I never understood why companies even sell onion sets, my first year of gardening, I purchased sets, and I found out the hard way that sets do not grow decent onions. I now start seed indoors every February and most of my onion are softball size or better. I grow kalsae, and Alisa Craig, and walla walla. Zone 5a Wisconsin. I nevertop them, just run a string between rows, that way the neck doesn’t bend and the full leaves are still intact to absorb the sun.
I use sets every year and get onions at 5-6inch diameter. When the bulb begins to grow from the set, loosen the soil around the bulb with a bent butter knife, this will allow the bulb to expand alot easier.
Thank you! All my onions have fallen over and I couldn’t figure out why, nothing on the web other than they were ready to harvest, when they definitely weren’t. Live and learn for next year!
Thank you from UK. I have spent so much money buying sets of all colours and sizes and never produced a single onion worth talking about. This video is very helpful and identifies the problems. Hopefully next year I will grow some decent onions. Thanks. Really appreciate your vegetable growing videos.
Took your advice and planted 4, 72 cell trays with 3 different onions and a Carentan leek. Started on the winter solstice, so most plants are a couple few inches tall already, looking for larger transplants in the spring as well. My potting mix is very similar to yours, 40%sifted aged compost, 40% sifted leaf mold and 20% aged worm castings. Next time I water, will start using compost and worm casting extracts as feed. Going to try using all home made fertilizers this year. I have 2, 5 gallon buckets of comfrey/borage tea from last fall and plenty compost and worm castings for making teas and extracts. Enjoy your videos. Stay well!!!
I discovered this channel 2 weeks ago and have been watching a few hours worth of MIgardener videos a day! I picked up a bundle of slab wood from the local Amish sawmill for $15 , and i am building several raised beds out of those. would have been close to $200 for the lumber so i am building them for basically $3 a piece. Just wanted to say thanks to MIgardener for inspiring me to get my hands dirty and help provide for my family! Also to try and eat healthier and get some exercise while we are stuck at home during these crazy times we are in! Always wanted to garden and now at 40 years old i'm diving in head first! Thanks Luke and family for the inspiration!
I agree on avoiding sets, however I also avoid seeds. The easiest way to get big onions is to go to dixondale farms, pick a variety, order onion transplants, put in your zip code. They send the onions the week you should plant for your zone. I spaced mine at 8 inches and just harvested about 250 softball sized onions. Red zeplin and yellow Spanish. My largest are bigger than what you see in the store. The key is green transplants, spaced 8 inches and most importantly planted on the date for your zone which is going to be an early date. The onions nearest my irrigation stayed green longer and got larger but I only irrigate 30 min a day so it's light.
@@cruciferousvegetable I just received my order from Dixondale Farms, last month right on time to plant. They have good sales on bundles. I bought a bundle of 3 kinds for $22.
I ordered from them and they wouldn't allow shipping in the correct time before my last frost date. They shipped after my last frost date. Planting them late and hoping for the best. Trying several varieties, in two different CT gardens. Red Zepplin, Patterson, Highlander, and the long day sammpler
Hey Luke - great videos. Would you consider doing a video on how to harvest, cure & store onions similar to the one you did for garlic recently? Appreciate all your hard work. Alison from Canada (Zone 4B)
You might tap on Luke's channel and search for a video on that. He did say he did an extensive video on onions a while back. I'm going to check that out right now. :)
I have watched a number of your videos for years and I appreciate how sincere you are and try to give accurate information. You even admit when you get things wrong.
Great info! But don't just discard those pinched off greens. Those are my favorite part of the onion. 😋 I snip them into little rings that go in all kinds of salads, soups, casseroles, eggs...
I have to admit Luke, I had no idea about long day and short day varieties! This was a great teaching video! I've only grown green onions, but I want to start growing many different varieties soon. This is going to help out a lot! Thank you so much for all this great information! Nothing beats fresh grown produce right in our own backyards!! I love how much beauty nature has to offer, right at the tips of our fingers🍃🐝
Watched this and kinda put it in the back of my mind. Local farm stand here in Eastern PA, Poconos had sets. Red, White and Spanish. I bought a flat of each for a raised bed. Stuck them in early and let them go. I came back to this vid a while later and I'v topped and weeded my box. Nothing but compost and eggshells crushed and a we bit of time release lime at the start. I'm pulling 2 or 3 each week for my salads and they are banging ! Big bulbs. I think the farm stand was selling appropriate sets for the zone. The weeding and topping has made a huge difference. Other gardeners in my community garden are seeing poor results. Care and attention are my best friends. Thanks for the vids..... You Rock Dude ! ! ! ! !
Thank for this video!! I’m a newbie at onion and garlic growing but this video taught me a lot for next year to top off, spacing and grow from seed in the variety for long day onions! I got quite a few small golf size onions this year just winging it so happy they grew at all!
I appreciate you going threw the chemicals in the fertilizer and what they do for the plant. For YEARS I've been gardening and they just won't stick in my head. I wish there was a fertilizer for the brain :( Thank you for the video.
Glad I saw this video because my onion tops are so long. Tomorrow I'll give them a haircut!! This Florida gardener loves your videos. Go Big Or Go Home. Love it!!
Thanks for another well researched and presented video. I am growing onions in the sub-tropics (Brisbane Australia) so can only grow short day onions but finding out which varieties available here are short day onions is very hard. The seed packets don't specify. I now have found a couple of varieties and they are growing well. I will harvest them in October/ November ( our late spring). I dehydrate the onion leaves and grind them into a powder to use in my cooking. It is much better than the onion powder from the supermarket.
Zone 8 and my onions are doing great it’s my first garden short day onions and I just ringed them and wow so excited to start harvest when I get the 13th leaves they seem to be growing in different stages but that’s ok I can’t eat all 75 at one time lol going to be eating fresh and dehydrating for filling my powdered onion jar along with premade season packages I use for fast cooking
😊 thank you so much for reviewing this again. I have epically failed at growing onions. That being said, I did little research and bought sets with no knowledge of long day short day. My husband just came out of his office and giggled as I am watching your video and said “so your trying onions again I take it?” My response right before you talked about. I bought sets and the store doesn’t say long day or short day. So I was doomed before I started. 😂 This year is my year!!
I grow my onions through a sheet of square mesh which sits around 9 inches above the onion. I wait till the neck goes really soft before picking. I was always told that if you top the leaves, you run the risk of rain going down inside the leaf and rotting the bulb. You get a lot of rain in the UK !
Hi Luke, in your opening comments you spoke about watching your older videos, I watch everything that you produce. You are the best source of information for gardening anywhere!!! 😃 You are my first go to for everything. Thank you and Cindy and your team so very much for providing all this free source material for gardening. That being said, do you have a video on Core Gardening? I would like to find out how to do that and apply it to my beds. I am in zone 9B, South Houston Texas. 🇨🇱 A lot different than Michigan. LOL. Again, thank you for all the great material. I wouldn’t have very much success if I hadn’t watched all of your videos. God bless and thanks 🙏🏽
Great tips! I’m resurrecting an old garden bed that my parents used and I used several years ago, hopefully it will yield a good crop for me! Hugs and love from Texas! Zone 8
Good info. I 100% agree about onions sets. One option that you didn't mention is buying onion plants. Browns of Omaha or Dixondale are good places to buy plants. They ship when you want them and offer a good selection of varieties and the more you buy the cheaper they are. I usually order for a bunch for the neighbors also. So much easier than starting from seed. Long day onions are very frost tolerant. I planted mine on April 4th and had two heavy snows after that. (I am west of you and another MI gardener) Only the cippolinis (Italian flat) wanted to flower. Cheers.
How do you take a vacation? Like I mean, what prep do you do before & do you have someone come water/weed for you? Would be interested in a video on that please. Thank you for your videos!
Thank you so much Luke! I tried onions for the first time last year, and they didn't get much bigger than the sets I started with. ☹️ I thought I just won't bother with onions anymore, but you have reinvigorated my resolve to try again. I did everything wrong, starting with the sets. 😝
I used your advice and grew the biggest onions I’ve ever grown! I’m setting an alarm for next winter to get my onion seeds started. Never using onion sets again.
Hello Luke, first of all I love your videos, honesty and passion you have for gardening. You’ve mentioned that you don’t water your raised beds because you do core gardening. My question is, would this apply to my beds being that I live in Southern California? In the San Fernando Valley to be exact, where the summer temps can be over 100 degrees, and we don’t get any rain like you guys in MI. Thanks in advance and keep up the great job! 👍😊
Thanks for the video. A few questions when starting from seed...approximately what date do you start the seed, do you provide bottom heat when doing so, roughly when do you transplant outside, and when does harvest occur? I'm struggling to find a tutorial that actually hits on approximate dates when starting from seed and subsequently transplanting and harvesting (I'm in NC...gonna try my hand at growing Red Creole [short day] onions in calendar 2023). Thanks in advance, and keep up the great videos!
I agree. I can't find much if any information on starting onions by seed. I decided to try planting the seeds in the fall for the heck of it to see what would happen in the spring. Hopefully some of them germinate.
That depends on what zone and microclimate you are in. Check with local University Extension and/or local masters gardeners to find out these proper dates.
Luke! You are using 32⁰ as the cut off for short day onions. I'm just shy of 35⁰. I have struggled to grow onions for years. 😅 I've been planting short day onions. You just blew my mind.
well, i failed onion seeds this summer, so bought garlic and onion bulbs at lowes for fall planting. i see now that was a mistake, but it's done, so i will plan to retry seeds in the spring! sooner or later i'll get it right!!!
At the start you mentioned that you hadn't watered those onions and they turned out great. A little later in the video you mentioned the more water (within reason) the larger the onion. I was researching how to water onions and was a little confused by those two statements. Many thanks.
Luke your onions amaze me and this year I tried my hardest to get there. I did have a success as they grew well the failure is that I kept picking them because they were so tasty. Will plant more next year and try to keep away. Thank you for all your information.
Thanks! This helped me alot! I'm growing one onion in a container and its top was about to bend down so, I topped it off. The top of the onion tasted yummy!! I do have nitrogen soil in with my compost and it's doing great. I'm brand new at this. I have started a container garden on my lanai.
I'm from the future and I can say that I definitely have been watching the old videos. Ive been watching gardening videos since April of 2021 and keep getting deeper and deeper into gardening youtube lol
Thank you for the great video on onions. I am a little despondent that the sets I just planted may not produce the amazing onions I have imagined. Seeds next time!!
Very good and most interesting as usual! You Yanks are so enthusiastic, which is very refreshing. We Brits are naturally a bit on the gloomy side! Keep up the good work and thankyou. Vic in South Oxfordshire, UK.
Thanks for clearing up about the 32 degrees for I knew nothing about that and I am planning to grow huge onions and at least pingball size and much like yours and larger. Last season I did have a bigger than my head size 16.5 lbs canolope hybrid from Gurneys Seed and they said often between 10 - 20 lbs.
I enjoy your garden videos. Very informative. This year my young onion leaves are curling after transplanting as if someone gave them a perm. There seems to be some deformity. This is with more than one variety. I'm in zone 7a in Virginia growing in a raised bed. Any advice you may offer will be very much appreciated. Thank You, Red
I always knew onions were biennials, but for some reason it never dawned on me that the reason my sets were flowering the first year was because of that... I feel dumb now. BUT I ordered my seeds so I can get them started the right way. Thank you!
Luke thank you for doing this again! I just pulled out my garden journal and took notes while you spoke. I never knew that topping the onions could help. Or that you need high nitrogen.
Great info, I always wondered how to get BIG onions. First time last year growing onions from seed(winter sow method) which germinated wonderfully but it was such a busy year they suffered. I have seeded some onion seeds in the fall, curious to seed if they will germinate and grow(zone 3). I will definitely put your advice to the test this year! Had no idea to top the leaves which makes alot of sense. Thank you for this video, it is very helpful.
Awesome video! I learned a lot! I just set out a bunch of seedlings without knowing whether they are short or long day variety…. I guess I will find out! Next year I will be more careful on selection!
my onions were grown from starts, and I noticed they have all bent and fallen over. I didn't know that mean the onion was done growing until watching this video. Thank you for the tip, and for helping free up some space in my beginners garden.
I love growing green onions!! You have such great tips about so many different plants. Thank you for clarifying how they grow! I can't wait to have an onion bed like yours!
Well I learned something new todaythank you very much I always thought those onions came from Vidalia Texas I had no clue that they came from Vidalia thank you for educating me
sounds like a conundrum: yes, the size of the onion greens is directly related to the size of the bulb, and yet, you recommend we trim the greens. Maybe a better idea would be to find a way to support the green tops so they don't fall down. I put a short wire "fence" around my onion beds for that very reason; it supports the green tops; they can drape over the fence as they get really tall, and also, it keeps slugs and snails from getting access to the tops.
Thank you, great tips! My onions look beautiful this year but they have a crazy amount of leaves and I was wondering if I needed to top them. Now I know!
I never knew the importance of keeping onion plants from getting top heavy so thank you for that. You mentioned your raised beds all have a Core. I recall in past videos you mentioned a need to prepare the core by wetting it. How do you decide how much water to give the core, especially for *un-rotten* straw? If I were to put a moisture into the soil of a raised bed with a core, what is the ideal reading at 6” into the soil (dry, moist or wet)?
Another great timeless video. Can/should you grow onions in just compost from a mushroom farm? We are fortunate enough to be less than 30 miles from one.
Thanks for another GREAT video! I always thought I needed to add a lot of phosphorus so I was gonna load up on Bone meal. But now I will add some Blood meal to my trifecta + application. Thanks again Luke!
Something not mentioned here is about removing the soil from around the top portio of the onion . Maybe Luke does that during weeding. Because another gardener has shown us that is when she does it.
I am brand new sub. I picked out 4 videos I really needed to watch and now as I am doing some chores I am going down the lines to watch all of them or at least I will watch 95% I bet. You would be surprised at some golden nugget bit of info you really needed found in some previous videos. Learn from others!!!!
I really enjoy how knowledgeable your videos are. They are full of tons of useful information. I also love your seed store and prices. The only thing I get hung up on in your videos is how much you tend to ramble at the beginning. