Sprouting Onions

[flowerbug]

Sometimes you can find used windows for free on Craigslist and pallet wood to build a cold frame in the sunlight.

i'd think that zone 3b is going to be tough on a tiny onion plant, but i don't know how small they are or what variety or what they are planted in, etc.

 

[Jane23]

Sometimes you can find used windows for free on Craigslist and pallet wood to build a cold frame in the sunlight.

I have some window frames. I may try setting up a kind of temporary cold frame with them planted in coffee containers if I am able to tomorrow. The thing about the snow is, it takes forever to do anything.

 

[Jane23]

i'd think that zone 3b is going to be tough on a tiny onion plant, but i don't know how small they are or what variety or what they are planted in, etc.

Red onions. I am trying to winter three that sprang up this summer from dropped seeds. if they survive, I will start my crop for 2024 in august.

 

[flowerbug]

Red onions. I am trying to winter three that sprang up this summer from dropped seeds. if they survive, I will start my crop for 2024 in august.

good luck! if they don't make it you can get other onion seeds, starts or sets to get going again.

i can probably send some of several different kinds of seeds if you PM your address. they're light so it's not too much $ to send.

 

[R2elk]

I was thinking about that as well. I still don't have a place to put it though where it won't be subject to extreme temperatures and snow.

Keep it in the house in front of a window.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

There are 2 kinds of pvc pipe that can be used to easily make an inexpensive frame over which plastic or even shadecloth can easily be draped. They have really great connector pieces too, from gentle 90 degree sweeps to 45 and 22 angles as well as Tee and 4 way connectors for the more advance frame builder. Stakes or pipe can be permanently left in the ground for easy setup or removable bases of a weighted board with a screw on connector are surprisingly wind resistant especially with a rounded shape. My favorite of these two plastics is the grey electrical conduit version. It is UV resistant for above ground electrical service. The white pvc is cold water buried. Buried in a wall or underground but out of sunlight. They can be short legged or long legged depends on your needs, they cut easily with a single blade scissor found in the plumbing section called a pvc pipe cutter. Or a wood saw.

I think windows are a lot of work and really would be part of a very permanent structure. And they tend to be made to purpose so it can be a tangle retrofitting the heavy things to other frames.

 

[Jane23]

There are 2 kinds of pvc pipe that can be used to easily make an inexpensive frame over which plastic or even shadecloth can easily be draped. They have really great connector pieces too, from gentle 90 degree sweeps to 45 and 22 angles as well as Tee and 4 way connectors for the more advance frame builder. Stakes or pipe can be permanently left in the ground for easy setup or removable bases of a weighted board with a screw on connector are surprisingly wind resistant especially with a rounded shape. My favorite of thes two plastics is the grey electrical conduit version. It is UV resistant for above ground electrical service. The white pvc is cold water buried. Buried in a wall or underground but out of sunlight. They can be short legged or long legged depends on your needs, they cut easily with a single blade scissor found in the plumbing section called a pvc pipe cutter. Or a wood saw.

I think windows are a lot of work and would be part of a permanent structure. And they tend to be made to purpose so it can be a tangle retrofitting the heavy things to other frames.

I was thinking of something like this and will see what I can rig up if I have time. For me, everything needs to be UV resistant. We lost a water tank because it dry rotted on the top. It's interesting. I once lived in an area where everything developed mold and wet rotted. Now everything dry rots.

 

[Jane23]

good luck! if they don't make it you can get other onion seeds, starts or sets to get going again.

i can probably send some of several different kinds of seeds if you PM your address. they're light so it's not too much $ to send.

It's all an experiment for us all. I also trying to winter some onions under straw. If everything goes then I will know what I am doing next August.

 

[ducks4you]

A lot of trouble for 3 little onions.
If you can dig them out, bring inside to check and grow inside where it's warmer.
Otherwise I'd give up on them.
Winter has arrived at your back yard, and they aren't bulbs that overwinter and come up in the spring.
It's their Seeds that sprout in the Spring and come up.

 

[flowerbug]

...
Winter has arrived at your back yard, and they aren't bulbs that overwinter and come up in the spring.
It's their Seeds that sprout in the Spring and come up.

i pretty much agree with you but for different reasons. however, that said there are some onion varieties which will survive and continue on into the next year even if they're frozen and not mulched.

not much is lost if you leave them alone and they come back next season and then go on to grow and perhaps even flower. but also plan on restarting from seeds at the right time.