Comments on: Why Short Day Onions Do Not Make Sets http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/ Just another Patwelsh.com weblog Tue, 22 May 2012 16:24:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 By: Pat http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-794 Pat Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:18:37 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-794 Thank you for this comment interesting comment. For us in Southern California I have discovered the foolproof method to grow short-day onions and that is explained in detail in my book. Basically it's a matter of planting from seeds during the first 11 days of November and transplanting them in January into a new row at the correct distance apart or alternatively planting short-day onions from bare-root transplants (not from sets.) The thick neck comes from several things and one of these may be failing to stop fertilizing at the end of the growing season. For us here in Southern California we have to stop fertilizing in mid-May. By doing this the bulb expands but the green top stops growing. Then you have a beautiful globe onion instead of a giant scallion. If we plant sets here they become scallions, maybe very big ones if we leave them in the ground long enough, but they are scallions nonetheless and they go to seed. I imagine that a local farm advisor in your locality could provide you with the correct planting dates in your area for short-day (sweet) onions. It's all a matter of day-length and temperature. If you find the answer, please let me know. Thanks! Thank you for this comment interesting comment.

For us in Southern California I have discovered the foolproof method to grow short-day onions and that is explained in detail in my book. Basically it’s a matter of planting from seeds during the first 11 days of November and transplanting them in January into a new row at the correct distance apart or alternatively planting short-day onions from bare-root transplants (not from sets.)

The thick neck comes from several things and one of these may be failing to stop fertilizing at the end of the growing season. For us here in Southern California we have to stop fertilizing in mid-May. By doing this the bulb expands but the green top stops growing. Then you have a beautiful globe onion instead of a giant scallion. If we plant sets here they become scallions, maybe very big ones if we leave them in the ground long enough, but they are scallions nonetheless and they go to seed.

I imagine that a local farm advisor in your locality could provide you with the correct planting dates in your area for short-day (sweet) onions. It’s all a matter of day-length and temperature. If you find the answer, please let me know. Thanks!

]]> By: Linda Settle http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-792 Linda Settle Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:55:02 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-792 This was great! I agree with Delaney. The Q&A was a great idea. This is a great explanation of so much. Hard to find. Most writers gloss over too much. A lot of this was over my head, so this may not be pertinent but here goes. I recently bought a sweet onion that was quite large but looked like a scallion. I bought it at a small Florida farmers market. The farms were so small that several would share one space. I had never seen anything like it before and I buy every kind of sweet onion as we love them. This was quite different and in southwest Florida. Again, thanks for the information. P.S. This onion growing looks complicated so I will stick with shallots in my kitchen garden in N.C. and support my local Florida farmers when I am there. This was great! I agree with Delaney.
The Q&A was a great idea.
This is a great explanation of so much.
Hard to find. Most writers gloss over
too much.
A lot of this was over my head, so
this may not be pertinent but here goes.
I recently bought a sweet onion that was
quite large but looked like a scallion.
I bought it at a small Florida farmers
market. The farms were so small that
several would share one space. I had
never seen anything like it before and
I buy every kind of sweet onion as we love them. This was quite different
and in southwest Florida. Again, thanks
for the information. P.S. This onion growing looks complicated
so I will stick with shallots in my kitchen garden in N.C. and support my
local Florida farmers when I am there.

