Huge difference in crop when growing onion from seed, I’ll never plant sets again. Has anyone tried planting the seeds in the fall? I understand they’ll over winter fine and begin growth bright and early in spring. It would be nice not to have to deal with flats of onions.
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No, it means the onions will go to seed the 2nd year and the bulb will turn to leaves
You need to pull them the first year when the leaves start to turn brown and flop over
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I had a bunch of onions not bulb out last year, I think because they were too large when I planted them, they didnt take off in the garden like the usually do but started growing mid summer. I dug them and planted them out of the way later in the fall, just to see what they do this year. If they go to seed, thats fine. My onion seed is getting pretty old already so I could use some fresh stuff.
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I’ve been growing and planting my own seed for, well, a long time. Mine are a mix of whatever open pollinated keeper varieties have been available (not many) and selected over the many years. But I think the main variety is likely New York Early, a yellow. As many of you do I start them about now, in flats (mine are about 4" deep), broadcast or in rows depedning on how I’m feeling that day (widish rows are the easiest to manage). Since my seed varies in quality (we’re on the edge for growing onion seed) I usually plant thick and don’t thin enough. But even when crowded they pull apart easily enough. Keeping them thinned is best though (I tell myself that every year).
I’ve planted in the fall, mulched, and they generally do make it through winter but then they start growing too early and get frozen out. If they were in a cold frame that would probably work. For me it’s more reliable inside but a milder climate seems like it would work. I’ve also planted early spring and gotten a crop though they’re small.
A way around having to start seed is to grow your own sets. I’ve been doing this more now. In spring I plant either broadcast or wide rows seed fairly thick with a light mulch. Throughout the summer I pull some for salads. In the fall when they’re died down pull them (or rather scoop up a handful and sort out the bulbs), toss the smallest aside (and they’ll likely root, survive winter with no care, and grow next year!), cure as you do regular crop. Sort them for the sizes you like for sets (I go for about half inch), toss the smalls, eat the larger ones (or plant them next spring for quick greens).
Then I worry come spring that I’ll have enough and buy some generic sets from whereever and marvel at the low quality. Then stick them wherever I have a spot, and later marvel at how much i prefer my own.
When I harvest my main crop in the fall I pick out 6 - 8 of the best looking bulbs to replant to grow seed the next season. Unfortunately, onion seed is viable for only a few years, three seems to be max. Sue
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This is my second year growing onions from seed. Last year I think I kept my onions in the flats too long before transplanting them which resulted in some plants dying (probably due to my neglect after I started seeds for the tender annuals). As I wandered through the garden yesterday I saw garlic, garlic chives, chives, and Egyptian onions sprouting new green growth. This tempts me to put out the onions from seed soon. I really need to fight this urge as we will probably have a few small snows in March (or maybe a couple feet of snow like last year).
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Interesting Sue, how you do onions from seed. How you grow them. Here in lower MI our season is long enough to mature onions of any size from spring to fall. I will have to try saving seed some time. I have been growing shallots from seed too. they are more fragile and many die off, the ones that make seem to have a really good shelf life. I still have a few left, maybe i will plant one of them for seed?
Here’s last year’s crop, well some of them. Prepping them for braids when possible.
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Real nice looking onions, Drew, what are the varieties? Growing seed is easy and the blooming plants are beautiful - bees and butterflys like them, too. I always plant the bulbs in the fall but you might get seed planting early spring. Most years I do OK maturing the seed but they didn’t like last year’s constant rain very much. Sue
I have had some onions that I missed stay all winter, but never produced seed the next year. I saw instructions to plant them back into the ground in the spring.
Some I grow are hybrids so the seed might not be true?
On types the whites are Whitewing , the yellows are Cortland. The reds are Blush. The elongated ones are Zebrune Shallots
I also have grown Camelot shallots. Zebrune is very mild in taste, still harsh on the eyes. Camelot is strong.
This year I have limited room, so not growing a whole lot. I will be growing Zebrune and trying Yellow Of Parma. I like to experiment and will grow others in the future, looking hard at Tropeana Lunga Onion. As far as regular yellows and white the above two I grew last year were great, I will grow them again. Not sure when though/? I want to try others.
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Hybrids may or may not come true from the seed they produce. It also will depend on if there are related varieties growing nearby which may have crossed with them. But in general, growing out a cross (hybrid) and selecting seed from the best plants for a few generations is how new varieties are made. So give it a try if you have the time and inclination.
Odd that your “leftover” onions don’t produce a seed stalk their second season. But perhaps your winters are too harsh. I generally select the “best” onions from storage in the spring and plant them for seed and it does seem to work.
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Thanks for the info, well this winter was mild, but the last few were atypically brutal.
Could someone please go over step by step on to get seed from these biannuals?
