Mid-Atlantic Gardening: P.Onion, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Susan,

Hay!!! Glad to see it is doing so well! I AM a proud "Grandma"!

YES! That is a bloom stalk! Be ready--for it may grow to be 3'-4' long!!!
There will be small, white flowers developing from the bloom-end of it as it progresses. It takes a long-long time for all of them to finish blooming. Then--from the bottom end, it will start making seed pods.
Allow these to fully develop and, when they look dry, you can pick them and there will be seeds inside. Very much like a Salvia, a Glad, or a Hollyhock. The blooming travels up the spike......

I don't know WHY anyone would want to mess around with growing this plant from seed, as it is so much easier to do so from all the sprouting "babies", but you never know! I have saved a pile of the seeds myself. Good, interesting plant for seed-trading.

Also--by next Summer, it may need to be divided and transplanted. I keep mine pretty dormant all winter, as I have nowhere to keep it growing. It doesn't seem to bother it any. Actually, I think it makes the "Onions" get bigger in the dormant state.
You will be AMAZED at the matted roots this Onion has!!!! You will need a good steak knife to separate them all. Honest!
They DO grow so fast!!!!
In the process of separation, the itsy-bitsy baby onions will be falling off like marbles. Just stick them all, partially submerged, in some potting mix in a cell-pack and they will root. Takes about a year b/f they are fully rooted, but then you can re-pot them and share them with other folks.

If the original Onion has split up into many, take each one apart and re-pot it individually in a new, 6" clay pot. Don't worry about the roots getting damaged. It is a "bulb" and will survive anyway.
And--so it goes!!!!!

Lookie here! Gita

Here is how long the bloom stalks grew in my PO this Summer. Can you make them out? If you had them outside all Summer (you should!), some of them send out more than one stalk.