So I have yet to get my soil tested and I know White Onions tend to like to be planted in Sept-Oct. in Fl.so I read. 1st I planted bulbs in Jan. Now they look tall,green and healthy. Well being a new gardener I got curious in the growth stage and pulled one up. The bulb is no wider than my thumb! Do you know why? Maybe I planted to late? They seem to be doing good just not growing. I have/had 66 now down to 62 of them. Thanks.
I may be posting this too late but since I am new here and you are in Florida,,I am in Texas not too much difference climate wise !! We plant our onions here as soon as the soil can be worked in March !! Frosts do not hurt onions so the earlier the better !! The reason yours are not getting large could be that you are planting too deep and not removing the soil from around the bulb !! After mine have been in the ground about a month and roots are firmly established I remove most all the soil from around the bulb !! This allows it to expand and make a large onion rather than a scallion size !! Make sure the variety you plant will do this !!Some are specifically grown for the green onion or scallion market and typically will not make a large bulb !! Commercial growers leave nothing in the ground but the roots of onion plants !! Looks like a bunch of baseballs growing !! Yours may go to seed if you planted early but you still have time to get a new bunch or two !!!
Ah. Thanks I did not know i needed to remove soil. They do have a great root system and only the green is above the ground. My brother n law thought I should build the dirt up. I will try your way seeing how it seams to make more sense. Thank you. If I did plant them in mid to late Jan and the green parts are already between 1-2foot tall should I just pull them up and start over.
Yes !! I saw your pics in another post and they will be going to seed soon so I would pull them and eat them like they are !! They might be a little tough on the outside layers but you can always cook with them !! The green part is the best to me !! When you plant onions again, start them out at about 1 inch deep and I always plant mine a bit thick then thin later !! It gives you a few extra to eat like scallions !! After about a month or so just pull the dirt away leaving mostly the roots in the ground !! And see if they don`t do much better !! It would also help if you added organic matter rather than peat moss !! And I mean horse manure preferably !! The stuff you get in bags isn`t nearly as good !!
How can you tell if it is going to seed? What are the signs? Well I did find this site if it helps any.. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/PLAN ... onion.html
I just looked at the size of the green tops in relation to the width of the white part right above the ground !! And the fact that you said they are not making bulbs !! Once the green parts get that large and tough thats about it for them !! Next thing is for the mature plant to make seed heads and fall over !! I have noticed on mine at that time some of the green parts get a little crooked,,, not perfectly straight !! I would almost call it wavey !! Think I saw that on yours as well !!
There are many southern gardeners who would disagree with some of their findings !! However they have a lot of useful information !! I just know what has worked for me !! Last year I had a bumper crop of large onions !! Enough to last all year !! If I were you I would experiment a bit and see what works in your area !! If your soil is really loose you may not need to remove the soil around them but if it is heavy clay type soil,, I definately would !! And one other thing I forgot on the last post,,, all onions do not make seed heads !! Some just fall over at the end of their cycle !! I don`t know why this is but even in a group of the same type onions some will and some will not produce seed heads !! Its a mystery to me !!!
Thanks Mart! I am going to leave the ones I have and see what happens even if they go to seed I will then know what the whole process looks like so I'll know in the future. I am going to experiment like you said and go but some more and plant them on the other side garden and play around with them and do see what works best. Thanks again.
I think that is an excellent idea !!! Let me know what your results are !!! I do a bit of experimenting each year !! New plants and new planting methods !!! Its kind of exciting !!
