What type of onion

[richardw]

I was given four seeds by a gardening mate who had no idea of its name but said it grows huge which this one has ,its name is not important but i'm curious about is there's no sign of this monster dying down, having only ever grown long day onions could this short day? can some still hold there tops through winter?

[steev]

I don't recall any of my onions losing their tops in Winter, though they may get a tad tatty; right now, all those over-wintered are getting into bloom, so I just take a couple leaves to add to salad.

[richardw]

Ok, its the other way around for me, ive never had any retain there tops, i'm just not keen on leaving it in the ground during the coming winter because it probably rot.

[richardw]

Today while at our Sentinels group stall we had an elderly gardener come and asked if we had Ailsa Craig onion seed, he described the onion much like the onion above, so i'm wondering if this is the name of it, even two weeks later from when i posted this there is still no sign of dying down. Does anyone grow ailsa craig onion?

[ferdzy]

I have grown Ailsa Craig, and that was a thought I had looking at your onion. It's been a few years, though, and onions aren't exactly wildly different looking from each other, especially while still in the ground.

No matter what onion I grow I frequently have some that don't die down. Some years are much worse than others; I think it's a very weather-related phenomenon. Years with coolish but fluctuating temperatures seem to be the worst, especially if the season started with a spell of warmer (and drier) weather. Naturally any that don't die down don't go into the seed gang, cuz as someone with a 5 month out of the year need for storage onions, storage is what it's all about.

p.s. Your leek seeds should be going into pots later today.

[richardw]

Good luck Jennifer with the leeks.

I'm not really sure what to do with this onion- leave it or pull it, if pulled out onions with green tops dont keep well, but if i leave it going into winter the frosts might cause it to rot. I thought it would be great if i could cross this onion with three very large Pukekohe Long Keeper onions i grew is summer, but they would need to be planted out in a friends 3kms down the road so they dont cross my F2 tree onions next summer.So it needs to be pulled at some stage, either that or i move it along a blob of soil....?

[raymondo]

Ailsa Craig is the cultivar that show growers use I think. They choose it because it often grows large, and with special treatment can get very big, just what they're after for hort shows.

[richardw]

Not at our local show raymondo i put some red and brown onions into the veg competition yesterday and the winners were the smallest onions, i think next year i'm going to have to talk to the organizer about the judge they use, after all, isn't gardening about yield where they should be encouraging people to get the most out of there gardens.

Our seed group are the sponsor of the vegetable section, so bugger it, i'm guna have to put my foot down

[raymondo]

At our local show the judge uses commercial criteria because it's easy. Next to useless for homegrown produce though. One of the primary concerns is uniformity in size and colour!

[philagardener]

I always thought taste should be included  , although that would be more subjective and difficult for some things raw.

[ferdzy]

I would not be inclined to save it, but again, "onion will die down and store" is my number one criteria for onions. It may not be yours. If you want rilly big onions, I would seek out some Ailsa Craig or other show type onion seed and start again.

I would also be more inclined to leave it in the ground and not pull it if you still hope it will survive. It will CERTAINLY rot in storage otherwise. My drainage is reasonably sharp and I would expect it to probably survive the winter in the ground here; if your drainage is decent I hope it would for you too. The actual onion can get pretty mushy if the growing tip and base plate is okay. But of course, nothing is guaranteed.

[richardw]

And i cant transplant it as my soil is so loose that the soil would fall off the roots. Should ask my mate if i can get some more seed of what ever onion it was and experiment more. The person who suggested it may have been Ailsa Craig said when he grow it it grew to the size and shape of a football

[jocundi]

I planted Alisa Craig from seed 4 years ago. It never produced bulbs, but stayed in my "green onion patch". Surprisingly, it has survived 3 winters now and I keep collecting seed from them every year and use to plant my green onion patch.

[richardw]

Apr 2, 2016 21:58:11 GMT -5 jocundi said:

I planted Alisa Craig from seed 4 years ago. It never produced bulbs, but stayed in my "green onion patch". Surprisingly, it has survived 3 winters now and I keep collecting seed from them every year and use to plant my green onion patch.

So even the seed you collect doesn't form bulbs?, thats odd as Alisa Craig is suppose to produce the large onions

[jocundi]

My Alisa Craig onion seed was from Baker Creek.
I actually assumed it won't work since parent plant didn't bulb up and used as green only, not even waiting for bulbs. So, I decided to try this year and see whether they'll work.