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Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Mar 31, 2015 15:38:51 GMT
DH brought home a "Happy Thursday" gift for me today .... a few hundred onions!
I usually don't plant this early (5a), but my chives & garlic are up, so why not?
Just finished tilling the rows, came in to get some pain meds and heading back out to plant 300 onions.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2015 15:56:49 GMT
I planted mine two weeks ago- unlike the brassica, they look like they actually survived the cold snap. Onions are such a fun, easy to grow plant when you start them from sets- just pop them in, mulch, and harvest at the end of the season...love it.
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Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Mar 31, 2015 16:01:35 GMT
I go through a LOT of onions each year (frozen, dehydrated, powdered & fresh) .... even at .99 for 3 lb it adds up to a couple hundred dollars each year. Besides, I like using the onion greens too! eta: why yes, I am so frugal I can squeeze water from a rock! Actually, I'm really frugal in areas I can be so I can save up for really cool fiber arts 'schtuff' ... it's all about priorities!!
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Post by paquebot on Apr 1, 2015 4:03:05 GMT
Lost track of how many onions are already in the ground. I think that it's about 50 Amish bottle onions plus another 60-70 Ailsa Craig, Candy. Red Candy Apple, and Sierra Blanca. In pots and hardening-off are White Sweet Spanish and Yellow Sweet Spanish, Clear Dawn, Mako, and Red Zeppelin. We use a lot of onions here!
Martin
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2015 5:04:45 GMT
All the onions that we dry are Walla Walla sweets, probably 400 grown from seed and set out. They don't keep well for a long period. The rest are a yellow Spanish onion for keepers. I tie 10 together and hang up in the shop, I probably still have 1/2 of the 300 or so. We pickle 15 pints of each when they are 1", with fresh dill and garlic....James
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Onions
Apr 1, 2015 12:22:00 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2015 12:22:00 GMT
One thing I have never planted is onions. Can I plant them close together in a raised bed? I eat onions but my husband hates them, so I don't need a lot. I am thinking of planting half a raised bed of them. Our planting season hasn't started yet and I don't know how long it will take that snow to melt that is on those beds, but I am afraid we will go from cold to hot real fast. Do they grow good through the summer and then I harvest in the fall?
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Post by paquebot on Apr 1, 2015 12:59:31 GMT
How close depends upon variety and use for the onion. Easy rule is to space them double whatever their normal size is. Since most are 3", that means 6" spacing. That's the normal spacing for the typical grocery store yellow onion. However, many plant sets at 2" spacing in rows. Every third one is pulled for green onions. Then every other one is pulled for spring onion. That leaves the desired 6" spacing while giving a harvest which extends over months. For larger ones such as Ailsa Craig and Sweet Spanish, 8" is minimum.
For long day onions, as would be grown in any place still seeing snow on the gardens, it's best to get them in the ground as soon as it can be worked. The plants will produce a lot of foliage first without bulbing. The bigger the plant, the bigger the bulb potential. When midsummer occurs, and the daylight hours become shorter, that triggers the plant to rapidly produce a bulb. Bulbing is fast after that and the plant's growth is usually complete about 6 weeks later.
Martin
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Onions
Apr 1, 2015 13:38:15 GMT
Post by Melissa on Apr 1, 2015 13:38:15 GMT
I was given a bunch of yellow onions, the sort they sell in the stores everywhere around here. A lot of them are sprouting greens, can I plant them, harvest the seeds and replant? Do you think they would produce well? I am in Zone 5, SE OHIO.
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Onions
Apr 1, 2015 17:25:30 GMT
Post by Chickadee on Apr 1, 2015 17:25:30 GMT
I am waiting for my order of onions from Dixondale Farms. I love them and have been happy with their onion plants. Two days ago I sorted out all our remaining storage onions. I have about ten trays left to use which should time out perfectly before this season's crops are ready to harvest. I can't wait to get cracking on planting the new ones but it is too early here yet. I am amazed as always at the storage ability of the Copras. Love them! And I even have quite a few Red Zeppelins left as well as quite a few Red Marble Cippolinis although those varieties aren't supposed to last quite as long. We are so blessed. I ordered the same amount for this year (30 bunches of 50-75 plants each) but a lot of them will be sold at the Farmer's Market, provided we get a good harvest. They looked so pretty out there last year in their neat tidy rows. Makes me happy to think about it. I hope you all get a good onion harvest this year!
