Dawn,

I sent you a message with my address again. If it doesn't make it to you, let me know and I'll try again... Or, I can always do an alias through my main email account and post it here...

Thanks again for your generosity!

Ada

Ada,

Well, I just checked my e-mail and it isn't there. This GW e-mail thing is driving my crazy. The folks on the Tomato Forum talk about how erratic GW e-mail is, but I've never had much trouble with it before.

Let me try sending you an e-mail with my e-mail address. Then, if you get that e-mail, you can send me an e-mail without going through GW. After several tries, Caroline's e-mail came through, and I can't begin to guess why some do and others don't.

Dawn

I sent you an e-mail through the GW e-mail system.

Care to take bets on whether or not it goes through?

Dawn

Dawn,

I didn't get yours either (shocking!), but I sent another just to see. I'll check again in the morning and if you haven't received it, or I haven't received yours, I'll use an email account I was planning on closing soon anyway and just post it here...

Ada

sending you an email. Rhonda

Ada,

I received your e-mail. It was in my In-Box this morning. Finally!

Rhonda,

Your e-mail was not in my e-mail in-box . Please try again if you are interested in the onions. Both Caroline and I and Ada and I have had to try over and over again to get e-mail messages to go through.

Dawn

I didn't check this thread yesterday! I wish I had. If you still have onions, I'll gladly give them a good loving home. I'll send my address by email in case you don't have it. If you've already sent them all out, then that's okay.

I spent part of yesterday and Sunday getting the flower bed next to my house free of rocks, loosened, and adding manure and compost to it. My husband doesn't know it yet, but if I can't get a second raised bed finished by planting time, I'm putting veggies in the flower bed this year! I was planning on putting my herbs there anyway.

Dawn, if you still have a few extras I'd be happy to pay postage & handling. I started a flat of Yellow de Parma, and they are looking good. But Jerreth will want more.

George

George,

I still have some and will be happy to send them to you and Jerreth. Just e-mail me your address, or if your address is still the same as listed in the SSE Yearbook, I can look it up there. We've had a lot of GW e-mail issues the last week or so.

Thanks for offering to reimburse postage and handling, but this one is on me. : ) I just want good homes for some sweet baby onions.

Dawn

Gamebird,

I know that I still have your address and I'll pop some onions in the mail to you today.

I always put veggies and herbs in the flower beds too. They mix in nicely, and the deer and rabbits seldom look for veggies in the mostly ornamental beds. Well, except for the hollyhocks. Every wild critter that walks through our place eats the hollyhocks.

Dawn

Once, again a visitor from the Ozarks. Thanks for the great tip on Dixondale onions. For the last three years I have raised Candy and Super Star from seed. This year I bought the seed locally (Hummert's) and got about 1/3 of a plug flat from two packages of seed. Cost $4. I won't be doing that again!

Glenda

PS. I need to visit here more often.

Hi Glenda,

It is so nice to see you here on the forum. We're always glad to have visitors from the Ozarks. Do you need some onions? If so, please e-mail your snail mail address through my member page and I'll send you some of my Dixondale extras.

Dixondale's prices are very high although the price per bunch drops if you order higher quantities of bunches. I order from them because their products are high quality and I can get varieties not found locally. I'm in a really rural area with very few places to buy garden seeds and plants, so I order almost everything online.

Dixondale's website is amazing. Their Onion Growing Guide tells you more than you need to know about growing onions, and their newsletters always include some great recipes.

Dawn

Thanks to all who e-mailed their addresses yesterday and today. I think I received all of them. Of course, if I didn't receive them and I don't know that you sent them, then neither you nor I know which e-mails failed. LOL

I'll post the final mail-out list in a couple of hours. I need to run to the post office before fire pagers start going off and ruin my day. (Well, the pagers might not go off at all, but yesterday was a bad day here, so I am sort of expecting the worst.)

I'm just about out of extra onions, which is such a wonderful thing because I didn't want to waste them. Thank you all for your quick response.

