Red Onion Sprouts

dipat2005

I need some help. I have a red onion that has maybe 5 or 6 sprouts. I have never planted a red onion plant before. How do I put them in the ground? Any ideas?

Thank you one and all!

LaurieLovesLearning

I usually get sets. I put them in the ground with the onion bulb beneath and the green above ground. Its pretty straight forward.

If you have a mature onion doing this, you'll most likely be looking at it producing seed.

VermontCathy

It shouldn't matter if the onion is red, yellow, or white. They are all biannuals that grow about the same way. Plant the bulb at or just below the surface with the shoots upward.

If you have a mature onion sprouting, go ahead and plant it. You can clip the sprouts and use them as green onions, and they will keep growing back that year. If you don't cut them back, they will produce seed at the end of the season. However, you can't eat the bulb of a second year onion. The plants are adapted to make a bulb in year one, store the bulb as plant food over the winter, then resprout in year two and produce seed at the end of the season.

Sets are really just small onion bulbs that were started early in a greenhouse or a warmer climate. By planting them, you are getting a jump on the season. Sets are not year two bulbs, however, they are early year one proto-bulbs.

dipat2005

@LaurieLovesLearning and @VermontCathy thank you. I didn't know what to do because I have grown bunching onions from slips and seed only.

dipat2005

I planted the onion today. I saved the green shoots and there were plenty of those. I will try to send pictures later.