Onions growing guide

Dried or fresh, raw or cooked, onions are a
foundational part of in a variety of soups, salads,breads, and casseroles. Onions are easier to grow than you might think, and they're a great plant for tucking into spare corners and along the edges of garden beds.

Onions

Types - Onions come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes,
and colors. The white, yellow, or red bulbs range in size from small pickling onions to large Spanish cultivars; they can be globe, top, or spindle shaped.

-Most onions can be pulled young as green onions
called scallions, but there is also a perennial
bunching type, Allium fistulosum, that produces
superior scallions and is practically disease and
insect proof.

-Each bulb of the multiplier or
potato onion ( A. cepa Aggregatum group)
multiplies into a bulb cluster, so with every
harvest, you'll have bulbs to replant for a
continual supply.

-The Egyptian or top onion (A. cepa Proliferum
group) produces a bulb cluster at the end of a
long stem with a second cluster frequently
forming on top of the first. It also has an
underground bulb, which is often too pungent to eat.

-Other tasty plants include chives ( A.
schoenoprasum ), garlic chives (A. tuberosum ), and
shallots (A. cepa Aggregatum group).

Onion bulbs

 Planting - You can grow onions from transplants, sets, or
seeds. Transplants, which are seedlings started in
the current growing season and sold in bunches,
are available from nurseries and by mail order.

-They usually form good bulbs over a short period
of time (65 days or less), but they are subject to diseases.

-Choice of cultivars is somewhat limited.
-Sets are immature bulbs grown the previous year
and offer the most limited cultivar choices.

-They are the easiest to plant, the earliest to harvest,and the least susceptible to diseases.

-They are, however, more prone to bolting (sending up a
flower stalk prematurely) than are seedlings or
transplants.

-If you plant onion sets, the sets may be identified
only as white, red, or yellow, rather than by
variety name. Most growers prefer white sets for
green onions.

-When buying sets, look for 1/2-
inch-diameter bulbs, because they're the least
likely to bolt.

-Growing onions from seed offers the great
advantage of a wide choice in cultivars. The
challenge with starting from seeds is that your
crop will take up to 4 months to mature-gardeners in cold-winter areas will need to start their onion seedlings indoors.

-Always check a cultivar's daylength requirement
or recommended latitudes before you buy,
because daylength affects how and when onions
form bulbs.

-Short-day onions, such as 'Red
Hamburger', will form bulbs as soon as days
reach 10 to 12 hours long. They're suitable for
southern latitudes only. 

-Long-day types, like
'Sweet Sandwich' and 'Southport Red Globe', need
13 to 16 hours of summer daylight in order to
form bulbs. They're the type to grow in more
northern latitudes.

-Onions like cool weather in the early part of
their growth, so plant them in spring, except in
mild-winter areas, where onions are grown as a
fall or winter crop. Generally speaking, onions
grow tops in cool weather and form bulbs when the weather warms.

-Plant onion seeds 4 to 6 weeks before the last
average frost—or even earlier indoors or in a
cold frame .

-When indoor seedlings are 2 to 3
inches tall, harden them off by exposing them to above-freezing night temperatures.

-Outdoors, sow seeds thickly in rows about 1/2
inch deep. You can try mixing in radish seeds
both to mark the planted rows and as a trap crop
to lure root maggots away from the onions.

-Thin seedlings to 1 inch apart, and thin again in four
weeks to 6 inches apart.

-For transplants or sets, use a dibble to make planting holes 2 inches deep
and 4 to 6 inches apart. Use the closer spacing if
you plan to harvest some young plants as green
onions.

-For sets, open a furrow 2 inches deep
and place the sets stem (pointed) end up 4 to 6
inches apart, and then fill in the furrow. One
pound of sets will plant about 50 feet of row.

Growing - The practices you use will depend on the specific
crop you're growing. In general, onions grow best if you keep them well weeded. Use a sharp
hoe to cut off intruders; pulling or digging weeds
up can damage the onions' shallow roots.

-Once the soil has warmed, put down a mulch around
and between the plants to discourage weeds and
to hold moisture in the soil.

-Dry conditions cause bulbs to split, so water
when necessary to provide at least 1 inch of
water each week; keep in mind that transplants

require more water than sets do.

-Onions can't compete well with weeds, so it's important to
direct water right to the onion roots. Two good
watering methods for achieving this are shown below.

-If you've prepared your soil well, no fertilizing
should be necessary. Always go easy on nitrogen ,which can produce lush tops at the expense of bulbs.

