Walking Onions, Catawissa? Red Top? Tree Onions?

[reed]

Yea, I mentioned it on the TPOS but I thought it was to far off topic there. It wasn't store bought as a mature onion but bought as an onion set from a greenhouse in fall 2015. I replanted it's mature bulb last fall in a not very large pot and it was subject to drying out pretty bad this year. I'm wondering how it might have been different if in had been in the ground.

I'd love to cross it to my old walking onions. The old ones are very hardy, pretty much evergreen and can just be left to multiply on their own. Unfortunately though they so hot I can hardly stand to cut into one. The leaves are good to add flavor to soups and such and can be harvested fresh year round, actually the fresh leaves in winter are best.

This onion was also hardy for two years in a row and last year had ability to make seeds. I'll keep my old ones for nostalgia if nothing else but this onion has potential to replace them. 

kazedwards, I think I promised you some bulbils of the old ones but they didn't make many last year. Got plenty this year, send me your new address if you want some. Maybe I'll throw in a couple from this new, much tastier one too. 

[richardw]

The F2 bulbs saved from last summer, on the left are 6 bulbs from a clump that didn't produce any scapes, so i grew them for this summer to see what they would do, turned out they've grown much larger than what from the other seedling clumps. Theyre a just big thick stem plants that i'm very impressed with. Going to do my best to get seed from these again this summer.

[richardw]

Normally flowers develop on the second and third tier but two of this years clumps have got some on the first tier, not sure thats of any advantage or not, anyway bulbils have been removed around them.

[richardw]

After doing a fair amount of bulbil removal and hand pollinating this was the total sum of what i hope will be F3 seed. Sniping off a few millimeters off the stem every few days hopefully helps mature the seed.
 

[richardw]

After all that i ended up with two F3 seeds, oh well see what the next stage brings

[reed]

I have three kinds of walking or Egyptian or what ever you call them onions. They are in ways my favorite onions cause they are perfectly hardy and are always there. Never have to much of anything with them. On the other hand they are all terrible hot, tto hot for my tastes but I usually just eat the leaves. They are usually tough and chewy but you can chop them into little bits and they add plenty of onion flavor to cooking. I'v had one kind for ages, someone gave me another one couple seasons ago and the third morphed form a grocery store bulb. Two have red skins on the bigger bulbs and one has white but they all taste the same and grow the same. 

This year all three are making seeds which of course I intend to plant. 

we also have lots of different wild onions that aren't fit for much but ever since I found the forum I'v been on the lookout for some that might be. Yesterday we went to play in the creek and on a sand/gravel bar along one side I found these. They are not near as big as my onions but much bigger than any wild ones. They are extremely mild. The greener ones have a nice flavor and the drier and browner taste like pretty much nothing. Actually the dryer ones taste a little like garlic, but I don't think a garlic onion hybrid is possible.  Anyway there was a nice patch and lots of bulbils. 



I also dug up some whole plants, the bigger bulb at the bottom tastes again pretty much like nothing. The bloom stalks come up from the side. Only one still had a green leaf and it isn't actually round like I thought all onions are. it would be more of a triangle if cut in cross section. 




Here are some of the bulbils I kept on the stems to finish making seeds and in the corner what the seeds look like already.



Now I'm only about 99.9% sure these things even are onions but if so I hope to grow and cross them with my others that I also hope to grow from seeds. The are all hardy, they are all weedy, if this one could cross in and mellow out the flavor of the others that would be pretty cool. 

[reed]

I'm getting real nice looking seed from the new onion I found. Not sure about the others. Quite a bit of capsules but they are still green and I did not remove the bulbils like maybe I should have. I went ahead and re-planted larger bulbs and a couple hundred of the bulbils form these new ones. I'm real excited about them cause of the milder flavor and obvious ability to fend for themselves. I'm gonna plant these seeds immediately as soon as they all mature and pamper them through the summer heat to plant out in fall.

I'm naming them Bloody Run Onions cause that is the name of the creek I found them in. Something about an Indian battle or maybe it was Civil war, who knows, probably not true anyway but sounds good. 

I'v moved to 100% sure they are are onions, the mostly tasteless ones and other differences are probably due to different conditions. Some were in full sun in bare hot gravel and sand, some were in a little more soil covered up with other weeds. All were periodically subjected to raging floods.

[richardw]

A very round looking seed, how large are they?

[reed]

They are just a little bit larger than most onion seeds and not quite as puckered up looking. Looks like I'll have maybe 35 to 40 of em when they all finish.