Onions - it's a crying shame

Did you know that PlantFiles has 60-some onion varieties listed?
http://davesgarden.com/pf/b/Alliaceae/Allium/cepa/cultivar/0

plus various garlic: http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?search_type%5Bcommon%5D=contains&searcher%5Bcommon%5D=garlic&search_type%5Bfamily%5D=contains&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&search_type%5Bgenus%5D=contains&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=allium&search_type%5Bspecies%5D=contains&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&search_type%5Bcultivar%5D=contains&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&search_type%5Bhybridizer%5D=contains&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&Search=Search and shallots: http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?search_type%5Bcommon%5D=contains&searcher%5Bcommon%5D=shallot&search_type%5Bfamily%5D=contains&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&search_type%5Bgenus%5D=contains&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=allium&search_type%5Bspecies%5D=contains&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&search_type%5Bcultivar%5D=contains&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&search_type%5Bhybridizer%5D=contains&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&Search=Search

and almost no photos.. (We don't even have a picture of a plain 'ole yellow or white onion - sob, wiping tears from my eyes....)

Since onion-planting season is upon us (and harvesting season for some members of this family), please take a moment to snap some pictures of your sets, new sprouts, and just-harvested crops.

So you don't plant onions, eh? Okay, well - do you BUY 'em? If you know what varieties you're buying (think Bermuda, Vidalia and Walla-Walla sweet onions, to name a few), then take pictures of those. (There aren't any rules that say you have to grow it to take a picture. You just have to know what it is ;o)

And hey - if everyone will add a few pictures, then I won't have to resort to using corny puns like this one to lure you into reading my pleas for help in making the PlantFiles veggie entries grow..

Corny........corn.........uh oh. I feel another one coming on....

Are you allowed to steal pics from other web spots? Often I find pics with the google "images" feature.

Generally speaking, no, it's not okay. It is stealing, as images are copyrighted to the photographer (or someone else, if they've assigned the rights to it.)

There are *some* sites that are "public domain" - meaning they have given express permission for their information and images to be used elsewhere, typically they stipulate it must be for non-commercial use. If the site has such a disclaimer, then yes it is okay to copy the image, but be sure to read and uncheck the box when you upload it to our site (you'll see what I mean the first time you submit an image) so you don't put your own watermark on the image AND give proper credit to the source within the caption.

Gotcha. Ah, the ever-more complicated world...

zeppy - what town in va are you in?

Careful Terry. Vidalia is a marketing brand. Last time I checked there were nine different cultivars approved for Vidalia onion growers. Bermuda is also a somewhat generic term for a class of onions. There are several cultivars in this group. Walla Walla's I am not as familiar with. But believe the name has been appropriated by a marketing group, and that the cultivar used for this purpose has been renamed.

Very true - thanks for the gentle correction ;o)

Okay then - for those growing them OR those who buy from a local grower (farmer's market, for example) and can ASK what variety they are - please try to capture some photos to post along with your thoughts on the merits of each variety!

Between Harrisonburg and Staunton. I was married in Winchester; love that place.

Hi,
Trying to find an online, retail outlet for Vidalia onion sets. Thanks for any help.
Maureen

Hi, Maureen,

You might try Dixondale: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/23/ I think (and I'm not an onion expert) that the Texas 10-15s are the same Granex as the "vidalia" onions - just grown in another part of the country.

The Texas 1015 is not approved for Vidalia's but the Yellow Granex sold by Dixondale is.

http://www.vidaliasfinest.com/voc-fact.htm
There now seem to be 17 approved cultivars, but they are all variations of hybrid yellow granex.
The 2002 list; http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/horticulture/commodityNL/vidalia-August02.htm

This message was edited Apr 11, 2005 6:02 PM

I knew you'd have the right answer ;o)

*waves to Terry*

My white Ringmasters are in the PlantFiles photo queue. Probably won't be harvesting them for a bit, but will be sure to add more pics when it's time to make onion rings. ;)

You'll find my first Walla-Walla, as well, weighing in at 14 ounces after trimming. Will include pictures of the slices when it's time to fire up the grill for burgers this evening. ;)

Donna

Donna Bravo come with your camera I am to klutzie but have Walla Walla, Red Burgermaster,and Alisa craig. I got all from Dixondale but did start lots of Walla Walla from seed .