Dawn

Hi to all, I'm a long-time lurker here. Ten years ago I married and moved to my husband's place WAY out in the country. We are about 40 min from Norman and have a fairly large garden. Prior to my move, I was a city dweller and gardened some. Still have much to learn, and this forum has been most helpful- and just fun to read.
I have a couple of questions regarding onions and one on potatoes, but first a note to Bob: we purchased corn gluten at Ellison's (not the Preen) two years ago. I don't know if they still carry it, but it was the only place I could find it locally.
My questions: Dawn, Why do you like the varieties of onions that you do and why don't you grow 1015Y's? When you say that you still have some in storage, is that frozen and dried or do you still have some that you have not preserved? I ask because I am looking for something with a longer keeping quality than 1015Y, if there is anything.

Has anyone tried the onions that are referred to as "multiplier onions"? I've also seen them called potato onions. Supposedly they keep for a very long time.

My potatoe question: Is there any downside to planting last year's sprouted Kennebec's that were not used this winter? Increased chances of disease, etc?

Finally, for anyone in the Newcastle, Blanchard, Norman or So. OKC area, Sunrise Acres in Newcastle has the following for sale. They are organic and I've had good results with everything I've purchased from them. They have lots of tomatoes and peppers that can't be found at the big-box places or atwoods. They have a list on their web-site.
Potatoes: Red Lasoda, Kennebec & Yukon Gold (50 cents a pound)
Onions: Sweet Red, Yellow Granex, White Granex & Texas Sweet 1015Y (89 cents a bunch)
asparagus crowns( 4.95 for a bunch of 10) & strawberry plants (4.95 bunch of 25).
4 inch pots of Candy onions for 1.50 a pot (50 - 60 plants).

Thanks in advance for any help with my questions. Jill

I went to Ellison's in Norman this morning to get Preen. They have it in stock, 5# for about $20. They also had the Treflan in bags(American Brand) for 15# - $30. The guy there thought it and Preen was the same thing. The onion planting instructions from Dixonville suggested using Treflan. I also wanted to get some for my Asparagus and as I applied it this morning, I noticed about 5 shoots up 3 inches tall. It won't be long now before the Asparagus is really cooking. - Bob

Dawn, I wouldn't mind a few onions if you still have some. I'll try to email you my address. If you're out, that's ok.

Dawn, I wouldn't mind a few onions if you still have some. I'll try to email you my address. If you're out, that's ok.

Bob,

I don't use Treflan HFP or Treflan TR-10 because I don't use chemical products if I can find an effective organic product that does the same thing, which corn gluten meal does. That is not a criticism of Treflan or any other chemical product, by the way, just a personal choice.

The active ingredient in the Treflan products is trifluralin, which is also the active ingredient in most Preen formulations--but not in the Preen Organic Vegetable garden pre-emergent product. (It does not have Treflan, it has corn gluten meal.)

I suspect that Dixondale's Treflan recommendation is aimed more at commercial growers (they supply millions of onion transplants to commercial and market growers every year) than home gardeners, and most especially if the commercial growers are raising their onions in sandy soil. The reason for that is because Treflan is only recommended for soils with an organic content of less than 3.5%. Many commercial and market growers who raise onions do so in fairly sandy soil so Treflan works for them. However, most home gardeners who've added lots of organic material to their veggie garden beds have more than 3.5% organic content in their soil, so they can't use Treflan, per its' own label. It IS almost asparagus time, isn't it?

Jill,

Glad you decided to stop lurking and start "talking". : )

I have gardened a very long time, and did start growing Texas 1015Ys literally from the first year they hit the market in the 1980s. I like 1015Ys just fine but they do not store as long as I would like. The officially-quoted storage time is "2 months" for 1015Ys but they'll store for 3-4 months for me if well-cured at lower humidity.

