anyone tried them? They sound interesting, I am in Tucson this week but it is sort of off-season for them I believe. Curious if anyone here can weigh in on them, as I am trying to decide how hard to chase them while in town in AZ…
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I’m here to revive this old post! Did you ever try the I’itoi onions? I got a few shipped to me this spring. I’ve only tasted a nibble and they were good, but I was surprised at how tiny they were. None of the pictures or videos I found make them look tiny. I can only think of two explanations for why mine are so small. Either I was sent the wrong thing, or the parent clump my divisions were taken from was allowed to get excessively over crowded causing a significant size decrease (mine are small even compared to chives).
I’ve only seen a few pictures, but those look a lot like some of the wild spring onions in my yard. Interesting if they are naturally tiny like chives. Whatever I’ve got is bigger and prolific this year. I haven’t tasted them.
My starts arrived quite small, and continued to put on size for several months. I haven’t harvested any, I’m just letting them do their own thing and grow the clump until I have something worth harvesting. After eventually growing tall and proud, they’ve started to shrink back as if preparing for dormancy, but I’m keeping them watered on occasion. The potato onions are finickier, dying back as if from drought, but rotting if I water them too much. The fluffy water-retaining soil probably isn’t helping much. At this point, I’m concerned I might lose them. The Canada Onions are growing quite well and even forming top sets. They don’t seem to mind the heat at all. I have them all in containers on the roof, and I wonder if I should bring them back down to mitigate the heat.
I’itoi Onions:
Canada Onions:
I wonder if you and I both got them from the same source since both of ours appear very small compared to pictures and videos online.
I got mine from Kelly Winterton. The perennial leeks I got from him are one of the toughest and healthiest-looking alliums I grow, surpassed only by my Society Garlic. The Syboe Onions I got from him are also doing well, but the potato onions could be better (the seed-grown ones are still growing).
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My I’itoi onions recently went through a dormant die back phase, but have now pushed new growth. I’ve been fertilizing heavily and they are spaced out in the pot to make sure crowding isn’t an issue. Despite looking very healthy they continue to look like small chives. Of course they don’t taste like chives, but more like chive sized green onions. There are so many pictures and videos online that make this plant look larger in size and I’m confused…
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I just bought some new I’itoi starts from nativeseeds.org. Seeing them now, I feel their size is comparable to what I’ve seen in pictures and videos. What I had previously purchased from a different source is clearly a different plant.
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Mine remained small for a very long time, but in recent months I’ve seen them form some bulbs around the size I’ve seen in the videos and images. Onions seem to be a very long-season crop.
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My new ones now look just like my older ones. I guess it’s just what they look like in my local growing conditions.