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Post by feather on Apr 1, 2015 19:50:57 GMT
Last year we planted near 280, made of Candy, Walla Walla, and Red Zeppelin. We had my son here, the onion and garden planting machine. Harvested them, let them dry out in the wind on the deck, then cut them off where they sealed off (had a few miss steps and cut the first few too short--which means they'll sprout). We weighed them in bags as we brought them in, 220 Lbs. We put them in the basement on a table and put a fan on them for more than a month to help them dry out. This is too many onions for 2 people left here and we ate a lot of them in everything.
Sprouting: Candy and Walla Walla sprouted for us after about 3-5 months. Red Z's are still holding out. The 30 left in the basement, about 59-61 degrees, are not sprouting now at April, but the 8 Red Z's we brought upstairs, last month, about 68-70 degrees have just started to sprout yesterday. That 8 degree difference does make a difference. I'm going to see how long the 30 Red Z's in the basement hold out this year.
Storage: We gave away LOTS of them, just too many onions last year. We'll only plant 130 Red Z's this year, ordered from Stark Bros. When the sprouting started, I made enough caramelized onion base for more than a year's worth of french onion soup, really rich, about 6 or 8 gallons worth, froze that. Then I roasted half sheet pans of them so they are ready to put in with roasts and stews, froze that. Then I started to chop them raw by hand and freeze them, about 30 lbs worth maybe more. I didn't cry managing all these onions, they just weren't very hot at all in cleaning and chopping them.
Tip on eating raw onions: slice or chop them, then let them sit in cold water (ice water) for a little while, then strain them out. They are much milder in salads and sandwiches this way. French Onion Soup Recipe: see bottom of the page: joysgarlic.com/hints.html
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Post by paquebot on Apr 2, 2015 1:50:05 GMT
I was given a bunch of yellow onions, the sort they sell in the stores everywhere around here. A lot of them are sprouting greens, can I plant them, harvest the seeds and replant? Do you think they would produce well? I am in Zone 5, SE OHIO. Depends upon what variety they are. Stuttgarter was the standby for yellow keepers for years. Hard to beat them for storage. Now there are some hybrids which are planted for the commercial markets. Growing from them may give you mixed results but would still give you onions. If planted, give them at least 8" spacing as they will divide into up to 4 or 5 plants. BUT, if it's a variety like Stuttgarter which is grown from sets, you'll get seeds this fall to eat onions in 2017. You'd save the seeds from this year to plant in mid-summer 2016 to get sets to plant back in 2017. Not many gardeners are willing to do that anymore. I do it with Amish bottle onions. When I received them back around 2002, it was almost like a kit. There were about 200 seeds to be planted for sets. There were about 50 sets to be planted for bulbs. And there were 7 or 8 bulbs to be planted for seeds. Three seasons for the full cycle. Martin
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Post by paquebot on Apr 2, 2015 2:03:38 GMT
Found one that may be better than Copra for storing but don't go looking for it in any seed catalog. It's Mako and from Mako, Hungary which is noted for its onion festival. I've got Copra bulbs sprouting right now but all of the Makos are as firm as when harvested. The bottle onions also have stored well, as usual, with only one sprouted among the 9 selected to produce seed. Martin
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Onions
Apr 2, 2015 3:05:03 GMT
Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Apr 2, 2015 3:05:03 GMT
However, many plant sets at 2" spacing in rows. Every third one is pulled for green onions. Then every other one is pulled for spring onion. This is what I do ... I put in another 300 today.
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Onions
Apr 2, 2015 23:37:14 GMT
Post by Chickadee on Apr 2, 2015 23:37:14 GMT
Found one that may be better than Copra for storing but don't go looking for it in any seed catalog. It's Mako and from Mako, Hungary which is noted for its onion festival. I've got Copra bulbs sprouting right now but all of the Makos are as firm as when harvested. The bottle onions also have stored well, as usual, with only one sprouted among the 9 selected to produce seed. Martin Thanks Martin! I have never heard of Mako onions. I am intrigued...where did you find them or who sells seed/sets/plants of this variety? (I am envisioning you bringing some seed back with you from a visit to Hungary....). Probably not the case.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 3, 2015 0:47:39 GMT
Mako onion seed came from a gardener in Canada. I'm on 3 other ProBoards garden forums so my trading possibilities are quite wide. Traded Amish bottle onions for Mako, also not available commercially. If I'm still around in 2017, I could have seed available.
