Re: how long???

Most of the recommendations about growing onions I have read about in books
and the advice I received on newsgroups and gardening email lists does not
apply in the southwest and I suspect the same would be true in Florida.
Your best sources for local practices are local growers, either commercial
or at a farmer’s market.

Because onions are photoperiodic, "How Long" depends on the amount and
duration of light which, in turn, depends on the latitude.  If yours are
from Vidalia, the stated maturity time is probably based on the amount of
light  at their local temperature and it may be different for your location.

Although your version of zone 9 is quite different from our desert version,
I suspect the temperatures and amount of light received during the winter
growing season are similar.  We usually sow seeds in September or early
October.  Bulbing is best when grown from seeds but growing from transplants
(not sets) also works pretty well.  But you need to grow the plants yourself
because they are usually not available from the Texas growers until early
spring which is too late.  Germination is good in the early fall so you may
as well direct–seed.

The only types that form bulbs for us are the sweet Granex/Grano types:
Maui white, Maui yellow, Texas Granex 1015Y, Vidalia and the like.  About 20
miles north where the elevation is 2,000 feet higher they can also grow the
large red hamburger types.  All of these are short day types with a winter
short-day growing season.  The usual advice to wait until the tops die over
sometimes works but, more frequently, the weather warms up first and the
plants bolt to seed before the bulbs form.  When this occurs, the scape
grows down through the root – although they are still okay for eating they
won’t store well.  What works best for us, contrary to currently popular
advice from Northerners, is to break over the tops just before the stems
begin to thicken which keeps the seed tops from forming.  One argument
against this is that water will stand in the broken stem and cause the
crowns of the bulbs to rot – not a problem here because it seldom rains from
April through June but it may be a problem in Florida.  Nearly all old
timers as well as  local growers follow the practice of breaking over the
tops.  Because of conflicting recommendations, the past few years I have
experimented by breaking over every other one and have drawn my own
conclusions.  The degree of success seems to depend on whether it is an
early or late spring.  This year is a bit unusual because of the alternating
cool/warm weather but the forecast is pretty good.

Now, about garlic …  But that’s another story.

Olin, Phoenix AZ
USDA Zone 9b, Sunset Zone 13, AHS Heat-Zone 11-12

-----Original Message-----
From: Debby Mullaney and Chris Hobbs <DebbynChris@earthlink.net>
To: veggie-list@eskimo.com <veggie-list@eskimo.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 3:41 AM
Subject: how long???


>I planted some big valdia onions last fall (last part of Aug.) ,from
>seed, they are still in the ground, the bulbs are about 3" in dia. the
>tops are very tall and still green.
> I am not sure what the package said on the grow time for this onion,
>becuz it long since weathered away from the post I had it tacked to.
> I was under the impression that the tops will fall over and turn brown
>when the onions are ready for harvest.
> should that take (8 months) ? all my books say 80-120 days. and the
>package did say to plant in Aug for a winter crop. I think I missed that
>season , now its a summer crop.
> I did pull one the other day to cook with some cabbage , it was a good
>onion.
> Any sugestions?  keep in mind , I love big juicey onions , thats why
>I`m letting them grow, the store has bigger ones than what mine are now.
>
> I guess what I need to know is will they be ok to let grow?
>
> Chris   zone 9 ,   central Florida.
>
>
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