Candy is somewhat like 1015Y in that it is a very large sweet onion, although 1015Y is a short-day and Candy is an intermediate day. For me, if transplanted at the same time, Candy matures a week or two earlier, so I can harvest them a bit earlier, add compost to the bed, and plant a fall crop of something else in that bed. Usually, I follow the spring onion crop with fall tomatoes.

If properly cured and stored under optimal conditions, Candy will store up to 6 months although, officially, they say that Candy can be expected to store for 3 months. Still, Candy's three-month storage time is much better than 1015Y's two-month storage time. I always get a much longer storage time and I suspect it is because I carefully cure my onions in the shade in covered but open-air conditions in relatively low humidity for a long, long time.

If I harvest in late-June to mid-July, as I do most years depending on whether I planted early or late, I cure the Candy onions until about mid-September. Then I can store them in the garage and continue using the fresh ones until Dec. or Jan. in a lower-humidity type year. In a rainier year with consistently higher humidity, I only cure them until mid-August and then put them in the cellar in onion tubes. Even in those years, though, they often last until December and sometimes later. Normally, I chop and slice about half the crop and store it in an extra freezer and use those for cooking. The other half I keep in dry storage and use as needed for fresh onions.

So, if you're looking for storage onions, Candy are far superior to 1015Ys and, in my garden, they get substantially larger than 1015Ys.

I like to grow Contessa too. It is a very large, white onion that matures about the same time as Candy, which is yellow. Contessa doesn't get as large as Candy and doesn't store as well, but it is a consistent producer. It stores for a longer period of time than 1015Y but not as long as Candy.

Red Candy Apple is supposed to be the red version of Candy only it is a tiny bit earlier--95 days as opposed to 100. It is supposed to be better than Stockton Sweet Red which I've grown. SSRs don't get very large for me and I am not crazy about them, so I have high hopes for Red Candy Apple. I don't know how long Red Candy Apple will store, but it is supposed to store at least as long as Contessa. If I don't like Red Candy Apple, I'll go back to growing Southern Belle Red which is a nice, sweet red that stores well although not as long in general as Candy.

The pungent hot onions store much longer than any of the sweet onions, by the way, but they are long-day onions so are not recommended for our part of the country.

I don't grow multiplier onions, although I tried them years ago. There are folks here who grow them, so hopefully they can answer your questions about them.

You can plant any potato you choose as long as it came from healthy plants. If your Kennebec potato plants were disease-free last year, I see no reason why you cannot plant the sprouted ones this year. If you had a lot of disease issues with the potatoes last year, I wouldn't plant the sprouted ones though.

Hope that answered your questions.

Dawn

Today I mailed out the first batch of onions, and they were mailed to the following persons:

Southerngardenchick
Windsurfgirl
JamesY40
Ilene_in_Neok
Lovetotweet
Justsaymo
Jaleeisa
Melissany
Caroline_2008
Game_bird

Tomorrow the remaining ones will go out, and they will be mailed to these Garden Webbers:

Seedmama
Macmex and Mrs. Macmex
Maubles
Mulberryknob

I think that is everyone. If not, you are either lost in the GW e-mail system and I didn't know you wanted onions, or you are lost in my system, which sadly is not a system at all, or the cat ate your e-mail. (Just kidding about the cat.)

The onion supply is depleted but I am so happy they all have someplace to go and grow.

Thank you all so much for agreeing to take these extra onions off my hands. I think it will be interesting for so many of us to grow them and to be able to compare notes on how they do for us in our sometimes vastly differing soil, rainfall and weather conditions.

This has been fun. I like that we were able to deal with the amazing "overpack" of onion plants in a nice, positive friendly way and am grateful that the lives of all the young onions were spared. I could have composted them, but that would have been such a waste. And, please, y'all, you do not have to thank me again. You've all done so already. It has been a pleasure to share these plants with you.

Dawn

Thanks Dawn, Sure you wouldn't like to make a trade? I still need to dig daffs and Naked Ladies, the large pink ones, come May as there are several clumps that have stopped blooming.

