Onion disappointment. What went wrong?

10 years ago

I planted Granex onions last fall. They had huge fat stems and looked completely healthy. Then they started blooming. Baseball sized blooms. I read that the onions will rot after they bloom, so I pulled them. They had not bulbed up at all. What did I do wrong? (I planted garlic in the same bed. Dug it too. It's beautiful. Huge heads.)

Featured Answer

farmerdill

10 years ago

Onions are biennials. Two year interval between planting and seed formation. They normally store food in a bulb the first year go dormant over the winter and reproduce the second year. In the case of short day onions, they are normally grown in winter. BUT if severe stress in thier growth cycle causes them to go dormant, they are tricked into acting as if they were going into their second year. Short day onions begin bulbing around the spring equinox. The plant needs to be large enough at that time to develop a large onion. If it is too juvenile, it will still try to bulb, but not have sufficient energy to size. Long day onions begin to bulb around the summer soltice. ( Summer onions) normally plant in early spring harvested in late summer-early fall. Our summers are just too hot for good summer growing for onions. Plus there are some of the storage types that need the extra -daylight assoicated with the the higher latitudes.

One of the selling points for new varieties of short day onions is thier resistance to bolting. Bolting is a problem. Timing is important but you usually have about 30 days leeway. My times are for Georgia, might be different in Mississippi. Bolting onions will bulb, but will be hollow in the center where the seed stalk goes through.Just use those first as they have no keeping qualities. Yellow Granex is an old variety that was the original Vidalia onion. There are about two dozen newer varieties that are now approved for growing under the Vidalia label. one of the features is resistance to bolting.

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Comments (8)

Lisa 8b
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
I don't grow onions but I wonder if they are similar to growing garlic. When garlic produces it's flower ( scape ) it needs to be cut off or it uses it's energy to producing a flower instead of bulbs. Garlic also needs to go through a winter to fatten up it's bulbs.

Here in Texas I have had the best success with garlic when I plant it in the spring , allow it to grow through the summer and the next summer after the greens die , pull it.

However I know many other places with harder winters plant in the fall and are able to pull in the summer.
farmerdill
10 years ago
Hard to say if anything. Older varieties are more prone to bolting. It is accelerated if the plant is stressed after reaching mid size. Example these are short day onions. Normally seeded in September, transplanted in December.. Should cold or dry conditions halt growth before the spring equinox, they will react as if they have gone dormant when growth is resumed it will be in reproductive mode. Have not had any bolting this year, but have encountered some fairly severe bolting in the past. It is possible that you started them too early, otherwise blame the strange weather this year.
Miss Megan
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Christian
10 years ago
Hey Farmerdill, or anyone else.... some of my onions look like yours, the stems are bent over but still green. Should I just pick them or is there any benefit in just letting the greens completely dry up?
Christian
10 years ago
Donna, I planted about 40 onions plants very early spring, and I'd say about maybe 8 of them have tried sending flower stalks and I have pinched them off. I don't see any bulbs forming on them either. But the rest have bulbed up pretty good. When did you plant yours?
digdirt2
10 years ago
" or is there any benefit in just letting the greens completely dry up?"

There is benefit in letting them go longer - another month anyway for the day length. I don't wait until the tops have completely dried up unless they are going into storage but you sure can let them get fairly dry.

Dave
tishtoshnm Zone 6/NM
10 years ago
Did you direct seed your onions? How deep did you plant them? Sometimes planting too deep keeps them from developing a nice bulb.
Donna
Original Author
10 years ago
Sounds like I planted them too soon. I put the plants in the ground in late October, which, by the way, was when they appeared at our coop and Farm supply. Example these are short day onions. Normally seeded in September, transplanted in December.. Should cold or dry conditions halt growth before the spring equinox, they will react as if they have gone dormant when growth is resumed it will be in reproductive mode.

Farmerdill, I would very much appreciate it if you would elaborate on this. I have never fully understood the difference between short day and long day onions, and certainly didn't realize that planting them earlier than a certain day would cause things to go haywire. And what does dormancy and the spring equinox have to do with it? Please educate us!