T wrote:
> What happens if you plant a store bought onion?

it might flower if the conditions are right.
it may not be suitable for your soil or climate
(they usually like pretty good soil).

> Can you cut it into pieces like a potato?

not quite, you need to make sure there is some of the basal
area where roots come out of (this is common among most bulb
species) whereas potatoes will grow from any point on the
potato that has an eye.

commonly it's just not worth it because the onions often
have so many seeds from flowers that will grow that it's a
waste of something edible to do that.

songbird

On 6/9/2021 5:38 AM, songbird wrote:
>> What happens if you plant a store bought onion?
>
> it might flower if the conditions are right.

Since the onion contains a LOT of food it will likely flower.
Expect the plant stem to be six feet tall with large round flowers.
They stink. But the bees love them.

On 6/9/21 9:33 AM, Heron wrote:
> On 6/9/2021 5:38 AM, songbird wrote:
>>> What happens if you plant a store bought onion?
>>
>>   it might flower if the conditions are right.
>
> Since the onion contains a LOT of food it will likely flower.
> Expect the plant stem to be six feet tall with large round flowers.
> They stink. But the bees love them.

So far I have only been able do grow onions from seeds
that I have harvested from green onions I planted the
bottoms from that I got from the supermarket. Those
grew. Every other onion seed I have planted 100% failed.

I am figuring that farmers grow what does not give them
a bad time, so I am after the seeds!

To add insult, about 5 miles from me are YUGE onion fields that they
grow for seeds (sold to commercial farms).
Garlic too (my garlic failed again this year). Get them
to tell you what strain they are growing: HAHAHAHAHA.
It is TOP SECRET.

So I am planing what I find at the supermarket, even
though I don't know what the strain is.

By any chance would green onions and yellow onions
cross pollinate each other? Should I separate them
away from each other if collecting seeds?

On 6/9/21 3:38 AM, songbird wrote:
> it might flower if the conditions are right.
> it may not be suitable for your soil or climate
> (they usually like pretty good soil).

I want them to flower so I can collect the seeds.

And, judging from my war on weeds, the weeds
like what I have done with the place. I forget
one week to weed my ground pots and, oh my ...

:'(

T wrote:
....
> By any chance would green onions and yellow onions
> cross pollinate each other? Should I separate them
> away from each other if collecting seeds?

of course! but you may not know what the results
will be until you grow them out.

i don't mind, we've got many different kinds of
alliums here and i'm happy if they do cross and
something comes of it that will survive and give us
food in return.

to me that is the whole reason i planted a bunch
of seeds last late summer to see what would survive
the winter. my onion rows from those are doing ok
some are starting to bulb now so those are going to
be food. only one looks to be flowering. not
enough seeds from those. oh well, it may be fun
next year after i leave some of these to grow and
survive the winter. if they don't then they're not
a good onion for us to continue growing.

in past years i've had many thousands of onion
seeds. so many that i buried them pretty deeply as
i could not plant them all and didn't want them to
sprout.

songbird

T wrote:
> On 6/9/21 3:38 AM, songbird wrote:
>> it might flower if the conditions are right.
>> it may not be suitable for your soil or climate
>> (they usually like pretty good soil).
>
> I want them to flower so I can collect the seeds.

then don't divide the bulb at all.

if you send me your address in an e-mail i
can send you some garlic to see if it survives there
for you. it survives here anything i do to it and
i can send quite a few small scapes and also some
bigger cloves which will give you bigger bulbs
when they grow.

> And, judging from my war on weeds, the weeds
> like what I have done with the place. I forget
> one week to weed my ground pots and, oh my ...
>
>:'(

we have plenty of weeds here too which can keep
us busy. just happens and is actually a good sign
in that it says that your soil wants to grow
something.

songbird

On 6/9/2021 6:38 AM, songbird wrote:
> T wrote:
>> What happens if you plant a store bought onion?
>
> it might flower if the conditions are right.
> it may not be suitable for your soil or climate
> (they usually like pretty good soil).
>
>
>> Can you cut it into pieces like a potato?
>
> not quite, you need to make sure there is some of the basal
> area where roots come out of (this is common among most bulb
> species) whereas potatoes will grow from any point on the
> potato that has an eye.
>
> commonly it's just not worth it because the onions often
> have so many seeds from flowers that will grow that it's a
> waste of something edible to do that.
>
>
>
> songbird
>
I'm under the impression that onions generally flower in their 2nd year.
Since I use sets that were grown last year by someone else, they generally
will flower, but not all.
Like my garlics, I cut off the flowers to push more energy into the fruit
rather than seeds.

That said, I have a lot of success with stored seeds provided I don't hold
onto them for a long time and try to keep them cool as in the fridge.

This year, I bought some 'Bunching Onions' for scallions and read that if I
leave them in the ground, they will probably winter over and come up on
their own. Anxious to give that a try as I have left onions in over the
winter in Zone 4, eastern Maine and they all came up. Oh, and the onions I
use as sets are Stuttgart yellow onions. Rather flat then round and hold
really well. Still have 5 leftover from last year and they haven't sprouted yet.