Hi Dorothy,

Well, now, if you are going to twist my arm.....if you want to dig and send me a couple of Naked Lady bulbs, I won't turn those down. : )

Dawn

Gee Dawn, You really did get a lot of onions. I had just the opposite trouble the last time I ordered from them. I got the right amount of onions but I also ordered leeks and they shorted me one bunch. I notified them and they said it would be out the next day. I assumed that since it was their mistake they would cover it. If not, I would just have cancelled it. When it came, they had charged me as if I had only bought one thing and I could never find where they credited me for the first non-delivery. So not only did I pay high prices, I paid twice. I haven't ordered from them again, but last year our Wal-mart had Candy anyway. I'm glad you got a good deal.

Carol,

I'm sorry you had a problem with them. I've never had one single smidgen of trouble--maybe it is the luck of the draw.

I wish our Wal-Mart had Candy! That would be just wonderful. All the stores here have the "same old same old" stuff--varieties that have been out forever and nothing remotely "new".

I have sent out onions like mad today.

Something was wrong with the Garden Web e-mail system and e-mails from folks wanting some of the onions just weren't coming through. Then, all of a sudden, a couple of dozen messages popped into my In-box, and they all were from GW e-mail, and some of them dated back to Saturday.

Unfortunately I don't have enough onions for all the folks whose e-mails were lost in the GW system.

Dawn

Dawn, I will mark my calendar to send you some when I dig come May Dorothy

Dorothy,

Thanks!

Dawn

Jill,

I'm growing potato onions for the first time, since coming to Oklahoma. I purchased them by mail last fall. We used to grow them, having inherited them from my wife's grandparents. But when we left the country for over a decade, we lost them.

Potato onions easily keep from harvest time, in July, to about now. We used to plant them in the fall and, in Northern Indiana, we had them survive and prosper after 30 below zero winter temps. The onions themselves are somewhat larger than shallots. So they are more work to use than say, a Spanish onion. But they are very dependable. If I recall, they are stronger flavored than most of the larger onions one finds in the store. Hope this helps.

Below is a link to where we got our start. I'd like to say that Patricia, the proprietor of this little company, sent a very good sized sample of onions for $15. My hat's off to this enterprising woman.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Here is a link that might be useful: Shoestring Creations

I too received "many" onions from Dixondale. Have shared with Boss and 3 girlfriends off 2 extra large bunches. Just have to get them in the ground tonight.

Dorothy, What on earth is a "naked lady"? Isn't that a pop-rock band?

I surely hope we can all meet for Spring swap. What a nice group of people!

Laura Lea,

So, based on the experiences of you, me and Bob, I guess it is safe to say Dixondale consistently overpacked everybody's bundles this year.

And, I am sure Dorothy will reply later on the Naked Ladies and I don't want to steal her thunder, but the Naked Ladies, though lovely in their own right, are not a pop-rock band. : )

I'm looking forward to the spring swap as well.

Dawn

Jill, I have grown Winter Onions (also called Walking Onions) for a long time. My mother grew them for years and years. They stay in the ground all winter and when you need a few to season something, you just go out there and pull them out of the ground. They're small, like a green onion, but really hot, so a few go a long way. In the fall they make bulbs at the end of their leaves, and the weight of the bulbs makes the leaves bend down to the ground, so they plant themselves. One year I used so many that I ended up with none, after what was left drowned in our near-flood conditions, so had to restart with starts from a friend. I've been leaving them alone to let them get going well.

This year I'm trying a potato onion. Looking forward to it propagating itself and making many, many more. I see from the link you provided, George, that they're to be harvested around July 4, and dried like regular onions are. Have you ever just left them in the ground and gone up and dug one up when you needed it? Do you have to dig all of the onions, big and small, dry them and then wait till, say, September and plant them back again?