]]> By: Pat http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-778 Pat Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:12:01 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-778 How big are your onion fields? This can be a huge cash crop but if it fails can be a devastating loss. I knew of a California grower years ago whose whole 5-acre field in the San Gabriel Valley, in which he had sunk his all, rotted due to heavy rains. He changed course and founded a great school instead. In my case living along the coast and gardening in a home garden I never once had a crop failure and this was because I learned a fool-proof system from an old-timey grower and followed ever since. My system is to plant short-day onions during the first 11 days of November from seeds, feed them for growth during winter and spring, transplant them to correct distance in January, stop feeding in mid-May, and pull the drip lines two weeks prior to harvest in by late June. (ie: No fertilizer during last month of growth and no water during last two weeks. You have to switch to liquid fertilizer in late spring so none is left in the ground when the plant is ready to make a bulb.) This system gave me perfect onions every single time with never a thick neck and never one bulb going to seed. They go to seed when they think they've had 2 years growth or if they keep on growing when they should not. It's all because of day length and temperature, but maybe also nutrition. You have a much tougher time in Texas due to more variable temperatures. I think it's a great idea for you to find some other commercial grower nearby to talk to or simply go look and see what those guys do and when they plant. The guy who taught me what to do learned by watching the field of a very smart onion grower. He learned the dates for strawberries the same way. One day this way or that can make a difference. That's what is true here. If you plant on the 12th day of November, your onion crop can fail or your pre-chilled strawberries grow a whole bunch of leaves instead of fruiting. How big are your onion fields? This can be a huge cash crop but if it fails can be a devastating loss. I knew of a California grower years ago whose whole 5-acre field in the San Gabriel Valley, in which he had sunk his all, rotted due to heavy rains. He changed course and founded a great school instead.

In my case living along the coast and gardening in a home garden I never once had a crop failure and this was because I learned a fool-proof system from an old-timey grower and followed ever since. My system is to plant short-day onions during the first 11 days of November from seeds, feed them for growth during winter and spring, transplant them to correct distance in January, stop feeding in mid-May, and pull the drip lines two weeks prior to harvest in by late June. (ie: No fertilizer during last month of growth and no water during last two weeks. You have to switch to liquid fertilizer in late spring so none is left in the ground when the plant is ready to make a bulb.) This system gave me perfect onions every single time with never a thick neck and never one bulb going to seed.

They go to seed when they think they’ve had 2 years growth or if they keep on growing when they should not. It’s all because of day length and temperature, but maybe also nutrition.

You have a much tougher time in Texas due to more variable temperatures. I think it’s a great idea for you to find some other commercial grower nearby to talk to or simply go look and see what those guys do and when they plant. The guy who taught me what to do learned by watching the field of a very smart onion grower. He learned the dates for strawberries the same way. One day this way or that can make a difference. That’s what is true here. If you plant on the 12th day of November, your onion crop can fail or your pre-chilled strawberries grow a whole bunch of leaves instead of fruiting.

