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Post by daylilydude on May 24, 2014 19:28:53 GMT -5
Wow... The onion sets that I planted from walmart are growing like crazy! Now I know the more "leaves" that grow mean more layers the onion will have... am I right about this? Does the length of the leaves mean anything??
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Post by spacecase0 on May 24, 2014 23:20:51 GMT -5
I have never looked for that sort of thing before, will have to start paying attention, but mostly gave up on large bulbing onions, I have converted most of my onions to the tiny bunching I'itoi's Onion
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 25, 2014 10:06:28 GMT -5
According to the Dixondale folks, the number of the leaves does correlate to the size of the onion. I assume that big leaves would also mean bigger onions, because bigger leaves can produce more sugars via photosynthesis.
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Post by daylilydude on May 25, 2014 10:56:38 GMT -5
LOL... I'm gonna have some whoppers...
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 26, 2014 10:16:18 GMT -5
Good! My bulb onions were so disappointing in 2013 that I didn't even grow any this year. So I am going to live vicariously through you. One of these years I am going to devote an Earthbox to onions just to see what they do with constant moisture and fertilizer. It will be a terribly inefficient way to grow onions, but maybe I can get a few super-jumbos.
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Post by paquebot on May 26, 2014 21:48:20 GMT -5
Don't count on big bulbs from sets if you are in a short-day zone. My opinion is that they should not even be sold in that zone. There are few onions which can be grown to commercial sets and all are long-day zone. Reds are usually Red Wethersfield, whites are White Ebenezer, and Yellows are usually Stuttgarter.
Martin
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Post by daylilydude on Jun 29, 2014 13:34:43 GMT -5
Well spacecase0, Laura_in_FL, paquebot, Pulled the onions today and there weren't and great big ones, they were mostly a nice size, so it was better than the year they didn't get any size to them at all... LOL! It's pouring down rain at the moment so I'll post a pick later.
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elliemater
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Post by elliemater on Jun 29, 2014 15:46:56 GMT -5
Laura_in_FL daylilydude If you want very big onions in the deep south, Candy is the easiest variety. But you have to get the plants, not sets, and plant these in JANUARY...earlier the better. Sets would be planted in Nov but I never see any short day onion sets. Candy is intermediate day but still grows very large, every bit of the 6" advertised, and is easy to grow. When I set out the onion plants in January I put a bit of time released fertilizer at the bottom of my dibbler hole. I have amended the bed with some bulb food (higher phosphate) and then I have to provide a really good mulch, as competing weeds will take away from their size. With that planting date I start harvest mid-April and by mid-May I have frozen onion, dried onions, plenty of fresh onions...this is a very sweet, tender and mild onion.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 30, 2014 14:51:07 GMT -5
Glad you got some good-sized onions, daylilydude even if they aren't giants. Medium-sized onions are actually more convenient for a lot of things, IMO. One medium-sized onion is about right for lots of recipes (about 1 cup chopped), and you can always use more if needed. With the big onions there is a lot left over after you fill that measuring cup. Of course, if you want to make a bloomin' onion at home you need a whopper. And when I am making a stir-fry, fajitas, or sauteed onions to serve with a steak or roast, the more onions the better. Bring on the jumbos! Maybe I should have been more efficient and just said, "I loved cooked onions." elliemater , I planted a "short day sampler" and an "intermediate day sampler" from Dixondale in January 2013 which included Candy onions. Although the tops looked pretty big and lush most of the growing season - especially on the intermediate day onions - most of my bulbs turned out small to tiny, and only a few were even medium sized. I got just a couple of big ones. The Candy onions were bigger on average, though. Clearly I did something wrong. Probably didn't feed them enough.
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elliemater
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Post by elliemater on Jun 30, 2014 18:34:23 GMT -5
Glad you got some good-sized onions, daylilydude even if they aren't giants. Medium-sized onions are actually more convenient for a lot of things, IMO. One medium-sized onion is about right for lots of recipes (about 1 cup chopped), and you can always use more if needed. With the big onions there is a lot left over after you fill that measuring cup. Of course, if you want to make a bloomin' onion at home you need a whopper. And when I am making a stir-fry, fajitas, or sauteed onions to serve with a steak or roast, the more onions the better. Bring on the jumbos! Maybe I should have been more efficient and just said, "I loved cooked onions." elliemater , I planted a "short day sampler" and an "intermediate day sampler" from Dixondale in January 2013 which included Candy onions. Although the tops looked pretty big and lush most of the growing season - especially on the intermediate day onions - most of my bulbs turned out small to tiny, and only a few were even medium sized. I got just a couple of big ones. The Candy onions were bigger on average, though. Clearly I did something wrong. Probably didn't feed them enough. Did they have weed competition? Mine get lots of water during their bulbing period too. (Trying to think of anything else that might cause small bulbs since you planted in January as proper.) Were the little plants themselves a decent size at the time of planting? I know that when I order "Candy" from Pinetree Gardens or Johnny's I plant only the nice big ones...the tiny ones I crowd into a pot for green onions. If I plant the smaller ones they definitely will not produce a nice big bulb.
If the tops were lush but bulbs were small, did you fertilize them with bulb food when planting? Don't want too much nitrogen with these guys.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jul 1, 2014 10:55:34 GMT -5
I used an organic fertilizer intended for root crops (specifically including onions). They were regularly watered with drip irrigation, and kept weeded in a raised bed.
I planted mostly the big ones; the smaller ones were mostly tucked in other spots for green onions.
One thing I did not do is mulch.
I am wondering if the organic fert was not strong enough or not high enough in phosphate. Or maybe soil temperatures got too high too fast without the mulch? But they don't use a cooling mulch in Vidalia where they grow all those honkin' big sweet onions. They mostly use black plastic. (I know this for a fact because DH has relatives there and I've driven past acres and acres of onions for many years.)
Of course, they also use synthetic fertilizers. Hrmmm. Surely it's possible to grow nice big onions organically?
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elliemater
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Post by elliemater on Jul 1, 2014 13:17:43 GMT -5
I used an organic fertilizer intended for root crops (specifically including onions). They were regularly watered with drip irrigation, and kept weeded in a raised bed. I planted mostly the big ones; the smaller ones were mostly tucked in other spots for green onions. One thing I did not do is mulch. I am wondering if the organic fert was not strong enough or not high enough in phosphate. Or maybe soil temperatures got too high too fast without the mulch? But they don't use a cooling mulch in Vidalia where they grow all those honkin' big sweet onions. They mostly use black plastic. (I know this for a fact because DH has relatives there and I've driven past acres and acres of onions for many years.) Of course, they also use synthetic fertilizers. Hrmmm. Surely it's possible to grow nice big onions organically? Lotsa bone meal? 1-11-0
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rodgers43
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Post by rodgers43 on Apr 5, 2024 7:42:41 GMT -5
Onions prefer well-drained, fertile soil with a pH level between 6.0 and 7.5. Work the soil to a depth of at least 6 inches and amend it with compost or well-rotted manure to improve fertility and drainage. Onion Bulbs
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