On 6/9/21 12:55 PM, songbird wrote:
> if you send me your address in an e-mail i
> can send you some garlic to see if it survives there
> for you. it survives here anything i do to it and
> i can send quite a few small scapes and also some
> bigger cloves which will give you bigger bulbs
> when they grow.

Maybe in the future.

I planted four organic yellow onion bulbs from the
store. I want to see what happens. And I want
the seeds.

I also planted organic purple garlic from Trader Joe's.
It is better tasting than the bland, white stuff
from the regular supermarket. I asked Trader
Joe's if they knew the strain, but the likelihood
of them answering me is very small.

I have been suspicious for a while that farmers
will not put up with the same bull s*** that
home gardeners put up with and their stuff will
actually germinate. Home gardeners, especially
myself, always think the problem is theirs.
And with me, it usually is.

The green onions nubs I planted from the supermarket
are certainly thriving. The seeds germinated too
and love my soil. Your seed collecting instructions
worked marvelously. I plan on the same thing with
the yhe yellow onions. Bet the germinate.

T wrote:
....
> The green onions nubs I planted from the supermarket
> are certainly thriving. The seeds germinated too
> and love my soil. Your seed collecting instructions
> worked marvelously.

good deal!

> I plan on the same thing with
> the yhe yellow onions. Bet the germinate.

they should, but the real challenge is to get them
to overwinter without having to fuss around with
them.

store bought onions may not be hardy enough but
you won't know until you try. :) good luck.

songbird

Wilson wrote:
....
> I'm under the impression that onions generally flower in their 2nd year.

yes, it really depends upon how big the bulb gets the
first year. last year about August i planted a lot of
seeds and most of one type of those seeds survived the
winter. of all of those only one is flowering this year.
if i don't thin them out more will flower next year but
not all, it's a resource competition thing. the bigger
ones will have enough energy to flower and the rest will
wait their chance to flower in the coming years.

bulbs will self space to the conditions.

i've had garlic in the same spot for over 15 years.
some of it will have scapes/flowers and others will
go dormant until the bulbs around them give them
enough space to come up again. if i dig up a clump
there will be small bulbs, larger bulbs, singles and
dormants.

> Since I use sets that were grown last year by someone else, they generally
> will flower, but not all.

it is size dependent. that is why there are
suggestions about what size of sets to buy.

> Like my garlics, I cut off the flowers to push more energy into the fruit
> rather than seeds.

for garlic the biggest difference is how big the
cloves are when you plant them and then your other
conditions. i can get thumb sized cloves in my
garlic bulbs and still leave the scapes on to
fully develope and also have scape bulbules up
to a nickle and a bit larger in size.

> That said, I have a lot of success with stored seeds provided I don't hold
> onto them for a long time and try to keep them cool as in the fridge.
>
> This year, I bought some 'Bunching Onions' for scallions and read that if I
> leave them in the ground, they will probably winter over and come up on
> their own. Anxious to give that a try as I have left onions in over the
> winter in Zone 4, eastern Maine and they all came up. Oh, and the onions I
> use as sets are Stuttgart yellow onions. Rather flat then round and hold
> really well. Still have 5 leftover from last year and they haven't sprouted yet.

yes, i've not seen onions killed that often if
they were first grown here to begin with. planting
out a store bought onion and expecting it to survive
a winter here isn't likely to work well though in
comparison.

i'm sprouting some scallion onions here now and
planning on leaving at least half of them for the
winter to see how they do. i hope well. i like
having a diversity in onions here. :) the bees
love 'em.

songbird

On 6/10/21 4:00 PM, songbird wrote:
> store bought onions may not be hardy enough but
> you won't know until you try.:) good luck.

They sure do grow perfectly in the filds five miles away!

I think the farmers won't put up with the ...

On 6/10/21 3:39 PM, songbird wrote:
> planting
> out a store bought onion and expecting it to survive
> a winter here isn't likely to work well though in
> comparison.

This will be interesting. I wonder if the
commercial variety grows fast enough to just
seed them in May. I will find out.

The onion fields down the street are in full
foliage in May.

I am sure crops that take a long time to yield
and certainly not in the farmers best interest.

T wrote:
> On 6/10/21 4:00 PM, songbird wrote:
>> store bought onions may not be hardy enough but
>> you won't know until you try.:) good luck.
>
> They sure do grow perfectly in the filds five miles away!

they may grow during the warm season ok, but the
real test is if they'll survive through a winter
without too much fuss and bother. some varieties
are more cold hardy than others.

if you're prepared to baby them (lift them after
they've bulbed and died back) and store them properly
you can increase the varieties you grow and some may
be worth it, but i tend to not do things like that
much. beans, peas and garlic are plenty enough and
the garlic i only lift and store because we want to
have it through the winter and next spring. right
now i have some green garlic i need to dig up so
we can eat it. :)

> I think the farmers won't put up with the ...

songbird