]]> By: Kenny Aggen http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-776 Kenny Aggen Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:41:53 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-776 Pat All your questions are valid and right on topic. I'm like you in having the same questions. After all. Where do we get short day onion seed from if we keep them from going to seed growing them as a annual. Strangely enough a onion seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to sending up a seed stalk. The list of factors researchers have found that trigger unwanted seed head formation is long and complicated. All I know is I don't have all the answers. From experience I know this. If I grow Short Day bulbs to maturity from seed it takes 130 to 150 days. The tempratures during the growing period have a bearing on just how long it takes. Warmer=quicker. Colder=longer. When onion plants are small and grasslike they can't take much cold and if grown in the open can be freeze killed. As they get a bit bigger they can stand more cold. This year our coldest nighttime temperatures came in late January and early Febuary. 14 degrees F. Not taking any chances on frost kill the beds of transplanted seedlings were covered with 8 degrees of freeze blanket protection. The transplants had pencil size stems and 3 or 4 leaves the tallest of which were about 8 inches. Needless to say they were just fine and now have 6 and 7 leaves 16 to 18 inches tall. It was 27 degrees here this morning at daybreak. I don't worry about protecting them now unless temps are predicted to fall into the teens. A note about cold shock triggering seed stalk formation is a worry I try to ignore. Short day onions grown from transplants, in my experience, have gone to seed in their growth cycle as annuals just before bulbing. Something triggered it. In most cases just here and there with certain plants from the same lot or bunch. Plant size at transplanting and other factors do play a roll in triggering seeding. All of which I do not completly understand. Growing big bulbs from "sets" especially with short day and intermediate varieties is as new to me as it is you. I'm depending on information gleaned so far only from short day set producers one of which is the president of The National Onion Growers Association, Dave Rietveld and the other the Marketing Manager for Dutch Valley Onion Growers, John Rietveld. They are related. Culture information is wholefully absent. No research papers I can find on the subject of Short Day onion production from set onions seems to exhist. I enjoy having to do all my own research by experimentation alone. But! My experience with growing (ONLY LONG DAY) sets has been limited to green onion (Scallion) growing. I can tell you this. The size of the set bulb planted determines two things. #1 the bigger the bulb the quicker a sizeable scallion can be harvest. Also, if left in the ground too long big bulb scallions will go to seed. #2 Small bulbs take twice as long or longer to grow a sizeable scallion. The heat here gets them before they bulb so they usually die before seeding. Up north the smaller sets produce a larger bulb but probably not as large as a seeded transplant of the same variety. Some of my research has uncovered this information. Short Day Seed is sowed up north to produce pearl processing onions and what is called a boiling onion which are a bit larger. Seed sowing density id definitly a factor in bulb size. Short Day onions seeded in long day onion growing areas naturally bulb up at a small size. The sets of short day onions the Rietveld Farms grow is located in Kouts Indiana. I believe they seed early as soon as the ground can be worked. April? If we could get the Rietvelds to jump in on this "Short Day Set" subject maybe we could get any and all our questions answered. I want to visit in person with a grower buying and planting Short Day Onion "Sets". I think the culture is the same as short day transplants but right now I have only my Long Day set experience to guide me. I see in Florida fields of short day onions are grown using plastic mulch. They get their "Sweets" off and to the market two to three weeks before the GA "Vidalias" How do I send you a picture Pat. Can I post a picture on this forum? Another little tidbit I ran across is in Elliot Colemans book The Winter Harvest Handbook where he writes; We have purchased onion plants from the Texas growers and set them out in our cool houses the first week in January. We purchased the same short-day varieties that are traditionally grown in Vidalia,GA, and our harvest in early May was about the same time as theirs. These Varieties produced very large, sweet, round bulbs that were a great hit with local restaurants. This is in Maine Folks! He finds his unheated "Quick Hoop" houses along with frost blanket row covers, provide inexpensive protection for growing Onions, scallions, spinach and lettuce during the coldest months in Maine. Ouch. Some of my tomato transplants I had hardening off in my "Quick Hoops" got frost bit last night. Never believe the weather channel to be dependable when predicting lows for the night. Predicted low was 35. It was 27. Should have popped on the frost blankets to be on the safe side. Pat
All your questions are valid and right on topic. I’m like you in having the same questions. After all. Where do we get short day onion seed from if we keep them from going to seed growing them as a annual.
Strangely enough a onion seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to sending up a seed stalk. The list of factors researchers have found that trigger unwanted seed head formation is long and complicated.
All I know is I don’t have all the answers. From experience I know this. If I grow Short Day bulbs to maturity from seed it takes 130 to 150 days. The tempratures during the growing period have a bearing on just how long it takes. Warmer=quicker. Colder=longer.
When onion plants are small and grasslike they can’t take much cold and if grown in the open can be freeze killed. As they get a bit bigger they can stand more cold. This year our coldest nighttime temperatures came in late January and early Febuary. 14 degrees F. Not taking any chances on frost kill the beds of transplanted seedlings were covered with 8 degrees of freeze blanket protection. The transplants had pencil size stems and 3 or 4 leaves the tallest of which were about 8 inches. Needless to say they were just fine and now have 6 and 7 leaves 16 to 18 inches tall. It was 27 degrees here this morning at daybreak. I don’t worry about protecting them now unless temps are predicted to fall into the teens.
A note about cold shock triggering seed stalk formation is a worry I try to ignore. Short day onions grown from transplants, in my experience, have gone to seed in their growth cycle as annuals just before bulbing. Something triggered it. In most cases just here and there with certain plants from the same lot or bunch.
Plant size at transplanting and other factors do play a roll in triggering seeding. All of which I do not completly understand.
Growing big bulbs from “sets” especially with short day and intermediate varieties is as new to me as it is you. I’m depending on information gleaned so far only from short day set producers one of which is the president of The National Onion Growers Association, Dave Rietveld and the other the Marketing Manager for Dutch Valley Onion Growers, John Rietveld. They are related.
Culture information is wholefully absent. No research papers I can find on the subject of Short Day onion production from set onions seems to exhist. I enjoy having to do all my own research by experimentation alone. But!
My experience with growing (ONLY LONG DAY) sets has been limited to green onion (Scallion) growing. I can tell you this. The size of the set bulb planted determines two things. #1 the bigger the bulb the quicker a sizeable scallion can be harvest. Also, if left in the ground too long big bulb scallions will go to seed. #2 Small bulbs take twice as long or longer to grow a sizeable scallion. The heat here gets them before they bulb so they usually die before seeding. Up north the smaller sets produce a larger bulb but probably not as large as a seeded transplant of the same variety.
Some of my research has uncovered this information. Short Day Seed is sowed up north to produce pearl processing onions and what is called a boiling onion which are a bit larger. Seed sowing density id definitly a factor in bulb size. Short Day onions seeded in long day onion growing areas naturally bulb up at a small size. The sets of short day onions the Rietveld Farms grow is located in Kouts Indiana. I believe they seed early as soon as the ground can be worked. April?
If we could get the Rietvelds to jump in on this “Short Day Set” subject maybe we could get any and all our questions answered.
I want to visit in person with a grower buying and planting Short Day Onion “Sets”. I think the culture is the same as short day transplants but right now I have only my Long Day set experience to guide me.
I see in Florida fields of short day onions are grown using plastic mulch. They get their “Sweets” off and to the market two to three weeks before the GA “Vidalias”

