I'm wondering if you are talking about planting seed, Annie.

We will plant onion seed in April for late scallions - I guess they show up in August. WeÂve used Candy onion seed the last couple of years and been happy with them. Non bulbing Japanese onion varieties have worked well, also.

I just bought 32 pounds of yellow onion sets today. We will start planting them this week and then every couple of weeks through June.

We will also move some Walla Walla sweet onions so as to give them more room, right away. They were seeded last August. We have sold a few of these for scallions in the past. And, we have sold some of our shallots green but get a premium price for them.

Our market won't start until mid May and it is really a little early to plant sets but you can never be sure. We will probably hit an early garden show and sell our early salad greens there. One thing about sets and sweet onion seed, if they get past the scallion stage you can always let them go until mature.

Steve

thanks for the info, digit.
If I plant sets, how long before I can harvest them as scallions?
Ann

Ann, you should be able to start harvesting scallions from sets inside of 6 weeks. It depends on the size of the sets and weather conditions - temperature and sunlight.

I'm hoping to grow a few sets from late seeding this year. I don't know why I haven't tried that in the past. Seed is certainly cheaper than sets. And, we are able to over-winter our shallots bulbs in storage.

I'm also thinking that you are likely to have much better growing circumstances than we have. We live in an arid part of the country with cool Springs, and low night-time temperatures throughout the growing season.

Pennsylvania State claims that you should be able to grow Long White Summer Bunching onions from seed in 60 days. (?) My experiences with Candy onions and Japanese bunching onions (nebuka and he-shi-ko) were never that quick. You can take a look at this pdf file for their recommendations.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable Varieties

Ann, For this years market I decided to try some new things too. Scallions and onions are defenitely on that list. Last fall I planted a 50 foot row of Heritage walking onions. Supposedly I should beable to use this as scallions this spring(in time for the market) I am suppose to leave some of them so they set there "top sets" of bulblits, then I can replant and expand these rows. Also started are some Candy onions(from seed) These are growing fantastic. I seeded the trays back in late February. I'm not sure if I will use them for scallions or wait till they are full onions. Right now they are still in seedling trays under lights, won't beable to plant out for quite a while here in Massachusetts. Heidi

definitely try the topset/walking onions. I plant the topsets in fall and get a crop of scallions in 60 days. Plant 1" apart, then thin to 2-3" by harvesting scallions and let the rest overwinter. They are now sending up top growth and can be harvested as scallions again till flowering starts. With good fertility and spacing I've gotten 2" 'shallot' sized bulbs from each plant AND topsets for replanting again in the fall. I have saved topsets through the winter and planted them in spring for scallions.

Once you have them you can grow all the sets you want, never buy sets again. Sets are much easier to plant compared to seed, plant them like beans.

You can get at least 2 crops of scalions/year grow your own sets, and have "shallot' sized bulbs to sell out of this one crop. Winter hardy throughout the US in any zone.
I'll have sets ready for trade in midsummer. Looking for new shallot bulbs in trade. LMK
Jay

I haven't tried the heritage onions. The regular Egyptian onions can be pretty strong. I did sell a few last fall and told the customers they should probably only cook with them.

Robert

I'm still waiting for my top sets to send up shots. Nothing yet, I'm getting worried. I had to transplant the Candy Onions into larger flats, so far they look like they might be a real winner. They are now in the greenhouse and still growing great, I hope to plant them out in a couple weeks. We just had snow, yesterday, and today. I hope all my early crops in the field make it. Lettuce, radishes, carrots, spinach and peas. HEIDI

Can I buy Candy onion BULBS from anyplace?
Thank you

I have direct seeded candy and walla walla onions densly for green onions (scallions are a different allium that typically will not bulb). plant the seed in the bed in late March early April and you can start pulling them by mid May, usually. eventually these will get good sized onions on them and should be allowed to mature

than there are true scallions that about 2 months to get ready. these will never make a bulb but will mulitply. I have not grown these in several years but this year will be growing white spear.

Last year I put in a50 foot row of Evergreen hardy White bunching scallions. I harvested quite a few bunches for our market and they sold GREAT. I left the remaining ones in the garden to see if they really would multiply........So Far, So Good. Our spring has been extremely wet and cold, but it looks like these scallions survived. Now I will just wait it out to see what happens in the next couple weeks. The top set onions didn't survive there last winter so I gave up on them last year and will stick to what I know will grow.