Re: onions

[DeltaRed]

A lot of onions are grown here in
western Colorado. Just keep them wet

 

[cjunrau]

not too wet or they rot. Don't burry the onion sets. Just stick them 1/4 way into dirt and
keep moist. once they root they will keep growing even if you don't water every day.
They don't like too much manure

 

[Steve in VA]

For Vidalias you need the Georgia soil.
Years ago a buddy tried to raise them in
WV dirt and they were hot enough to burn a
hole in a 2x4.

 

[Jim in NC]

Texas Sweet Onions work good here.

 

[Deutz Lover]

I think the reason for some onions being hot is the sulfur content in the soil. There are 20 counties in Georgia designated as Vidalia growing regions and can be labelled as Vidalia Onions. The soil here is low in sulfur.

If you want to grow and sell Vidalia labelled onions you have to move there. Yeah, you may grow sweet onions, but you cannot call them Vidalias if they are grown outside these counties. Picky!

They are the Beaujolais of onions like the strict nomenclature of French wines. Institut National des Appellations d'Origine. lol

 

[bc]

OK. Don't want to sell or call them Vidalias. Just like the taste. We probably eat one a day in what ever we cook. Wife eats a whole one after I put one in a metal bowl with butter and stick it in the instant pot whenever I make something in it. Add onion to the broth in the bottom for flavor. In the winter we get the Mayan sweets at walfart and others sell a sweet from south of the border.

Tried planting a bunch down in the bottom and side of a drainage ditch for the heck of it. All the bottom ones rotted from being in water too much and the others never really took off.

Probably have to find a separate part of the garden for onions. Wife can't stand it if we aren't pouring water everyday on the tomatoes, etc.

 

[Deutz Lover]

There are plenty of areas where Granex onions can be grown just as sweet as Vidalias. I had some Peruvian sweet onions once, but they seemed to go bad quicker than Vidalias. Perhaps it was the long haul shipping was hard on them.

 

[Ford860Guy]

maybe try walla-walla onions for up north. or try to get in
touch with that guy form washington state. i think his name is
elden.

 

[john in la]

Deutz Lover hit the nail on the head.
You can only legally grow Vidalia onions in southern Georgia.

But if you grow Granex onions in a low sulfur environment you will get a similar tasting onion.
Its all about the soil that makes Vidalia onions different from others.

 

[Ray IN]

I'm getting 4 cases of Candy onion plants in from Texas the week of March 8, for here in southern Indiana. They come 30 bundles to
a case, and there are 60 plants to the bundle. So I'll plant over 7,000 onions. I will plant them about 6 inches apart in four
rows on a raised bed of plastic mulch. Water as needed with trickle tape and give plenty of nitrogen. They get big as softballs
by middle to end of June. Last year I had so many extra that I sold about 20 bushels wholesale for $25/ bushel. We sell about a
bushel a day at the roadside stand for about $1 each. Main trick to getting them big is plant early and water them if it gets dry.

 

[Ray IN]

The Candy variety is very sweet and people really like them. They are an intermediate day variety and can be grown everywhere
except far south and far north. So best in growing regions 4 to 8 I believe.

 

[Crazy Horse]

I'm not sure what you folk refer to as a sweet onion. All I know is that I am an onion fanatic and when I eat an onion raw (like in a burger or in a salad), I want it to taste like an onion, and not something that has anything to do with sweetness (if that's what is meant by sweet). Maybe sweetness means mild by definition, I'm not sure. Mild onions don't do it for me either. Cooked onions I find generally OK but most of the onion taste disappears I find.

 

[john in la]

Sweet onions have less pungency or strong onion flavor.
It allows you to taste the natural sweetness of the onion.

 

[Crazy Horse]

OK, I thought it must be something like that. My Ukrainian/Polish heritage would explain my taste for the real meal deal then .... ha!

 

[Deutz Lover]

Crazy Horse:

Do you like Bermuda onions? I used to think they were hot, but they are supposedly sweet like Vidalias. I got the wrong impression of them because I had one once years ago and it was hot.

