 2014 13:14:24 GMT -5
As far as I know Egyptian onion is a broad term used for all top setting/ tree/ walking onions. So catawissa is an Egyptian onion.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 5, 2014 13:16:06 GMT -5
IL EL A this is the member that I received mine from btw. Also have you contacted IA RE R to see if they still have them but don't offer them or know of anyone that does? Oops... I listed the wrong source for "Fleener's" above, it was IA AR W, not IA RE R (corrected above). Bad eyesight, I guess... a sign I must be getting older. No, I never attempted to contact him, but will now... glad to see he is still listing. No email, I'll have to send off a SASE. haha I already sent IA RE R a message on SSE about it hopefully they are someone that never checks it. |
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 7, 2014 12:27:16 GMT -5
IL EL A this is the member that I received mine from btw. Also have you contacted IA RE R to see if they still have them but don't offer them or know of anyone that does? Oops... I listed the wrong source for "Fleener's" above, it was IA AR W, not IA RE R (corrected above). Bad eyesight, I guess... a sign I must be getting older. No, I never attempted to contact him, but will now... glad to see he is still listing. No email, I'll have to send off a SASE. Zeedman I was just on the SSE yearbook on line and there is now a listing for McCullars by KS TH R |
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Post by zeedman on Aug 7, 2014 22:36:29 GMT -5
Oops... I listed the wrong source for "Fleener's" above, it was IA AR W, not IA RE R (corrected above). Bad eyesight, I guess... a sign I must be getting older. No, I never attempted to contact him, but will now... glad to see he is still listing. No email, I'll have to send off a SASE. Zeedman I was just on the SSE yearbook on line and there is now a listing for McCullars by KS TH R Actually, Ron was the one that came to mind when I was considering who might be able to sort out this mess. He grows a lot of alliums... I will be offering seed next year for one of his bunching onions ("Franz"). He might have grown "Fleener's" or be able to tell us more about it. Who knows, maybe he still has it, or knows someone who does. Been busy at work this week, haven't gotten around to sending a letter to IA AR W yet. |
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 7, 2014 23:32:59 GMT -5
I sent him an email earlier and will send another.
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