Deciding On Onion Varieties

[simple life]

I am looking to see which types of onions I want to try this year.
I am thinking of Walla Walla or Alisa Craig.
Anyone grow either of these anywhere or in the northeast?

 

[Lavender2]

Walla Walla is one of the best onions I've grown.
For some reason I do not have luck with sets. I grow them from seedling starts purchased from a local nursery ( might try to start them early from seed this year if I get the seed in time)

I use only compost, no synthetic fertilizer, and they get HUGE! We like this mild sweet onion for salsa.
They do not store long though, a month, maybe two, if you are lucky. I use what I need for salsa (we can a lot!) and then dice and freeze the rest within about a month after harvest.

 

[4grandbabies]

I have grown walla walla, loved them, ditto to the storage time tho.
I use the onion "plants" not sets also.

 

[digitS']

I've grown Ailsa Craig and wasn't terribly impressed with them . . . but, note my location . Anyway, the Ailsa Craigs were real variable, large and small and some were not well developed bulbs.

On the other hand, Walla Walla's are the best . . . of course, I live only about 200 miles from Walla Walla Washington . Just to provide some balance, I've also grown Utah Sweets the last couple of years - they do just fine.

Neither of these last more than a few months in storage. I've got Sterling White in the basement right now. They are holding up well.

Steve

 

[boggybranch]

Have "heard" a lot of people 'rave' about the "1015" onion. Been told you can even purchase them at WalMart, as well as seed and feed stores.
I'm planning on trying them, this year, myself.
They are a "short day" variety.......... so better suited for the more southernly latitudes.

 

[Beekissed]

I love the Candy varieties. Great, sweet, mild flavor and great storage life. Easy grower!

 

[Texan]

I am glad yall are talking about onions. I am not quite understanding when to plant them and what to plant (meaning, plants, sets or seeds). I have a packet of Sweet Spanish Yellow Utah Onion.

Are they a cold weather plant or a warm weather plant?

What kind of area do I need to prepare for them? Hills? Dig a whole and fill it with compost?

I need help.

 

[digitS']

I'm not really sure whether Utah Sweets are the right ones for you, Texan. They are supposed to be a long-day variety. I think of Utah as quite a ways south but, that's the story on them, as I understand it.

Did you know that, "ONIONS are Texas' leading vegetable crop?" That's what Texas A&M tells us.

Onion seedlings are tiny, tiny plants. They are quite difficult to transplant just for that reason. They seem to deal with transplanting stress well, however.

Just because they are hard to move around, doesn't mean they shouldn't be moved. First, because a sweet onion can really grow BIG and it's easy to get them too tight when sowing. Secondly, direct-sowing in the garden can lead to lots of trouble with weeds.

Onions have tooooo much tolerance for weeds. They seem to be willing to squeeze in wherever they have a chance - of course, they will finish the season about the size of a pencil . . .

Pulling the weeds away from tiny little plants is really, really tuff! What to do? I like to move them.

Onions can do a lot of growing in cool, cool weather. If you don't transplant them in their final location for 6 or 8 weeks, you've got all that time to kill the weeds growing there. You can just rake the soil surface about every other week and kill the weed seedlings. Finally, you can "plunk down" your little onion plants at some distance from each other and watch them take off - unhindered by weeds!

They like very fertile ground and plenty of soil moisture until they have bulbed-up nicely and the tops begin to flop over. That's harvest time.

Sets are tiny bulbs that grew the previous year. I use them for early green onions and allow a few to grow to bulb size. They are good keeping varieties, generally, but not very sweet.

The plants that you can buy from places like Dixondale Farms (in Texas) were started during the winter months.

Steve

 

[Texan]

I'm not really sure whether Utah Sweets are the right ones for you, Texan. They are supposed to be a long-day variety. I think of Utah as quite a ways south but, that's the story on them, as I understand it.

Did you know that, "ONIONS are Texas' leading vegetable crop?" That's what Texas A&M tells us.

Onion seedlings are tiny, tiny plants. They are quite difficult to transplant just for that reason. They seem to deal with transplanting stress well, however.

Just because they are hard to move around, doesn't mean they shouldn't be moved. First, because a sweet onion can really grow BIG and it's easy to get them too tight when sowing. Secondly, direct-sowing in the garden can lead to lots of trouble with weeds.

Onions have tooooo much tolerance for weeds. They seem to be willing to squeeze in wherever they have a chance - of course, they will finish the season about the size of a pencil . . .

Pulling the weeds away from tiny little plants is really, really tuff! What to do? I like to move them.

Onions can do a lot of growing in cool, cool weather. If you don't transplant them in their final location for 6 or 8 weeks, you've got all that time to kill the weeds growing there. You can just rake the soil surface about every other week and kill the weed seedlings. Finally, you can "plunk down" your little onion plants at some distance from each other and watch them take off - unhindered by weeds!

They like very fertile ground and plenty of soil moisture until they have bulbed-up nicely and the tops begin to flop over. That's harvest time.

Sets are tiny bulbs that grew the previous year. I use them for early green onions and allow a few to grow to bulb size. They are good keeping varieties, generally, but not very sweet.

The plants that you can buy from places like Dixondale Farms (in Texas) were started during the winter months.

Steve

Thank You very much. I am going to go check out the links now

 

[bigredfeather]

I love the Candy varieties. Great, sweet, mild flavor and great storage life. Easy grower!

I like these as well. We still have a few left in the fridge from this Summer. One thing I noticed, the longer you store them, the hotter they get. I could eat them like an apple right after drying, now they are getting almost too hot to eat on a sandwich. I had some bigger than softballs.