An experiment in growing onion sets!

Yes, each onion is numbered!

As a part of my desire to grow bigger and better onions from sets, I've decided to see if I couldn't quantify the results of me trying to grow 36 yellow onion sets that came in three basic sizes; large medium and small. I wanted to get a feel for how the starting size of a set could possibly affect the end result at harvest time.

So saying, I selected 36 onions that sorted out as follows:

Diameter is in cm & the weight is in grams

Other information that is pertinent to this effort was the purchase price of these sets at a local grocery store which came to .17 cents each (or 61 cents for all 36 sets). Also, note that the diameter of each onion was expressed in centimeters and the weight was in grams. 

I am planning on setting these guys out in about a week or so, or after the weather warms enough for me to work the soil in one of my raised beds. Just prior to planting I will amend the soil with a bag of composted manure and sand. With onions, I want a loose soil, but not one that has an overabundance of nitrogen, a situation that would grow large tops and small bulbs! So, no fertilizer, just well aerated and manured soil to start.

The spacing for these sets will be a rectangular area that is three feet by two feet. This will allow me enough space to plant six columns of set spaced four inches apart with each column set 6 inches wide. In other words, each little developing onion will have plenty of room to reach its full potential, whatever that may be.

To complete the start of this growing process, I plan to much the area to help preserve moisture and will cover it with a grow cloth to help keep the birds from plucking out the starts (something I'm told they enjoy doing). I'll also make sure to monitor how much rain falls, so that they get at least an inch of water a week. and, that will be about that with the exception of occasional weeding as the need calls for.

In order to track how large each onion gets (or doesn't get), I've made a data file that will contain information pertaining to starting weight and size and then what each set achieved at harvest time. To that end, each onion is numbered and will go into a known location in the bed when planted. 

In future installments that will follow this experiment (designated YS3213), I will be reporting on the progress of this little group of yellow onions. Later in the spring, I plan to do a similar setup for white and red varieties. So, stay tuned! To track this series, just do a search using YS3213 as a search term!

Growing the perfect onion in southwest Missouri!

And I should state for the record, that I’m going to try growing that perfect onion down in southwest Missouri where I'm sure it will be an interesting challenge!

Some years ago, I did a YouTube video titled ‘Onions are Easy to Grow’ in which I chronicled an attempt to grow a crop of onions from some locally purchased onion sets. In the video you can tell that many of these often-grown vegetables of the genus Allium were not very big even at maturity. And, while I didn’t complain, I wondered if perhaps I could do better a few years later in 2013!

To that end, I researched the growing of onions and quickly learned that although I could grow them from seed, the long growing time (4 months or more) made raising them in a Zone 6 garden somewhat problematic. I’d have to start them indoors early on and that seems to be a lot of bother. Instead, I opted to go with a batch of partially grown yellow onion sets that would require much less time in the garden before maturing. One cravat that I came across was the admonition to select sets that were at least ½ inch across as these would be ‘less likely to bolt’! I also read that I need to select ‘short day’ onions for my location here in southwest Missouri. Apparently, onions are sensitive to the length of the day to tell them when to bulb up. Interesting, I thought.

After I settled on using locally purchased onion sets, I next wanted to pay some attention to the soil I was to grow them in. I read that a ‘loose fertile and sandy loam’ type of soil was best and that I would need to keep the area weed free for best results. I also would need to make sure that the soil around the young plants was covered with mulch to help preserve moisture. Apparently, onions also need about an inch of water per week to keep them from ‘splitting’. Another tip concerned the application of fertilizers and or nitrogen. Apparently I would want to skip these as the added nitrogen would tend to promote lush top growth at the expense of the bulbs. That’s definitely not what I wanted to do! Finally, I was advised that once the tops begin to turn yellow, that I needed to take a rake and to bend them over – this action prevents the sap from flowing to the leaves and hastens the bulbing process.

OK! With this advice in hand and a bagful of onion sets, I was ready to get out and prep an area of one raised bed that I had set aside just for this effort. It was early March and I was ready to get out there and do my thing…

Next installment – Mid March 2013