Producing Onion Sets

[elkhound]

have you ever produced your own onion sets. to be clear on terms i am not talking about onion slips that are green you buy in spring to plant. i am talking the little dry onion bulb you buy and plant.they are produced the previous season and die back .

i have only had half successes with them out of 2 times i tried so far.

 

[Weedygarden]

I've tried and failed. I find onions a basic in my cooking. Almost everything I cook has onions in it. I think that learning to grow onion sets from seeds would also be really important.

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/starting-onion-from-seed.6902/#post-428377

 

[elkhound]

guru gardener martin said to start seed in mid summer...this article says different. but to fair he and i was talking about his amish yellow bottle onion and to be fair it seems to be way different than most onions. he was shocked how they performed here in my area and said i was the farthest south they had been grown so something about daylight hours had to be effecting their 'normal habits'.

anyway i am going to try and produce sets for some onions i want to try and i dont want to wait for onion sets or slips to be available at stores.often its way late and you miss a few weeks of growing season.



https://harvesttotable.com/how-to-grow-onion-sets/

 

[Pearl]

I've never had luck that way!

 

[elkhound]

i had success growing various onions but they dont last. to be fair we all know sweet onions just dont keep long term.

to date the best onions for 'survival' or homestead survival for me has been walking onions and dutch red shallots.walking onions are so tough...i abuse them in my garden tilling them under and at times working around them they just grow like weeds in it. so i just let them go and harvest.like right now even though its cold and nothing green here i have green walking onions in garden. some at least a foot tall...thats production there..green onions for table .

the dutch red shallots i pulled last summer are still rock solid and have really kept me in onions all winter. they are not big pretty slicing onions and mine are small and take time to peel and clean but to be honest they are just about right for a single person or couple to use at a time and not ave left over onion. might be of value in a grid down situation without refrigeration to keep a cut onion in.

just being garden nerd this morning...gardening and onions !!

going to try and produce more amish yellow bottle onion seed.its so rare its almost extinct per martin.i produced some seed last year.

 

[Pearl]

i had success growing various onions but they dont last. to be fair we all know sweet onions just dont keep long term.

to date the best onions for 'survival' or homestead survival for me has been walking onions and dutch red shallots.walking onions are so tough...i abuse them in my garden tilling them under and at times working around them they just grow like weeds in it. so i just let them go and harvest.like right now even though its cold and nothing green here i have green walking onions in garden. some at least a foot tall...thats production there..green onions for table .

the dutch red shallots i pulled last summer are still rock solid and have really kept me in onions all winter. they are not big pretty slicing onions and mine are small and take time to peel and clean but to be honest they are just about right for a single person or couple to use at a time and not ave left over onion. might be of value in a grid down situation without refrigeration to keep a cut onion in.

just being garden nerd this morning...gardening and onions !!

going to try and produce more amish yellow bottle onion seed.its so rare its almost extinct per martin.i produced some seed last year.

That's good info! I love onions, hubby doesn't so I'm in need of easy to grow hearty onions!

 

[Bacpacker]

I tried a new type last year from Dixondale.com. They are called a Blush onion and are a Long Day type. Around here we are considered a medium day area, but the long day's seem to do well. I have enough left from harvest last year to do us for another week or so. They have kept well. I used to grow Copra's, a yellow long day type. But they have ran out of seed. This year I am going with a Highlander Long Day type and the Blush to see what we like best and what keeps best.

 

[Terri9630]

I tried a new type last year from Dixondale.com. They are called a Blush onion and are a Long Day type. Around here we are considered a medium day area, but the long day's seem to do well. I have enough left from harvest last year to do us for another week or so. They have kept well. I used to grow Copra's, a yellow long day type. But they have ran out of seed. This year I am going with a Highlander Long Day type and the Blush to see what we like best and what keeps best.

I ordered Candy and Texas sweet from them for this year.

 

[JustMe]

I'm not sure, but I think I am this year........and I say that because in the past I've never had any luck growing onions from seeds, until now. I tried starting a few about a month or more ago, and they are starting to come up in a little pot in my mini greenhouse.

Normally, I buy the dry sets and they've always grown great for me.......and I still have some left I'm using from last year that are of good size. There are also several that never got very big and will be replanted in a few weeks.


Not sure, but I'm guessing it takes 2 years to get full sized onions when starting with seeds????

 

[Terri9630]

I'm not sure, but I think I am this year........and I say that because in the past I've never had any luck growing onions from seeds, until now. I tried starting a few about a month or more ago, and they are starting to come up in a little pot in my mini greenhouse.

Normally, I buy the dry sets and they've always grown great for me.......and I still have some left I'm using from last year that are of good size. There are also several that never got very big and will be replanted in a few weeks.


Not sure, but I'm guessing it takes 2 years to get full sized onions when starting with seeds????

Onions are biennial. They produce the bulb the first year and set seed the second.

 

[SLADE]

We grow lots of heirloom veggies so we can keep the seed.
Onions are a biennial as stated above but bear in mind it is the third year that you have the seed.

 

[Mel]

I'm going to try my hand at it this year but the problem is...well, hop over to the post a photo, a real photo thread. I have no place to start seeds except the garage and right now we have a couple of frosts coming up which means the plants that I've worked so hard to get to live and get them used to being outside have to be brought back in to visit the Jeep and the Hyundai again.

 

[joel]

When it come to gardening, growing plants, B I L is the best I have ever worked with. He grew mountain plant when he was in North Carolina, as well as fur Christmas trees & tomatoes for the market.
He plant onion "seeds" he gathers himself & he has grown long day onions(Northern onions) in Georgia, said it take another growing season, but It can be done. He gets hundreds of seed onions every year & sale them to town folks in Sylvania, Georgia.
My long winded point is once you get a working plan worked out, the onions will be running out your ears.
I have never had luck with onion seeds, which I have been told are not true seeds.
He sale green onion & a cured yellow onion, as well as most of his nesting onions & elephant garlic!

 

[Weedygarden]

Found this video about starting onions from seeds, so producing onion sets, as this thread is about.

 

[Weedygarden]

I know a man who was trained for commercial agriculture. I have never thought to ask him about this. I don't see him consistently, but I need to remember this the next time I see him.