I usually plant in the spring, and they are not ripe to fairly late in summer. Do i pull them out and put them back in? Is that what you guys do? i read I think that if you have a harsh winter to plant in the spring.I would not mind growing by my own seed. I can still buy others too.
So you do plant in the spring a 2nd time for seed? The leftovers, were not the best, so small and such i didn’t even see them (I plant them all over the yard, room is an issue, so wherever I have an open spot)
My climate is likely a bit atypical, but here’s what I do that seems to work (my growing season is too short to mature many crops outside):
Seed gets started indoors ~Feb 1. Gets xplanted to the greenhouse after most have a couple of leaves and grows in the GH until roughly pencil diameter. Then gets xplanted again to the garden roughly end of April. At this point they are roughly the size of purchased onnion plants, and I clip off some of the tops to balance the root loss. Anyway this is my pattern for growing onions here.
For seed production, I try to save a few of the larger onions that are in storage from the previous fall that have desired traits (large, no disease, etc). We use up any that have started to sprout or go bad, so in effect we are selecting those out of the gene pool. Around March 1st I select a few of the best onions for planting for seed. Again in the GH (cause our season is not long enough to mature onion seed reliably). After a few weeks those onions start to grow, they generally will flower in August (give or take some). I let the seeds mature to almost the full dry stage on the plant. But try to cut and complete the drying inside, since fully dry onion flowers tend to shatter and scatter the seed. When dry I rub the flowers/seed between my hands to break apart the seeds from the dried parts, then winnow.
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From my notes…
Onions
Allium flowers are self-infertile. The flowers open over a course of 30 days. Onions are insect-pollinated out-crossers. They may cross with Japanese bunching onions but do not cross with chives or leeks. Do not save seed from onions that produce seed in the first year. Rather plant selected onion bulbs (grown in the prior year) in the spring for seed.
It is not uncommon for onions to produce many infertile seeds. To separate these out, place all the seeds in a bucket of cold water. Fertile seeds sink to the bottom and infertile seeds float to the top and can be carefully poured off with the water. Dry seeds immediately.
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Good info. I can plant for onion seed soon. I do have a few, they are not sprouting either. So good examples. Actually all i have left is a few shallots, but it should work the same. Thanks all for the info.
Onions may not mind a touch of snow - they’re tough
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That’s a good idea to plant the best stored bulbs for seed in the early spring, too. Mostly I need to plant in the fall to get a head-start for growing for the seed to mature but I’m going to try some in the spring, if the snow goes early enough. The hard thing for me is to plant those very best bulbs instead of eating them! I like to plant 9 to get enough for reasonable genetic diversity. But the nice thing is they don’t take much space and really are pretty.
For those interested in seed saving I’d highly recommend Suzanne Ashworth’s book “Seed to Seed”. It’s a great resource. It wasn’t written yet when I first started saving seed but I sure appreciated it later.
And for a little more about growing onions, if I might mention (though I’m really not trying to toot my own horn) I have a fairly long article on growing onions on our website. For many years I wrote for “Countryside Magazine” and later put most of those articles (updated in some cases) on our website, just to share. It’s at: http://www.manytracks.com/Homesteading/onions.htm
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Good stuff Sue, thanks. It does matter where you are. As you can see I can produce large onions from seed in the spring. I started mine Feb 17, they are only 2-3 inches tall now. Today it’s 42F, and sunny, they are going outside.
Yeah my 4 foot, 4 bulb T5 lights are hot and the onions don’t like it. I moved them to a 2 foot 2 bulb T5 set up. less light but not hot, Outside I will leave them in the sun 30 minutes, and move to the shade, first time outside. This helps start the acclimation.
The figs I started from cuttings love the hot strong light! As do the pomegranates also rooted from cuttings.
Parfianka pom
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I realize this is an old thread and it appears I am getting a very late start at sowing onion seeds but I’ll give it a shot anyway. When I ordered my tomato seeds I ordered a pack of onion seeds just for the heck of it. I got an heirloom variety called crimson forest. My plan is to throw them in some seed starter in a large container and grow them under grow lights or in natural sunlight if the weather permits until transplant time. I suspect my maters will go in the ground around mid may. If the onions are still quite small after 4 weeks would it be okay to plant them out when I do the tomatoes?
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I planted my onions last weekend. Later than usual butt they got to big last year so i waited a bit.
Post pics and keep us updated! I’m growing copra ailsa craig and redwing.
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I’ve planted small seedlings and they grow fine - they’re just smaller bulbs when mature. If still small when transplanting you might give them a little extra care by covering them for a few days when planting (helps no matter the size). I wonder if you’re weather is such you might plant them direct? I don’t know that variety but it does depend on how long a season it needs whether you’ll get large or small, but either way you’ll still get edible! Sue
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