How do I send you a picture Pat. Can I post a picture on this forum?

Another little tidbit I ran across is in Elliot Colemans book The Winter Harvest Handbook where he writes; We have purchased onion plants from the Texas growers and set them out in our cool houses the first week in January. We purchased the same short-day varieties that are traditionally grown in Vidalia,GA, and our harvest in early May was about the same time as theirs. These Varieties produced very large, sweet, round bulbs that were a great hit with local restaurants.
This is in Maine Folks!
He finds his unheated “Quick Hoop” houses along with frost blanket row covers, provide inexpensive protection for growing Onions, scallions, spinach and lettuce during the coldest months in Maine.
Ouch. Some of my tomato transplants I had hardening off in my “Quick Hoops” got frost bit last night. Never believe the weather channel to be dependable when predicting lows for the night. Predicted low was 35. It was 27. Should have popped on the frost blankets to be on the safe side.

]]> By: Pat http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-775 Pat Sun, 06 Mar 2011 05:23:22 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-775 Well that is very interesting, but I do have some questions:1. By making a short-day onion make a set, have you not clearly told that plant that it has now finished a year of growth? Since it is programmed to flower in its second year won't it then flower instead of making a bulb? 2. When would be the right time to plant a set of a sweet onion here where the temperature never drops below about 48 in winter and where the plant is meant to grow all winter, not exist in dormant state? 3. If someone is making bulbs (sets) of short day onions in the first year of the onion's life, what is to stop it from going to seed in its second year instead of making a glove onion? 4. If these sets will really grow into a globe onion in a mild frost-free climate, why don't they sell them here in Southern California? I think I should explain that the secret of growing a good sweet onion here (i.e.: a globe onion with a thin top that dries up properly and flops over and does not go to seed) is fall planting and keeping it growing vegetatively fast as you can all winter. This way the plant is still in its first year of growth. It doesn't seem to know it's in the second year after the winter solstice. If you begin with a set then the plant is in its second year by which time it's programmed to go to seed. All we get here in local nurseries are sets of medium day-length onions, but because our climate does not have long enough days to trigger these to make a bulb they will just make a scallion. If you leave these scallions in the ground too long they will rot and flower and never make a proper bulb. (Of course there is also now an All America Award day-length-neutral onion, but we are not getting into that subject here.) Well that is very interesting, but I do have some questions:1. By making a short-day onion make a set, have you not clearly told that plant that it has now finished a year of growth? Since it is programmed to flower in its second year won’t it then flower instead of making a bulb? 2. When would be the right time to plant a set of a sweet onion here where the temperature never drops below about 48 in winter and where the plant is meant to grow all winter, not exist in dormant state? 3. If someone is making bulbs (sets) of short day onions in the first year of the onion’s life, what is to stop it from going to seed in its second year instead of making a glove onion? 4. If these sets will really grow into a globe onion in a mild frost-free climate, why don’t they sell them here in Southern California?

