Fall planting bulbils walking onion

[paquebot]

And just when everyone thinks that they have something figured out for a certain allium variety, they may learn that it's not what they think it is. I note that my favorite reference site is back again with lots of updates. Spend a few hours studying it and you'll find just about any allium that's ever been domesticated and some which haven't.

www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Allium.html

Martin

[Al]

I was given a handful of reddish Egyptian Onion bulbils late in the season & got them planted in a row about mid-May. They immediately threw up vigorous growth including 'flower' / topset stalks. I guess the flowers were already formed as a potential eye in the bulbil, but as day length was decreasing by the time the stalk was growing the entire row, bar one, aborted the attempt to develop bulbils.
So I have a row of golf ball sized ground bulbs, & there has been a bit of division. I am not sure what to expect next year, I suppose the energy stored in the bulbs will mostly produce a mass of bulbil bearing stalks. I will try to encourage big bulbils by thinning bulbils per stalk to 3 or 4. But I would like big ground bulbs as well, perhaps another late planting of bulbils to produce the golf ball size is the best I can expect, though others talk of 2 inch bulbs which makes me a bit jealous. Certainly a fun crop & welcome extra source of onion flavour.

[Al]

Perutile onions have been mentioned, Templeton seems to have something which may be Perutile but which forms top sets. Might this actually be some cepa x fistulosum cross? A type of Egyptian onion with a strong tendency to divide & form bunches.
I believe the true Perutile onion is a pure cepa, (not fistulosum or a cross) much like a small shallot but evergreen (in districts with mild winters at least). I am very unclear about my strain of 'Perutile' onion, it divides & is evergreen. It bulbs slightly but never flowers.
Although this year after 20 years of growing this I did get one flower with no sign of any top sets. The seed appears to be viable, a test sowing produced one weak seedling. So I am hopeful that some seed will develop healthy plants next year. A very useful plant, Perutile is Latin for 'very useful' & good eating.

[reed]

I have some of what I guess are walking or Egyptian onions. I have grown them forever and was told by the local historical society people that they are left over from early pioneer days when this area produced them for market. If I dig and divide the bigger bulbs they will make a nice size onion. If I plant and actually take care of them they make much bigger top sets.

We use the leaves and the whitish part of the stem and the little top sets and really that's all you need but the bigger bulbs are not fit to eat, way too hot even if you use just a little. I don't mind a hot onion but these things are just awful. I keep growing them because all you have to do is let them grow.

Are all these walking type onions really hot like that or are some of them milder?

[paquebot]

Dec 21, 2014 17:34:03 GMT -5 reed said:

Are all these walking type onions really hot like that or are some of them milder?

Walking onions and long-storing onions share one thing, high sulfur content. Both are generally hot as a result. You won't make either milder than what their genes dictate.

Martin

[reed]

Thanks, I was afraid of that. They are cool to have cause you don't have to do anything except not kill them out. The stems and tops are good, just wish the big bulbs were too. I shouldn't complain cause after all they are basically free, work wise.

[steev]

They're very "hot" cooked?

[reed]

Well, maybe not cooked but they overwhelm any other flavors and the process of cooking stinks up the whole house... Want some? 

[add] actually they turn sweet when cooked, yucky overpowering sweet. 

[paquebot]

They are good cooked and that's their purpose when used as a spring onion. But you're not going to sit down with bowl of salt and eat them as raw scallions That can be done when they indeed are still scallions but not when they've made a bulb.

Martin

[george43]

Choose high-quality onion bulbs from a reputable source. Look for bulbs that are firm, free from disease or damage, and have no signs of sprouting.