T if you need pics of any of these I will give it a go if you wish. These were taken in July and I have not tried the Alisa craig but they grow big. Ernie

Next year I should be able to contribute shallots and several garlics!

Thanks, Ernie!

The Walla Wallas and Ringmasters are from Dixondale starts, which you recommended to me last year. ;-) The WW sets that I got locally are doing almost as well, though a bunch of them look like Siamese twins (1 bulb, two bunches of foliage). Wonder why that happens?

C'mon and take some pics of your onions for the PlantFiles! The Red Burgermaster doesn't have any http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/75203/index.html and neither does the Ailsa Craig. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/75198/index.html

Next year I will keep better tract of what I plant as far as veggies, and where. I plant several different varieties of each veggie, and don't mark them well, so I can't remember which is which. Therefore I can't post to PF about them not knowing for sure which variety they are.

Tomatoes, peppers and squash are the exception. I do keep good records on those.

However, I did only plant one variety of garlic. I just gotta find the papers that came them to know what kind it is. I'll look.

I'll do better next year. This year I concentrated on flowers. Again.

It is great to see some onion pictures finally starting to crop up. As an update to Terry's Post, there are currently 256 cultivars listed in plantfiles http://davesgarden.com/pf/b/Alliaceae/Allium/cepa/cultivar/0
but the percentage of pictures has actually gone down. In general, vegetable pictures are in short supply.

TuttiFrutti, could you give instructions on preparing onion rings? Can they be stored for any length of time? (Assuming they're not all gobbled up right away.) Is it okay to use "sweet" onion types? I usually grow 1015's. Thanks!

Alise craig I think I will try this one again a perfect companion for Prudens Purple Ernie

It was a good onion year for me in spite of the fact that we had one day in the 90s and only a few in the 80s but did have quite a few hot days over 72. Red Burgermasters on the left and shrinkie dink Walla Wallas to the right

This message was edited Aug 31, 2005 3:34 AM

This message was edited Aug 31, 2005 3:36 AM

Yuska, I haven't made onion rings yet but I'll let you know when I do. In the meantime, perhaps the folks over in the Recipe Forum can advise.

More great pics for the PlantFiles, Ernie! That's a fabulous setup for storing your onions. :)

I don't have pics, but an onion question. I have some onions that I got in too late -- some small candy onions that have barely started to develop a bulb and some kind of bunching onions that look like blades of grass at this point. I'm in zone 6 with a first frost usually coming in late October. We just put up a small attached greenhouse. If I'm careful to dig deep enough to get all of the roots, could I transplant the onions to a raised bed in the greenhouse, or should I let them grow where they are? We'll be running the greenhouse cool through the winter. Probably around 40 degrees. Thanks!

MJ

TuttiFrutti and eweed, Roger in Sweden has a question about red onions in another thread - he's looking for a large one the size of Exhibition - (I believe that's Ailsa Craig). How does Red Burgermaster compare in size? I see eweed's crop is hefty - how much would they weigh? Ailsa Craig is a long day type - would I have any luck with it here in the south and in heat zone 9? Yuska

Yuska, I read Roger's thread and will certainly post there if I gather any information about a red exhibition type onion. No luck so far. :)

I'd be curious to find out how much Ernie's crop weighed, too, especially since I think he had several wheelbarrows full!

Here's what Dixondale Farms has to say in general about growing long vs short season onions: http://www.dixondalefarms.com/tips.htm#faq_01 While it might not be what you wanted to hear, that whole site is very informative. ;)

3 ww plus 3rbm plus 3 Ac trimed wieghed 14 pounds the largest was ac 2.6 pounds WW 1.4 pounds RBM 1.1 pounds.ok now you have it.Ernie

This message was edited Sep 1, 2005 8:49 PM

Ernie- How far apart do you plant your onions?
-Juli

jul 4 inches for keeper size like Copra 6 inches for big onions.ernie

I need to thin mine, I hope it's not too late for that.
-Juli

Woosh, a whole day transplanting onions. I didn't realize I had so many crammed into such a small space. When I dug them up there were a lot of small ones in the middle of the bunch. I put them 6in apart and now they have stretched to about 4 rows. Some are golf ball size.
-Juli