I think I should explain that the secret of growing a good sweet onion here (i.e.: a globe onion with a thin top that dries up properly and flops over and does not go to seed) is fall planting and keeping it growing vegetatively fast as you can all winter. This way the plant is still in its first year of growth. It doesn’t seem to know it’s in the second year after the winter solstice. If you begin with a set then the plant is in its second year by which time it’s programmed to go to seed.

All we get here in local nurseries are sets of medium day-length onions, but because our climate does not have long enough days to trigger these to make a bulb they will just make a scallion. If you leave these scallions in the ground too long they will rot and flower and never make a proper bulb.

(Of course there is also now an All America Award day-length-neutral onion, but we are not getting into that subject here.)

]]> By: Kenny Aggen http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-774 Kenny Aggen Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:13:07 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-774 Pat Another follow up on the Short Day "Set" question A Mid South and Southeastern Wholesale Lawn and Garden Products, Pro Turf and Landscape Supply and Pro Grower supply Company. BWI, Bunch Wholesale lists the Onion Set-Super Sweet in their online catalog. This is the same Granex Short Day set onion grown by the Rietvelds in Kouts, Indiana for Short Day Commercial Onion Growers in the South and California. They are available wholesale only from BWI in #10 packs at market price from mid September thru October. Retail outlets in the south from South Carolina to Texas order their sets from BWI for resale www.bwicompanies.com online catalog. Click- Retail Catalog. Click- Bulbs,Sets&Plants. Click- Onion Sets. See Super Sweet. See them on www.dutchvalleygrowers.com site in detail. When I get some next fall I will share some so you can try them in California. Pat
Another follow up on the Short Day “Set” question
A Mid South and Southeastern Wholesale Lawn and Garden Products, Pro Turf and Landscape Supply and Pro Grower supply Company. BWI, Bunch Wholesale lists the Onion Set-Super Sweet in their online catalog.
This is the same Granex Short Day set onion grown by the Rietvelds in Kouts, Indiana for Short Day Commercial Onion Growers in the South and California. They are available wholesale only from BWI in #10 packs at market price from mid September thru October. Retail outlets in the south from South Carolina to Texas order their sets from BWI for resale
http://www.bwicompanies.com online catalog. Click- Retail Catalog. Click- Bulbs,Sets&Plants. Click- Onion Sets. See Super Sweet.
See them on http://www.dutchvalleygrowers.com site in detail.
When I get some next fall I will share some so you can try them in California.

]]> By: Kenny Aggen http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-773 Kenny Aggen Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:39:12 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-773 To the Bunching Onion Question Many named varieties of bunching onions are available. Crystal White Wax and Evergreen Long White Bunching seed being available almost anywhere. Others are White Lisbon, Feast, Parade and Performer to name a few. I have no experience at all growing true bunching onions. Territorial seed company has several interesting varities listed in the Scallion/Bunching onion section of their catalog. I would like to try them for more variety at the Farmers Market. To the Bunching Onion Question
Many named varieties of bunching onions are available. Crystal White Wax and Evergreen Long White Bunching seed being available almost anywhere. Others are White Lisbon, Feast, Parade and Performer to name a few. I have no experience at all growing true bunching onions. Territorial seed company has several interesting varities listed in the Scallion/Bunching onion section of their catalog. I would like to try them for more variety at the Farmers Market.