 

[wingnuttx]

John in La...... Doesn't a similar onion to the Vidala grow across the Miss River at Natchez but in Faraday La ?? Wingnut

 

[Eldon (WA)]

(quoted from post at 06:02:17 03/01/21) I'm getting 4 cases of Candy onion plants in from Texas the week of March 8, for here in southern Indiana. They come 30 bundles to
a case, and there are 60 plants to the bundle. So I'll plant over 7,000 onions. I will plant them about 6 inches apart in four
rows on a raised bed of plastic mulch. Water as needed with trickle tape and give plenty of nitrogen. They get big as softballs
by middle to end of June. Last year I had so many extra that I sold about 20 bushels wholesale for $25/ bushel. We sell about a
bushel a day at the roadside stand for about $1 each. Main trick to getting them big is plant early and water them if it gets dry.

We plant them up in Washington state, they are not recommended for our area, but I cheat by planting them early, harvest 2-3 pounders in July, we are still eating them, I think we have around 20# left. (they are only rated at 2 month storage)...hopefully they didn't lose too many from the cold weather down in TX.

 

[john in la]

Wingnut;
I do not know of any onion growing area around there.
But as you cross the river from Natchez headed for Ferriday the first town you go threw once crossing the river is Vidalia, Louisiana.
Maybe that is what you are thinking of.

 

[bc]

(quoted from post at 10:07:36 03/01/21) Sweet onions have less pungency or strong onion flavor.
It allows you to taste the natural sweetness of the onion.

Sounds about right. I don't equate sweetness to sugar but they are less pungent and more mild. If I want a pungent type onion for something like a texas roadhouse chili, then its red onions that give the chili its strong bite. I chop up a sweet onion to be cooked with mashed potatoes or my potato soup recipe. Which reminds me to make a batch of potato soup to get me by for a few days. I think my wife has ordered some onions but I'll see about some Granex, a short day onion and Walla Walla, a long day onion.

 

[Tgrasher]

Easiest way is to buy the bulbs at a farm store, plant one row deep to eat like scallions early, plant the rest just covered and harvest before a rain falls
on them in July. If you water, wet the ground only. If they stress for water, they will start laying over. Hang them upside down where air can get to them, I
use a rack that looks like a picket fence laid flat, keeping them separated. The whites and the reds seem to keep better, don't know what variety they
are.

 

[bc]

Just checked. We got 2 bunches (total of 110 to 150) of Candy Hybrid coming from Gurney's in a couple weeks. The garden is on a slope. Can I plant them 6" apart at one end going up and down and parallel to the slope or should I plant them in long level rows perpendicular to the slope? Row spacing?

If they just need to be kept wet once or twice a day then I suppose a sprinkler would work best. We use soaker hose on the tomatoes but they get a lot of water. I have been using black fabric on the ground to keep the weeds out of the tomatoes. Will probably do that with the onions. I also see she ordered some potatoes so I'll be busy in a couple weeks. Probably just till it, lay down the fabric, and then poke holes to plant things. Thanks.

 

[Eldon (WA)]

(quoted from post at 20:07:39 03/01/21)
Just checked. We got 2 bunches (total of 110 to 150) of Candy Hybrid coming from Gurney's in a couple weeks. The garden is on a slope. Can I plant them 6" apart at one end going up and down and parallel to the slope or should I plant them in long level rows perpendicular to the slope? Row spacing?

If they just need to be kept wet once or twice a day then I suppose a sprinkler would work best. We use soaker hose on the tomatoes but they get a lot of water. I have been using black fabric on the ground to keep the weeds out of the tomatoes. Will probably do that with the onions. I also see she ordered some potatoes so I'll be busy in a couple weeks. Probably just till it, lay down the fabric, and then poke holes to plant things. Thanks.

I would say a lot depends on your soil. I have gravelly soil that drains well, I water every other day. My ground is flat, I plant 6-8" apart with rows 30-36" apart so I can cultivate with my Allis Chalmers G...most of what I do goes against popular convention, but it works for me. My candy onions do the best on the ground I have heavily fertilized with horse manure. I water every third day or so and pull when the tops start flopping, dry in the field for 2-3 days, then load on wagons and cure under cover for a couple of months, then top and clean for storage.