Thread: Onions for 2019
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Old November 27, 2018   #13
GoDawgs
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b
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My first effort at growing bulbing onions was in Fall ’16. Our Georgia Extension service recommends planting out short day onions in mid-late October. If memory serves, I believe the folks farther south in Vidalia plant out late Oct-mid November. For my first effort I did short days Yellow Granex, Creole and Barletta as well as intermediate day Australian Brown.

For two years in a row now those 7-10 day warm spells that periodically interrupt cold weather in early spring have caused the short day onions to bolt while the intermediate day hasn’t. So this fall I set out intermediate Australian Brown (Baker Creek, “one of their “favorite” varieties), an intermediate called Countrywide Red (Burpee, end of season sale at Tractor Supply) and am giving the Granex one last try. We’re on what’s called the Fall Line, kind of an invisible divider where the flat land of the coast starts transitioning to hills on the way to the Smokies. I’m on the border of 8a and 7b. Sometimes spring is 8a-ish, sometimes 7b-ish.

I use Sungro Metro-Mix, a fine textured starter mix and I’ve been happy with it for a good while. The label says “35-45% Canadian sphagnum peat moss, composted pine bark, vermiculite and dolomitic lime. 0.0001% Silicon Dioxide from calcium silicate. May improve resistance to wilting”.

I’ve had good luck growing onions in dividerless packs set in Styrofoam trays for bottom watering. They get started early August for October transplanting. These are about ready to set out and are due for another haircut. At this point they’ve been getting some Miracle Grow every other week as onions like lots of nitrogen.



Bill, you’re right about cutting them back pre-plant. I do that too. They do stand up better in the ground as taller tops are going to get burned anyway. And next time I am going to follow your suggestion of using a deeper container for even more root development. I separate mine out in a bowl of water and they come apart really easy. I forgot to cut these before separation and had to do it after the fact.

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