]]> By: Pat http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-771 Pat Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:46:25 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-771 This is a great letter and jam-packed with information. Thank you so much for writing it. It's a real privilege to have someone like you write in and share your experience, for example that the tiny sets were more likely to have the tops dry off properly and make a good bulb. That is a great tip. Do you have any special tips for bunching onions? They grow like weeds in interior zones here but don't do well along the coast. I grew my short-day onions from seeds of Grano or Granex. I sewed the seeds in a short seed row over driplines during the first 11 days of November, fed them with liquid fertilizer in December and then transplanted the onions in January at proper spacing into another row from which I had harvested out the cauliflowers. I fed with solid fertilizers, Jan. Feb, March, April, then switched to liquid in May, then pulled the drip line out in late May and let the bulbs dry in the row for a week or two before harvesting in early to mid June. The tops always fell over beautifully. My daughter raised super short-day onions from seeds last year and never pulled out the drip lines, they just got bigger and bigger and had nice floppy tops. (Shown on one of my videos.) I think it might have been the weather. She thought this was a great home veggie to grow and said she will always grow them. My late hubbie loved to have them on his sandwiches. I lived on a farm in Bucks County Pennsylvania in the early 1940's after emigrating from England. It was a great life. Yes hard work but much happiness too. Our big cash crop was chickens. We had 10 different kinds of farm animals and fowl (cows, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, bantams, turkeys, 2 kinds of ducks, and geese) because my mother read that you could get a tax advantage as family farm if you had ten. She ran the farm with a set of farming encyclopedias. Would read it at night and tell us what to do the next day. My brother and I worked hard as kids, but had fun too and learned a huge amount. We grew medium-daylength onions there. Pretty good success though New Jersey's climate was better for onions and also tomatoes but we had good ones and great raspberries and corn. All the veggies were really great and we canned like mad. This is a great letter and jam-packed with information. Thank you so much for writing it. It’s a real privilege to have someone like you write in and share your experience, for example that the tiny sets were more likely to have the tops dry off properly and make a good bulb. That is a great tip. Do you have any special tips for bunching onions? They grow like weeds in interior zones here but don’t do well along the coast.

I grew my short-day onions from seeds of Grano or Granex. I sewed the seeds in a short seed row over driplines during the first 11 days of November, fed them with liquid fertilizer in December and then transplanted the onions in January at proper spacing into another row from which I had harvested out the cauliflowers. I fed with solid fertilizers, Jan. Feb, March, April, then switched to liquid in May, then pulled the drip line out in late May and let the bulbs dry in the row for a week or two before harvesting in early to mid June. The tops always fell over beautifully. My daughter raised super short-day onions from seeds last year and never pulled out the drip lines, they just got bigger and bigger and had nice floppy tops. (Shown on one of my videos.) I think it might have been the weather. She thought this was a great home veggie to grow and said she will always grow them. My late hubbie loved to have them on his sandwiches.

I lived on a farm in Bucks County Pennsylvania in the early 1940′s after emigrating from England. It was a great life. Yes hard work but much happiness too. Our big cash crop was chickens. We had 10 different kinds of farm animals and fowl (cows, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, bantams, turkeys, 2 kinds of ducks, and geese) because my mother read that you could get a tax advantage as family farm if you had ten. She ran the farm with a set of farming encyclopedias. Would read it at night and tell us what to do the next day. My brother and I worked hard as kids, but had fun too and learned a huge amount. We grew medium-daylength onions there. Pretty good success though New Jersey’s climate was better for onions and also tomatoes but we had good ones and great raspberries and corn. All the veggies were really great and we canned like mad.

]]> By: Kenny Aggen http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-768 Kenny Aggen Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:04:01 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-768 Pat I ran across some interesting reading this evening concerning what seems to be the best kept short day onion growing secret to date. I carefully soaked up every word. I can hardly wait until October of 2011 to plant my first "COMMERCIAL" Short Day Onion Sets produced by the experts in the fields of north eastern Indiana.USA www.columbiapublications.com/onionworld/julyaugust2005/growingonionsets.htm Pat
I ran across some interesting reading this evening concerning what seems to be the best kept short day onion growing secret to date. I carefully soaked up every word.
I can hardly wait until October of 2011 to plant my first “COMMERCIAL” Short Day Onion Sets produced by the experts in the fields of north eastern Indiana.USA

http://www.columbiapublications.com/onionworld/julyaugust2005/growingonionsets.htm

