Referencing what you were saying Anji, I am in complete agreement with what you said, but I am going to emphasis one select word of the quote: “i would do it for the seed then plant that ALL in starts for the following spring!”
In my post (#16 of this thread, I believe), I was trying to suggest to @rispa that it might be best to not hold back any portion of the saved seed that is collected from the mature onion umbels after planting the onion heels.
Okay, so cut these bulbs and let them grow into even more bulbs and then let them flower and let the seeds go all over the place and dig up the bulbs and start the process over?
If I were trying to maximize the usefulness of the onions purchased from the store I would do as you wrote, except I wouldn’t harvest the regrown bulbs, I would focus on getting the seeds from them. The green onions that I have regrown from stubs became perennial plants that lived in my garden for years and produced seed every year.
Please do remember though, I am by no means an expert on growing onions.
You guys have it backwards. You plant the onions, theyll go to seed, then they’ll make green onions in the fall, after they’ve seeded.
You know, now that I look back at the original post that @Rispa had in this thread, I am going to change my tune. What @Masbustelo suggests is the more safe way. I had become focused on @Rispa having onions to eat now, with an attempt to produce seeds and propagate these purchased onions to eat again later.
I had originally started down this road of replanting yellow onions because a half of an onion that I had stored in the fridge for a week had started to grow new roots. Once I had chopped the upper portion of that half I decided to experiment with what would normally go into the compost. I put it into a teacup with a little water in it and placed it on the window sill in the kitchen. I had nothing to lose at that point. Once additional roots formed I planted it, and did a few more such experiments over the next few months. Some did grow onions tops, some died. The green onion stubs had an almost 100% success rate, but the yellow onions heels did not.
Since @Rispa indicated a focus on being able to grow more of the onions, planting their intact bulbs would likely be more successful in producing seed. Sweet onions generally don’t have as long of a storage life, so it might be best to go ahead and get them into the ground now in order to start them on their way to being a perennial plant in the garden.
Okey dokey. I haven’t gotten to it yet. I am going a little crazy in the garden this year, so I have a lot more queued up than normal. Also my friend who the past several years I hired to help hasn’t been available. They will go in ground soon though.