Martin
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Onions
Apr 3, 2015 1:00:58 GMT
Post by Melissa on Apr 3, 2015 1:00:58 GMT
Thanks paquebot. I am going to give it a try and see what happens. I might live three more years!
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Post by claytonpiano on Apr 5, 2015 0:39:22 GMT
I bought more onion sets today. We love Candy onions. I just cannot get enough of them. I know they do not store well, but I love them dehydrated during the winter and throw them into soups and stews. This thread inspires me to keep planting more and more.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 5, 2015 18:53:10 GMT
Onion and leek project in the home gardens is finished as of today when the leeks were planted. There are 15 Lincoln and 21 Inegol leeks. Onions planted are:
19 Ailsa Craig 45 Amish Bottle 29 Candy 35 Cipollini 30 Red Candy Apple 24 Sierra Blanca
Everything else will go into community garden plots,
Martin
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Post by claytonpiano on Apr 5, 2015 19:14:00 GMT
Mine are on the counter for tomorrow and then I will be done with the onions. Paquebot, you are so amazing! Thanks for sharing with us.
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Onions
Apr 10, 2015 22:03:13 GMT
Post by Woodpecker on Apr 10, 2015 22:03:13 GMT
Now I want to plant onions. My favorite is Copra, they are great for French Onion soup.
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Post by Callie on Apr 11, 2015 17:35:54 GMT
I was given a bunch of yellow onions, the sort they sell in the stores everywhere around here. A lot of them are sprouting greens, can I plant them, harvest the seeds and replant? Do you think they would produce well? I am in Zone 5, SE OHIO. Yes...but they will probably go right to seed. The won't make a bulb for you again.
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Onions
Apr 11, 2015 17:38:20 GMT
Post by Callie on Apr 11, 2015 17:38:20 GMT
I made a big oopsie with onions this year. Lasts year, I planted 150 from Dixon. It wasn't enough. So I ordered 6 bunches this year....when I got the out of the box today, there were six bunches already- six bunches of 100!!! I planted 500 of them. I'll give the others to the neighbor. I have Walla walla for fresh eating, copra, yellow spanish, and sterling this year.
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Onions
Apr 12, 2015 14:43:23 GMT
Post by paquebot on Apr 12, 2015 14:43:23 GMT
I made a big oopsie with onions this year. Lasts year, I planted 150 from Dixon. It wasn't enough. So I ordered 6 bunches this year....when I got the out of the box today, there were six bunches already- six bunches of 100!!! I planted 500 of them. I'll give the others to the neighbor. I have Walla walla for fresh eating, copra, yellow spanish, and sterling this year. Dixondale workers go by size of bunch rather than count. Probably what can be gathered inside thumb and middle finger. I have access to every variety listed in the Jung's catalog and every bunch is the same size regardless of individual plant size. Least number of plants is Cipollini which has the biggest plants and probably close to 75. Everything else is around 100. Last year, plants were bigger and some barely covered the 50 guarantee. There's a benefit to shipping smaller plants for long distances. Large plants have a lot of moisture stored in the bulb area and prone to start rotting faster than small plants. Lots of spoilage last year with the big plants. This year, only the Cipollini had some smelly bunches until I loosened them up to get some air flowing. Martin
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Onions
Apr 12, 2015 18:51:50 GMT
Post by Callie on Apr 12, 2015 18:51:50 GMT
One of my bunches of Copra was rotting in the middle. THe roots were still good so I went ahead and planted them. I didn't know the just went by 'bunch'.
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Onions
Apr 12, 2015 20:15:03 GMT
Post by paquebot on Apr 12, 2015 20:15:03 GMT
One of my bunches of Copra was rotting in the middle. THe roots were still good so I went ahead and planted them. I didn't know the just went by 'bunch'. If only the tops are beginning to rot, no problem. You could have trimmed the bad part off to allow the next leaf to develop faster.
A couple years ago I was in Jung's warehouse in Randolph right after the Dixondale shipment came in. They were in cases stacked over 6' tall. I think that there's 30 bunches in a case. Dixondale states approximately 5 dozen per bunch while Jung's says 50 to 75. Nobody is counting but more people complain about too many than too few. In fact, one couple this afternoon was going through the Ailsa Craig case to find the smallest bundle. I told them to give the extra to a friend or drop them off at the community gardens.
Martin
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