]]> By: Kenny Aggen http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/vegetables-fruits/why-short-day-onions-do-not-make-sets/comment-page-1/#comment-766 Kenny Aggen Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:54:05 +0000 http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/?p=408#comment-766 My thoughts I have a bit of truck farming experience having grown up on "Chicago's Last Farm" I crawled many a mile weeding onions by hand as a kid. In the neighboring community of South Holland, Ill growing onion sets was big business. Longday types. South Holland became known as "The set Capitol of the World" www.dutchvalleygrowers.com is the 4th generation of the Original South Holland Dutch Settlers and probably still the largest set producer around. For sure in the USA. We grew our best "Prizetaker" onions from home grown transplants we grew from seed in the hotbed yard. We also grew at least a hundred crates of market onions a year from South Holland Sets. The size of the set was important in choosing which ones to plant for scallions and which ones to plant for large bulbs called keepers. The big sets,"Over Runs" were bad about going to seed. Smaller than a dime they made a nice soft neck bulb that would keep. When the Chicago farm became history in 72 we moved to NE TX. Short Day Onions is what is grown here and it is a different ballgame. I find plants I grow from seed seldom if ever go to seed and grow large bulbs. Transplants I buy if fat as my little finger almost always go to seed. I think they are tricked into thinking they are two years old by going half dormant in the bunch. Small as a pencil in the same bunch,(same age)make a nice big soft neck keeper. I plant white Ebenezers, a long day set for green onions quick. The bigger the set the bigger and quicker the harvest of green onions. 4 to 5 weeks if planted deep and the weather is mild October thru May. The little sets take longer to get up to harvest size. They never bulb up like they do up north because the days get hot and are to short for long day onions to bulb. I imagine I would have some problem with Super Sweet Sets going to seed. Dutch Valley Growers ship 2 sizes. Small and what I would call Over Runs. On their "How to grow Onions from Sets page. They give pretty good details of the when,what and where to plant the varieties they offer. A sweet scallion onion sounds good to me. These Ebs I grow are pretty hot. Pat: If you would allow me to forward a email reply from Dutch Valley with photos of large sweet onions grown from Super Sweet "Granex" SETS. Email me. One of the photos was taken in California. I see no evidence of bolting in the photos sent Having a great day here. Made my second trip this week to sell Kale, Bibb Lettuce and Spinach to the health food store. Opps. I forgot to mention green onions. My thoughts
I have a bit of truck farming experience having grown up on “Chicago’s Last Farm” I crawled many a mile weeding onions by hand as a kid.
In the neighboring community of South Holland, Ill growing onion sets was big business. Longday types. South Holland became known as “The set Capitol of the World”
http://www.dutchvalleygrowers.com is the 4th generation of the Original South Holland Dutch Settlers and probably still the largest set producer around. For sure in the USA.
We grew our best “Prizetaker” onions from home grown transplants we grew from seed in the hotbed yard. We also grew at least a hundred crates of market onions a year from South Holland Sets.
The size of the set was important in choosing which ones to plant for scallions and which ones to plant for large bulbs called keepers. The big sets,”Over Runs” were bad about going to seed. Smaller than a dime they made a nice soft neck bulb that would keep.
When the Chicago farm became history in 72 we moved to NE TX. Short Day Onions is what is grown here and it is a different ballgame. I find plants I grow from seed seldom if ever go to seed and grow large bulbs. Transplants I buy if fat as my little finger almost always go to seed. I think they are tricked into thinking they are two years old by going half dormant in the bunch. Small as a pencil in the same bunch,(same age)make a nice big soft neck keeper.
I plant white Ebenezers, a long day set for green onions quick. The bigger the set the bigger and quicker the harvest of green onions. 4 to 5 weeks if planted deep and the weather is mild October thru May. The little sets take longer to get up to harvest size. They never bulb up like they do up north because the days get hot and are to short for long day onions to bulb.
I imagine I would have some problem with Super Sweet Sets going to seed. Dutch Valley Growers ship 2 sizes. Small and what I would call Over Runs. On their “How to grow Onions from Sets page. They give pretty good details of the when,what and where to plant the varieties they offer. A sweet scallion onion sounds good to me. These Ebs I grow are pretty hot.
Pat: If you would allow me to forward a email reply from Dutch Valley with photos of large sweet onions grown from Super Sweet “Granex” SETS. Email me. One of the photos was taken in California. I see no evidence of bolting in the photos
sent
Having a great day here. Made my second trip this week to sell Kale, Bibb Lettuce and Spinach to the health food store. Opps. I forgot to mention green onions.

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