What would you recommend for getting onions started this year?

Last year we planted scallions in the fall and had a great crop, but many onions had their centers hollowed out as the plants grew/bolted. A local farmer recommended planting from seeds or starts (??) in the spring to avoid this problem.

Any one know where starts of some kind can be ordered from? Planting all those tiny little onion seeds sounds hard... I'm from sunny California.)

Many thanks in advance.

--Karl

hi from blossom in oregon...sure you can start onions from seed or sets. If from seed go to Territorial Seeds and order their great catalog, free, with wonderful cultural directions, lots of info on onions to help you choose the ones which will do best in your climate. Here in Oregon at 500' elevation in the Siskiyou National Forest we begin with sets in March, lose a few to cold soil, but most do fine in full sun and we have scallions in June on. One tip we know really helps, work up the soil to six inches, nice and fluffy, tho shallow rooted the onions benefit from the air and moisture retained by the soft soil. good luck....

Hi Karl, I too am from Oregon, zone 8. What zone are you working with?? I have done both seeds, sets and bunches. I have had good luck with all of them. I like to do my own seed, it's more fun. There are different catalogs to order from but Territorial is good. But so is Nichols and Seeds of Change, (they are 100% certified) I have also started mine in the late fall, about the same time I put my garlic out, but I also put some out in the early spring, mid-late Feb. I hope this helps, good luck
Angelswings

One thing to pay attention to with onions is their day length requirement, especially if you want big onions. Up here in Minnesota we have really long days in June which signals the onions to start making bulbs, so I have to buy long-day varieties.

In the south, where the days don't get as long and onions are planted earlier when the days are shorter anyway, you need short-day varieties.

All good seed catalogs will identify onions as northern or southern, or long-day or short-day. There are now some day-neutral varieties that will grow anywhere. Candy and Super Star are AAS award winners that should do well.

Happy Growing!
kaytee

Down here in East texas, we prefer to start with plants, or sets. Starting from seeds this late will probably not get you the size you desire. Onions are started from seeds in the valley late in the year, like November or earlier. Then pulled up and shipped to be transplanted. Sets are onions that sprout from other onions stored over the season. They are usually very pungent and do not reach maximum size. Plants are started from seed. Onions require 100 plus days to maturity and cant stand extreme heat, the tops die and break over before onion reaches full growth. You might try Dixondale farms. I think they have a web site. They will ship plants to your door. I just set out 3 cases last week, about 9000 onions. Good luck

Here in Ohio (zone 5/6) we direct seed onions in the fall and put row cover over them to overwinter.

In the past we would start seeds in January and than transplant out several thousand in March-cold wet work. We found we were getting bigger onions and yeilds direct seeding and saving about 15 hours of nasty work in the process.

For really big roots make sure to thin the plants to one per every 8 to 12 inches. Do the thinning in the spring when they have good greens and are just begiining to bulb. Thems good eatin' then.

I'm in zone 5 and have had lousy luck with seeds--too impatient and undisciplined. I did want to alert you to an onion I consider indespensible, but I don't think I've seen it in catalogs. It's a eprennial onion, sometimes called Egyption onion. A friend gave me a small shovelful a few years ago and they spread worse than mint! They grow in small clumps, getting bigger than green onions but not big bulbs. They can be pulled and eaten anytime except when temperatures get over about 80-85, and then they get woody and strong. When the temps go down again, they're sweet and good. The tops "bloom" into a spiral of tiny onion starts and this is how they reseed and spread. If you see a patch at a neighbor's, be sure to ask! Trust me, the neighbor will have plenty.

Hi, You can get Egyptian Walking Onion from a few places, Irish Eyes has them: www.irish-eyes.com and so does Nichols Garden Nursery: www.nicholsgardennursery.com, I hope this helps for any who want to try them.
Angelswings

Hi, I have tried growing from seed here in zone 6 and found even with tray starts it is tedious and not worth my time. We get starts {not Sets} at our local nursery. Tried burgermaster reds and Wallas and both did great. Being from oregon the walla starts should be avail.there. I make a trench 4 or so inches deep and mix up some blood meal and greensand{ for potassium} and sprinkle in bottom of trench. cover w/about 1 inch soil then set your starts in trench and pull soil around them to cover bottom 3 inches of start. give onions nitrogen, -side dress{ I use organic, bloodmeal,} every 3 weeks to promote top growth which feeds the bulb when it starts to form. You can grow yellow storage onions from sets and they usually do fine. hope this helps good luck!