Onion Plants

I want to order some onion plants would rather not plant all at once, they are a sweet onion and would like to spread the growing season out for them. Here in North Carolina that is possible but I don't know if I can plant some and hold some back and have them still keep well.
Would appreciate any comments.

My experience has been that you can hold plants for about 2 weeks at about 40 degrees F. After that the plants start to lose some of their viability. Holding is most useful for waiting for good soil conditions for planting. In both Virginia and Georgia it doesn't seem to dramatically increase the maturity date. i.e the later set plants seem to catch up rapidly.

How about growing a few from seed?

Thanks to both of you. Yes, I had considered growing some from seed and will do. Horseshoe had said for me to grow from seed in late summer or fall and keep bulbs but I didn't. :-)

Sparks, you could order some plants that would mature at different times, some maturing earlier than some laters ones.

You could also put some sets out now (if you have a place ready) and then put the plants out end of Feb/beginning of March.

Thanks Shoe, may try to catch you online tonight. Its time I come on there more often.

Yes it is! Hope to see ya!

I got a catalog from Dixondale Farms in Texas.
www.dixondalefarms.com
You can order onion plants from them to be delivered at time you specify. You may have to order separate for each delivery, but your plantings would be stagered.
They show shipping dates from Jan to May.
We used to buy from Piedmont, but they closed their business & recommend Dixondale.
We always liked Piedmont.
Bernie

I've used Dixondale for quite a few years now. Love em!

Good product, good advice they offer.

You can order from them and specify staggered ship dates. Or you can read the maturity dates for their different types of onions and go from there. (Usually the seem to be 90 to 110 days for mature bulbs, less than that for green onions.) It would also be fun to play with the different day-length varieties...instead of ordering short day varieties, mix in a few long day varieties. (There will be a size difference in the end result but yet you'll have onion harvest staggered.

Then again, look to some of their leek plants. I luv my leeks! That should help you with your onion cravings!

Sparks,
Having grown onions from seed in NY where I moved from, its a pretty simple thing. Now is the time to be seeding onions in NC if you didn't in the fall. If you go to NCSU's cooperative extension site, they have all sorts of veggie bulletins. For onions, it can be a bit tricky if you start them from seed in the fall, especially if you do it too early. Day length is important to the bulbing process, and latitude determines how much daylight you have and when you have it. By the time days are long enough here in NC, it's too hot for onions to grow properly unless you irrigate the daylights out of them b/c of their shallow root system. I grew onions PLANTS from Dixondale Farms last year (dont waste your time with bulbs) and the intermediate day length varieties they offer sized up better than the long day "Red Burgermaster" I grew alongside them. They were good enough, but size and shape matter when you are selling for market. Also, if you want to properly cure onions for temporary storage, long day types usually have a larger, thicker neck when the short and intermediate day types have shrunken and the tops fall over. These shrunken, dried up tops help with keeping out disease organisms that promote premature rotting. It makes them easier to store, but only for a month or so b/c short/intermediate types have more sugars than long day types so they store for shorter periods. Hopefully Shoe will come around to make sure I didn't make too many goofs! BTW, I need to call you Shoe!
"tom" tbolt76

This message was edited Jan 8, 2004 4:42 PM

Had to step into this convo. I was reared in Walla Walla, Washington, home of Walla Walla Sweets (yummers - you can eat them like an apple). Unfortunately, the vineyards are taking over (more profits than onions) and the sweets are going to become very nill and more expensive. :(

It's too bad I can't grow them up here just 3 hours north. It's the soil and climate - makes a huge difference in these.

Don't give in! Don't give up! Karrie, I'd at least try to grow some, in some form or fashion. You need them onions! They keep you healthy! And happy!

Tom! Nice to see you pop in! (I reckon since you're a newlywed your time is limited, eh?) All good advice on your part! I've started looking at Dixondale already for this years order!

Normally I grow from seeds, sets, and plants. Sets do great for me when Fall planted. Then I set out plants in the late winter/early Spring. Seeds I tend to sow for "bunching onions" and also in mid-late summer for producing sets, to later be planted out in the Fall.

Shoe,
Good to hear from ya! I like how you progress thru all the stages of growth with plants, onions, and seeds. I should try this. What will you be ordering from Dixondale? Wanna combine the order?

I'll definitely order from Dixondale. Give me a holler down at the shoffice. (Will have to check to see if we get a quantity discount.)

We grew Walla-Walla, Big Daddy, Superstar & a Red onion last year. Best we ever did with onions.
Still have some around for our own use. We sold all of our production at the FM.
Bernie
P.S. Son just passed through, says secret to good onions is keeping weeds out. We had 7000 plants & hand weeded them 3 times! We did leeks for the first time ever, sold everone!
Make great soup!

This message was edited Jan 9, 2004 8:35 AM

Gee, I didn't realize what I was starting with this thread but sure glad I did. Trying to assimalate all that I have read. I will deffinetly order from Dixondale and the sooner the better. Thank you all for the comments.

Sparks, don't order. Just wait and you can get some of mine, that way you'll end up with a variety and not end up with 700 plants!

Shoe,

I'm not saying we can't grow them up here. They just aren't as good (The Walla Walla Sweets). Unfortunately, I only have one section of garden that I have dedicated for tomatoes & cukes. The rest of my gardens are either in the front yard or backyard - backyard is mostly shade. So those gardens, of course, I plant flowers in. We hope to move sometime in the "affordable" future to a place where I can have a full sized vegetable garden.

hi all, does anyone here know of a good supplier for walking onions? none of the catalogs that i get has them and i am dying to try them out. i want to see if i can get them to walk right into the soup pot. hehehe thanks.

Nicksgrammy:
Ther are several variations of the topsetting (walking) onion. The easiest to find is the Red Egyptian. Shumways list as does http://www.artisticgardens.com/egyptian_onions.htm. The Caterwissa is a variation that gets good reviews. If you don't find them, remind me when mine head out and I will send you some.

nicksgrammy, I think I put some links here for you: http://davesgarden.com/t/413404/ to check out - happy hunting!

Last year I grew Walla Wallas for the first time. I started them from seed on March 15. I am close to the same latitude you are and live at 2700 feet where we get some pretty good frosts in March. They were great! As a matter of fact I was in the garden today because the weather was so beautiful and I found one I had missed under a nasturium that died of the cold. Had it for dinner.

Walla Wallas don't keep long once you've pulled them, but obviously you don't have to pull them all at once. Get some seed and try some. Don't save any leftover seed for next year. With onion seeds it's now or never.