How to Grow Great Onions! Pt.2

Onions are a great addition to your food plot! With a bit of know-how, and an understanding of how the onion “thinks”, you will grow great sweet and storage onions.

#onions #growingonions #onionfarming

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Onions are such a gratifying crop to grow. With a bit of knowledge and the right basic resources for your onion plants, you’ll have a great crop. You can grow sweet onions for immediate or near-future use, or storage onions to get you through the off-season. If you are like us, you’ll probably have plenty to share, and fresh, beautiful, home-grown onions are rarely refused (unlike zucchini!).

There are a few things to know, and in this episode, we are attempting to give you enough for you to be successful, as well as direct you to our favorite resource and onion plant supplier, www.dixondalefarms.com.

Here is a handy resource that will show and describe all the growing stages of a typical bulb onion:

https://mtvernon.wsu.edu/path_team/Onion-Card-Growth-Stages.pdf

To begin with, onions can be grown from seed, sets, or starts (baby plants). We always go with starts because the plants already have 3 or 4 leaves and give you a head start on growing and getting bigger onions. Seeds must be started well in advance of planting, as direct-sown seeds don’t have enough time to grow a sufficient number of “spikes” (leaves) before the onion starts forming a bulb. Once bulb formation starts, no more leaves are produced.

As an aside, we also avoid onion sets, those mini-onions you can get in mesh bags from big-box stores and nurseries. We have found they tend to bolt (go to seed) more often. They too are limited in the time that they can come out of dormancy, get established, and put up leaves.

Why is the number of leaves so key to successful onion gardening? Did you know that each leaf corresponds to a ring in the onion? If you have an onion plant that starts bulbing when it has 5 leaves, you’ll get a small, 5-ringed onion. If you can get the onion going faster and earlier (but not too early) in the season, you give the plant more time to create leaves. 13 leaves/rings is considered a perfect onion, so that’s your target.

But wait! There’s more! Day-length enters in as well. In the U.S., there are three types of onion day lengths grown: short, intermediate, and long-day. HUH?

The basic idea is that when a specific amount of daylight hours is attained in the season, the onion will stop producing leaves and start the bulbing process. Where we live, about 42 degrees latitude, we can grow either intermediate or long-day varieties. Along the southern parts of the U.S., short-day cultivars work well.

To determine what will work for you, and to see a map that will tell you what to get, watch this short video, featuring Bruce Frasier of Dixondale Farms:

https://youtu.be/3FpOkDWzbNg

Getting the right day length is the single greatest thing you can do to be successful with onion cultivation.

Other factors are weed control (onions don’t compete with weeds at all, so use preemergent weed controls such as Treflan® or Preen®), nitrogen feeding during leaf formation, adequate irrigation, and PLENTY of sunshine. Onions need a lot of sunlight to create the carbohydrates that form the bulb and create the deliciousness that we all enjoy.

To get all the details you’ll need to become the onion-growin’ envy of the neighborhood, be sure to download this free onion-growing guide from Dixondale Farms:

https://dixondalefarms.com/onion-planting-guide/

In case you’re wondering, we aren’t sponsored or supported by Dixondale Farms, other than always getting great growing stock and know-how. It’s our pleasure to pass this great resource to you, our viewer family!

Sure, can buy your produce, specifically onions. But now, you can JUST DO IT YOURSELF!

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