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Post by richardw on Oct 31, 2012 13:20:51 GMT -5
Are your bulbils ready??,i dont remove any till Feb
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Post by templeton on Oct 31, 2012 14:58:17 GMT -5
They are just beginning to set bulbils Richard. I've got so many, that I thought I might trial removal to induce some flowering, perhaps. One bunch did set some small flowers a couple of years ago. My named varieties of fistulosum are setting flower heads, so if I wanted to cross 'em up, now would be the time.
T
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James
grub
Greetings from Utah -- James
Posts: 93
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Post by James on Nov 5, 2012 12:07:11 GMT -5
 These are early Egyptian onions. They were planted in the fall as bulbils. This photo was taken June 8.  These onions were started from seed in early April. Picture taken June 8. You can see why I like the Egyptian bulbils for quick scallions? I plant the bulbils several times a season. They soon make scallions. |
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Post by templeton on Nov 5, 2012 15:00:37 GMT -5
James. do you plant deep to maximize the shank length?
T
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James
grub
Greetings from Utah -- James
Posts: 93
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Post by James on Nov 6, 2012 9:16:35 GMT -5
I like to put the bulbils 2-3 inches deep. Yes, it gives a nice white shank length. Incidentally, the shank is where the most flavor resides in these onions. The flavor is more intense in the shank than either the bulb or the greens.
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Post by ferdzy on Nov 6, 2012 10:48:16 GMT -5
This is useful information, guys; thanks! A friend gave me some walking onions last fall and I just put them in my perennial herb bed and am letting them "walk". But next year I will plant out the bulbils.
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Post by richardw on Nov 6, 2012 12:23:01 GMT -5
Interesting looking at your photo James that shows yours at about the same stage of growth as mine,but there's diffidently a number of different strains out there because yours looks more to be just one or two bulbs at the base where mine grow no less than 6 and upward to 12+,though the greater the number the smaller they tend to be,so i dont select from any that grow too many. Photo taken 5/11/2012  |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 6, 2012 13:56:22 GMT -5
The photo James posted was bulbils grown as annuals. Each bulbil separated from the others before planting. If left in the ground another growing season they would turn into a bunch of onions.
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Post by richardw on Nov 6, 2012 20:13:21 GMT -5
I do mine as annuals,as in i dug up the clumps in late summer and replant the bulbils on the same day,so what you see in my photo is a clump which was from one bulbil sown 9 months ago
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James
grub
Greetings from Utah -- James
Posts: 93
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Post by James on Nov 9, 2012 0:41:08 GMT -5
Ok, the word bulbil means the little bulbs that grow at the end of the leaves as the plant matures.
That is what I plant and I separate them so they are single. They grow a single bulb and as you can see they are starting to form bulbils.
Now if you leave these to grow all season and winter over the bulb will split in spring and make a clump of 3 to a dozen. This is how your mother clump grows, by division.
Hmmm, perhaps they are reaching a size before winter that is large enough to split in spring? Try planting bulbils in spring, or even later like July and see what happens. For fall planting plant late like just before snow. Don't give them time to emerge and grow this fall.
I just leave the mother clump in the same spot and do not dig it up. Its purpose is to make bulbils for me to plant and grow as annual onions. However the large onions from the mother clump are good eating too if you want to dig some of them to thin out the mother clump.
I think the differences we are seeing is more of a cultural thing than a varietal variation.
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Post by richardw on Nov 9, 2012 12:47:54 GMT -5
Ok, the word bulbil means the little bulbs that grow at the end of the leaves as the plant matures. That is what I plant and I separate them so they are single. They grow a single bulb and as you can see they are starting to form bulbils. Yes this is what i do also,i select from clumps that are made up of large onions,not too many and also ones where the bulbil stem runs down the outside of the onion not through the middle,only the largest bulbils from that clump are replanted for the following season. Now if you leave these to grow all season and winter over the bulb will split in spring and make a clump of 3 to a dozen. This is how your mother clump grows, by division. Hmmm, perhaps they are reaching a size before winter that is large enough to split in spring? Try planting bulbils in spring, or even later like July and see what happens. For fall planting plant late like just before snow. Don't give them time to emerge and grow this fall. When the bulbils are sown in Fed the first shoots start to appear about a month later as the summer warmth starts to wane,by the end of autumn all the bulbils will have already spilt and have green shoots about 10cm long,from then on through winter only a small amount of growth happens,its spring and early to mid summer where 80% of the clumps growth happens. The main reason i grow Egyptian Tree Onions in the first place is for the bulbils which are my cash crop,the onions are secondary,in fact we hardly ever eat them so i just give them to friends and family. I just leave the mother clump in the same spot and do not dig it up. Its purpose is to make bulbils for me to plant and grow as annual onions. However the large onions from the mother clump are good eating too if you want to dig some of them to thin out the mother clump. As i have never left a clump longer than one growing season i will grow a clump in one of my perennial gardens to see what they do. I think the differences we are seeing is more of a cultural thing than a varietal variation. Climatic conditions may also have a bearing ...maybe?. So James how big do you onions get to by the end of your growing season,mine would be hens egg/golfball size |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 9, 2012 14:07:08 GMT -5
From the description, it seems to me like you may be planting different things... As annual onions, my daddy and I plant only the topsets: After dividing them into individual bulbils. The in-ground-bulbs are not divided or replanted. Also, it might be many months between the time that we collect the topsets, and when they get planted. Also, I suspect that planting the smallest bulbils would lead to more single plant clumps. This is the part of the plant that we call a bulbil, and that gets planted as an annual.  |
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Post by richardw on Nov 9, 2012 16:05:48 GMT -5
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 9, 2012 16:40:33 GMT -5
RichardW: Very Nice! How are you marketing the topsets? What is their culinary/agricultural use? I can't sell topsets for nothing. But I sell as many Egyptian onion scallions as I can take to market.
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Post by circumspice on Nov 9, 2012 16:56:08 GMT -5
Aw man! I need an onion bed like that! *green with envy*
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