I've always dug them all, as they all dry down at the same time. Then, around October, I plant what I'm going to plant, saving the rest for eating. I like to plant some large and some small. The large tend to make a bunch of small ones and the small ones tend to make a couple large ones. You could try leaving them in the ground. But I suspect they benefit from being split up and replanted.

George

Dawm.I just want to let you know my onions
arrived in good shape and I will get them in the
ground tomorrow. Thanks again.

Caroline

Caroline,

Thanks for letting me know they arrived, and you are so welcome. I hope they grow well for you. Tomorrow should be be a great day for planting....at least, before the cold front blows through.

Dawn

Dawn, mine arrived yesterday afternoon as well. Thank you so much! I'm gonna get these planted either later today, if I can after physical therapy, or Friday. They looked great!

Thank you again!

Kathy

Yep, mine arrived on Wednesday too! I'll get them in the ground today. Thanks Dawn!

You are so welcome. I hope they grow nice and big for y'all. And, see, the postal service is getting them delivered really quickly, too.

Dawn

Mine arrived today. I've put them in a bit of water to rehydrate while I decide where to put them. Just this morning I finished filling and mixing and soaking my first raised bed. I'm now working on the flower beds next to the house. Or at least, they're supposed to be flower beds. I was thinking I'd let the raised bed settle for a bit before putting anything in it. Which means I need to pick a spot in the flower bed for the onions.

Do you know how many days to maturity these onions will take?

Mine arrived today as well, and have found their home! Thanks Dawn for sending them. James

Red Candy Apple has a DTM of 95 days. Candy has a DTM of 100 days. Super Star has a DTM of 100 days.

Mine arrived yesterday, just had a busy day and couldn't get online to tell you. They look great! They're getting in the ground today... I can't wait to see what they do!

Beth

Got mine today Dawn, thanks. And kept your address on the May page of the calendar. Will send you a few Naked Ladies then.

Beth,

It is good to see you back online.

Dorothy,

You're welcome, and thanks for remembering I'd enjoy having some Naked Ladies. You're a sweetheart.

Dawn

Dawn, the onions arrived yesterday and in fine condition. Thanks!

George

George,

Glad they made it. You're welcome!

Dawn

Dawn,

I wanted to let you know the onions arrived on Friday and look great. I intended to get on here and tell you sooner, but this is the first chance I have had to get online since they got here. I'll plant them just as soon as I get their bed finished.
Thanks again!

Michelle

Michelle,

You're welcome.

Dawn

Hi, Sorry for the delayed reply. Thanks Dawn for the good info on the onion varieties. Am anxious to try Candy. I bought some Candy last week, some 1015Y's and a red (granex I think). What is the best way to keep the bare root plants alive if they are not going to be planted for awhile? I hope to take off work this Thursday to get them in, but that will be a week since I purchased and they are looking pretty dry. Would it work to stick them in a pot of damp potting soil?

George, Thanks so much for the link! I will be ordering some at the appropriate time.

Jill,

You could set them in a cup of lukewarm water for a couple of hours and let the dry roots soak up some moisture and then stick them into a pot of loose and slightly damp potting soil. If you do it today or tonight, their foliage should start greening up within a few days. I usually soak them on the day I am planting, but if they look really dry and you're concerned about them, you could do it now.

Dawn

Thanks Dawn. Will soak them now.
Note to Ilene:
Thanks for the info on the walking onions. I purchased a pot of walking onions last spring at Farmer's Grain in Edmond. I separated them when I planted them and they all multiplied at the base. I pulled a few recently to season a dish and they look like thick green onions. They never formed bulbs at the top and "walked". Do you think they just need longer to get established? When I bought them last year the clerk said "you know, these are just for the flowers", but since they were with the herbs and veggies, I thought maybe she just didn't realize what they were so didn't ask any questions.

i will take some 1015 if sombody will just tell me how we can get in touch, im in nw okla. just let me know?

Sooners,

I've already mailed out all the extras I had.

Dawn