Spring/bunching onions - another way of growing!

[veggiechicken]

Lots of different varieties, some white, some red stemmed, some hardy enough for overwintering, some called "bunching" (which is a bit vague), some said to be perennial but, I can't help thinking there's not much difference between them all - and they all seem to take a lot longer to grow that the packets would have you believe.

I'm going to treat mine like perennial leeks. Firstly by earthing up the stems to make a longer white bit.
Secondly, by growing in clusters to make a "bunch" to be harvested simultaneously.
Thirdly, I wont be pulling them, but cutting them off and leaving the rootplate and a bit of stem in the ground to regrow.

I have some that I grew last year to experiment with and I'll sow some more this week (Shoots week on the VC calendar).

I'm sure some of you already grow them like this - please share your experiences.

[Cadalot]

VC I've grown in bunches in vending machine cups since 2013

[veggiechicken]

Do you earth them up Cad, and do you cut them off or pull them?

As an aside, and to show new members how daft some Grapes are http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ons_83754.html
Re-reading it, it seems I need to split my onions into Fistulosum (bunching) and Cepa (single stem).
Won't stop me earthing them up and cutting them at the roots though.

[Penellype]

My record with spring onions is patchy at best. Regardless of what I do with them they do their own thing. I've tried sowing them outside with zero results, sowing them in seed trays, pinches of seed in modules and singly in modules. Sometimes they don't germinate, sometimes they come up upside down and go all curly. Sometimes they come up the right way up with their roots above the compost and keel over and die. Sometimes they come up ok and keel over and die. Sometimes they live but stay looking like grass for ever. 2 years later they might be as big as chives if I am lucky.

Very, very occasionally, usually when sown as pinches of seed in modules in my friends greenhouse, left unattended for months apart from standing in water (until the compost goes green), they form decent clumps of spring onions, which when planted out actually grow and resemble the ones you can buy in the shops. This method is far from reliable (success rate 2 out of about 6 attempts) but is much better than anything else I have tried.

I often have similar problems with leeks, although a little less drastic.

[Cadalot]

Do you earth them up Cad, and do you cut them off or pull them?

I found they grow better if I earth them up, but with white rot in the ground I have to keep and eye and harvest at the first signs of problems which is why I'm trying the flower bucket growing and have the overwintering experiment going on

Alans Allotment: SF60 Onions

[veggiechicken]

From my spring onion collection

Allium cepa - single bulb
White Lisbon
White Lisbon, Winter hardy
Apache Red
Furio
Feast (Real Seeds)
Purplette
White Spear (F1 or not?)
Lilia

Allium Fistulosum - non-bulbing, multiple stemmed
Red Beard
Batun (HSL)
Parade
Kyoto Market
Shimonita
Ishikura
Welsh Onion - Red
Welsh Onion - White

Which to sow first??

[Twinsane]

Same here Penellype. I really struggle with alliums and don't know what I do wrong. I'm still going to try again this year though

[Cadalot]

But its so nice when you get good growth and they are not hit by white rot

[Zelenina]

From my spring onion collection

Allium cepa - single bulb
White Lisbon
White Lisbon, Winter hardy
Apache Red
Furio
Feast (Real Seeds)
Purplette
White Spear (F1 or not?)

Allium Fistulosum - non-bulbing, multiple stemmed
Red Beard
Batun (HSL)
Parade
Lilia
Kyoto Market
Shimonita
Ishikura
Welsh Onion - Red
Welsh Onion - White

Which to sow first??

A good list. But Lilia should be in the Allium cepa section because it can be grown on as a normal sized mature red onion. Another similar dual purpose red onion is North Holland Blood Red Redmate. The Italian torpedo-shaped onions Rossa Lunga di Firenze and Tropeana Lunga are also bulbing onions that are often used as spring onions.