Onions and overwintering... a question
 

I left these onions in the ground and never harvested. The bulbs were puny and I was lazy... now they seem to be dividing and multiplying. Can they be separated and stuck in the ground? What's the use for these onions now ?

If you let them continue growing they will flower. And if it's an OP and not a hybrid onion, you'll get seeds if you have some pollinators around.
If it's a hybrid, it's pretty certain to be male sterile, therefore having no viable pollen they won't make seeds unless you have another OP onion blooming at the same time.


If it is a hybrid, or if you don't want seeds, then green onions is about the only use for those. You can cut and let them regrow until you never want to see another green onion.



OTOH if the onion has some multiplier genes, you might get divisions and then small bulbs that you could replant in fall or spring... Alliums always seem to have a backup plan, to keep themselves going.

The main bulb did start dividing itself up.... hhhmmm

The use of those onions is to be eaten as early green onions. The flower stalk will appear in a couple of weeks or so, and then they're almost useless.

Onions bloom in their second year.

[QUOTE=brownrexx;763236]Onions bloom in their second year.[/QUOTE]

Fall planted onions and scallions bloom the following spring here due to the big temp swings we have here in early spring. I already have a few of both blooming. Cold, warm, cold, warm. The poor plants feel like they've already been through two years! However it seems that the intermediate or neutral day onions do that less than the short day onions, or at least they do it later in the spring than those bolting now.

[QUOTE=GoDawgs;763298]Fall planted onions and scallions bloom the following spring here due to the big temp swings we have here in early spring. I already have a few of both blooming. Cold, warm, cold, warm. The poor plants feel like they've already been through two years! However it seems that the intermediate or neutral day onions do that less than the short day onions, or at least they do it later in the spring than those bolting now.[/QUOTE]
Hmm. Down here ( southwest part of NC) some of my onions ( bought in bunch and planted around mid January) have flower buds. That is just 4 out of 100.

I am going to let them go for seed so I can collect my own seeds.

BTW the seller told me they are Vidalia.

When do you harvest yours ?

I grew winter varieties of onions (Augusta, Hiberna and Senshyu) from sowing in August. Out of more than forty plants, only two plants have bloomed for me now in the spring. Large harvest, I gradually harvest them. Some are already starting to dry. Size approx. 20 dkg. If anyone wants to try growing onions from seedlings over the winter, I can send seeds. They are really hardy varieties, they survived temperatures of -15 ° C for me.
Vladimír

[QUOTE=Gardeneer;763771]Hmm. Down here ( southwest part of NC) some of my onions ( bought in bunch and planted around mid January) have flower buds. That is just 4 out of 100.

I am going to let them go for seed so I can collect my own seeds.

BTW the seller told me they are Vidalia.

When do you harvest yours ?[/QUOTE]

They were planted Oct 8 and they've been ready to harvest for a few weeks but I'm waiting as long as I can and using when needed. They all bolted earlier, sending up seed stalks so they won't store well. To try to reduce the size of the flower stalk origin down in the onion, I try to cut the flower stalks as soon as I discover them.

Heavy sigh.... still trying to decide whether or not to grow more this fall. I swore I wouldn't but as usual I'm rethinking that since this year's were the nicest ones I've grown. That figures. :?

Is that about not storing well actually true or just something that keeps propagating? I've had bolted shallots, cut them early (the stalks), they stored for a year.

I can't vouch for all onions but can say that over the last two years the ones I harvested after bolting only lasted about two months. They'd get soft in the middle. Maybe that's just the varieties I grew; Australian Brown and Red Creole. Of the two the A. Brown bolted less.

My mother used to go through and "step" the onions before they could fully flower. She would watch until they started to shoot up the flower stalk, then walk right over the top of them "stepping" them down. This seemed to break off the flower stalk, and the onion under ground kept growing. We'd have onions all winter long