-New growth from the center will stop when the bulbs start forming.

-Egyptian onions, chives, and shallots require
slightly different cultivation from regular onions.

Here are some guidelines for growing these onion relatives;

Egyptian Onions
-Plant Egyptian onions in fall throughout the country; harvest some in spring as green or
bunching onions.

-In midsummer or fall, miniature bulbs will form at the stem tip, where
most onions form flowers .

-Pick these tiny bulbs when the tops begin to wilt and dry. Use them
fresh or store in the freezer.

Chives
-Plant chives and garlic chives in early spring in
rich soil. They will tolerate partial shade put
prefer full sun. Seeds are very slow to germinate,
so most growers prefer to plant clump divisions,
which can be harvested after 2 months.

-Space the clumps, each of which should contain about
six bulbs, 8 inches apart.

-Cut the grass-like, hollow tops frequently to
maintain production. The pom-pom-like lavender
flowers are very attractive, but always remove
the spent flowers to reduce the chance of
rampant self-seeding.

-Dig up, divide, and replant
every third year. Transplant to containers and
move indoors for winter harvests.

-Chives are almost as good frozen as they are fresh.

Shallots
-Shallots, a favorite of French chefs, have a blue-
green stem that's used when young. In addition,
it has a gray, angular, mild-flavored bulb that's
related to the multiplying onion and is used like
a mild-flavored garlic.

-Shallots will tolerate all
but the most acid soils, but dig the earth deeply
because the plants put down 8-inch-long feeder roots.

-However, they have no lateral roots, so
space them just 2 to 3 inches apart.
-Propagate shallots by dividing bulb clusters.

-Each clove, in turn, will produce four to eight new bulbs. In February or March, plant them 1 inch
deep, barely covering the tip of the clove. Keep
the soil weed free and slightly moist, but don't
fertilize. In early summer, draw the soil away
from the bulbs.

-Harvest shallots as green onions
at any time. Cutting the tops off near soil level
will produce new tops, and such harvesting
actually increases bulb production. Bulbs mature
in about 5 months.
-Pull and store like onions.

Watering
-To water onions efficiently, extend soaker hoses
along the row close to the plants. Or open a
small trench between rows and fill it with water.

-This keeps the roots supplied, while leaving most
of the soil surface dry, inhibiting weed seed
germination.

Troubleshooting
-You can generally expect a disease-and insect-
free crop. One possible pest is onion maggots:

1/3-inch-long white, legless larvae that travel in
line from one bulb to the next and burrow
upwards to feed on the stems. 

-To reduce the chances of extensive damage, scatter-plant
onions throughout the garden. (This
inter-planting can also benefit other garden
plants; many Allium species will ward off pests
such as aphids, Japanese beetles, and carrot flies—from roses , lettuce , carrots , beets , parsnips,
and members of the cabbage family.)

-Placing a thin layer of sand around onion bulbs may
discourage adult flies from laying their eggs at
the bottoms of the plants.

-Barely visible onion thrips tend to attack during
hot, dry weather in July or August. They produce
deformed plants with silvery blotches on the leaves.

-Thrips overwinter in weeds, so reduce
pest populations by keeping the garden clean.

-Try spreading a reflective mulch , such as
aluminum foil, between rows to confuse the
thrips.

-If you catch the problem early, you can
spray plants with Beauveria bassiana or spinosad
to combat thrips. As a last resort apply neem to control a serious infestation.

-A disease called smut causes a swelling or
hardening of leaves just about the neck, which
eventually bursts and spills powdery black
spores over the plant.

-Downy mildew, a purplish
mold, shows up in midsummer during warm,
humid weather. Onions are also subject to pink
root, which causes roots to turn various colors
and then shrivel, and neck rot, which causes
tissues to form a hard, black crust.

-All these problems are caused by fungi in the soil and can
be avoided by rotating crops and by working
humus into the onion bed to provide good
drainage.

Harvesting
-Once onion tops turn yellow, use the back of a
rake to bend them over horizontally.

-This stops the sap from flowing to the stems and diverts the
plant's energy into maturing the bulb.

-A day or so later, when the tops turn brown, pull or dig
the bulbs on a sunny day, and leave them to dry
in the sun. Lay the tops of one row over the
bulbs of another to help prevent sun scald.

-When the outer skins are thoroughly dry, wipe
off any soil and remove the tops—unless you
intend to braid them. 

-Store in a cool, dry place; hang braided onions or those kept in mesh bags
in an airy spot. Such dried bulbs will keep for about 4 months to 1 year.

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