I regularly have the same question about short-day onions. That's a harder problem, though.

For long storage red onions I go for " Red Creole". But it's a short day.

Okie HU

Long jack, I looked up the optimum latitude for Red wing and it's 43 to 65 so my latitude of 45 should work and is about the same as your brother. You say it's good so I'm going to order the seed. Thanks.

I'm also going order open pollinated Weathersfield red onion seeds with a long history going back to the 1600's in Connecticut, I like vegetables with history and were very popular for over 200 years. The optimum latitudes are between 35 and 45 and may fit you location if interested.

I hope the Red Wing do well for you Kevin. I haven't started onions from seed in about 5 or 6 years. I just buy Dixondale starts from a local gardening store now.

When I did start from seed I would sow them on New Years day and they would be a good size to plant out by mid March. I guess you would be about 4 weeks behind me up there and start onion seeds around February 1.

I tried Red Creole, (short day) a year or two ago, hoping for long storage life. The storage life might have been a bit longer than the 1015s they were planted with, but they bolted like crazy, so the harvest was smaller. The 1015s almost never bolt. The lack of a long storage life short-day onions is a real PIA.

Anybody tried Highlander ?

It's a long day but I 've had pretty fair luck with it here.

It done better than Patterson ( sub for Copra) for me.

Okie HU

Never tried highlander. And it done better then Patterson? Good to know, but I just ordered Patterson seeds this morning so maybe I'll try it next year. Copra would store up to a year for me and Patterson came in a distant second.

This morning I also ordered from nature and nurture seed the dehybridized Copra called Clear Dawn for the first time. It's claimed a group spent 36 years of breeding work to stabilize the Corpra and I'm hoping it worked. Ever tried clear dawn?

Never heard of Clear Dawn.

Okie HU

Red onions short day Red Sensation holds the record for me. Pulled and hung in shed in May, stiil have a half dozen altho they begin sprouting in December.

Wish I could add to the conversation Kevin but I stopped growing onions about 10 years ago. Also never tried any red varieties, just a couple of regular white ones.

Red Sensation might be of interest, but i can't find any sources of seeds.

I grow long day onions here in Michigan and Red Wing does very well and usually stores for several months. Last year was pretty wet and none of my onions kept or grew very well.

I have grown Highlander and was happy with them, they grew well and pretty large, but only stored about 3 months. I've also grown Walla Walla, which is big and sweet, but doesn't store at all.

I get my onions from Dixondale, usually, and the picture for the Red Wing onions is a photo I sent them of part of my harvest. They did use the same picture for Red River onions, which I have never grown.

I've also grown Sterling and they store pretty well also. Each year I grow one red, one sweet and one white onion and usually leeks.

I did buy leek seeds this year and am going to try to start them myself.

Annie

Back to " Red Creole " . I've heard that you can plant them a little late to avoid bolting.

They don't get just real big anyway.

But they store good if they don't bolt.

It's the only red long storage onion I'm familiar with for a short day.

By the way I just do the plant bundles ( or sets) .

Haven't messed with starting from seed.

Okie HU

Yes, Dixondale says that Red Creole are the best storage short-day onions, but they also say that they have little bolt resistance. They also say that planting them later helps cut down on bolting. Allegedly, bolting is from cold weather stress, and I guess planing them a little later (I plant in November) might help a bit in that regard. But not much. Yes, they are small. I did a stand of them next to 1015s, and there was no comparison in quality and size. Wasn't obvious to me that they stored longer than the 1015s, which can last 4-5 months in a very warm room. I'm done with them.

A lot depends on ALL the conditions.

Both growing and storing conditions.

You plant in Nov. I plant spring onions in late Febuary/ early Mar.

I'm a little farther north from you.

Also plant fall onions from bulbs (sets).

I do a lot of other varieties also.

It's just hard for one to think outside their own box.

Me guilty also.

Okie HU

The 1015s had identical growing and storing conditions to the Red Creole. The former was a lot better than the latter. Case closed, for me. Yes, it's possible that Red Creole performance could be improved by planting in mid-spring, but that would tie up summer gardening space for me. Welcome to my box.

I do the 1015s too. They are a good onion.

Other winners for me is Candy and Yellow Granex.

Yeah I like to have all my onions pulled by early June and and plant the ground back with cowpeas while there's still some moisture to get them up before it gets all hot and dry for the rest of the summer.

I tie up enough space with the fall onions which I plant from sets in Oct/Nov and then overwinter into the following summer.

I try to have a pretty big box.

Okie HU

I've thought about Yellow Granex, but their short storage time puts me off. As an intermediate day, Candy is suspicious for me, but Dixondale claims it ought to work. Reviews are over-the-top for that one..

I spent a lot of time yesterday searching the northern Hemisphere around the N 30 degree parallel for long storage onions that were short day. Most places grow tiny onions about a 1" in diameter and shallots and dried for storage had little luck finding anything better. Libya has the highest consumption of onions eating an average of 68 pounds per person and thought for sure they'd have something good, but only tiny onions/shallots....and 1015's along with other granex varieties.

I'm still going to search the southern hemisphere around the S 30 degree parallel and remember reading about three varieties grown in Australia of good size but not much else. There has to be something besides shallots in the world that don't have a high sugar and water content and able to store long term. Australia, South Africa or the southern part of south America maybe? To get long storage you may need to turn to shallots and potato onions Dan.

Shallots and potato onions are TINY. I need something substantial. 1015s can get bigger than softballs, frequently over a pound. Of course, I could also grow long-day storage onions down here and just get tiny bulbs.

Yeah I know and I want to grow big juicy sweet Texas onions, and it sucks but I I'll to take what I can get. Question Dan, when you plant 1015's in the fall and they grow do the tops die off in the winter and then start regrowing in the spring?

No, they grow continuously throughout the winter. I plant third week in November, when my local nursery gets a big shipment from Dixondale. The tops fall over and harvest is done the first week in May. You can set your calendar by it. We can routinely get winter temps in the mid 20s (and often don't even quite get any freeze), but last year we got them in the single digits, and the onions just did their thing. I think the only plant more frost hardy than onions is garlic.

Yep , onions planted in the fall keep their tops and stay at constant height pretty much till next spring . Then when the daylight gets longer and it gets warmer they grow progressively taller.

I've gotten better results by covering during the coldest part of the winter , like during single digit arctic fronts. I've had onions freeze out down in the mid/low teens.

I think the thing is "How Long" was it that cold.

Onions are pretty tough but it doesn't hurt to cover them during the worst of the winter with either a low tunnel or just mulch / straw hay.

My local feed store doesn't get DixonDale bundles in till January so I plant those in the early spring Feb/Mar.

But they get in onion bulbs ( sets) in the fall around Oct. They're just generic white , yellow ,and red bulbs. I heard that they're a long day type but don't know just what variety they are.

So I plant those in the fall and overwinter into spring and harvest in the mid summer....about 9 months later. They do make a sizeable bulb but it takes them a long time. And some of them will bolt in the early summer , but not all of them . The less bolting , the bigger the bulb. It gives me some extra onions aside from the ones planted in the spring. And they have a sweeter taste than the spring onions , probably from being overwintered and the natural antifreeze .. sugars , that they build up.

And they can be used for green onions (scallions) through the winter if you want to pull them then.

The bigger problem I have with the spring planted onions is the too wet springs.

Onions need a lot of water but not multiple inches all at once for long periods of time.

Then I lose a lot of them from rotting in the ground.

Okie HU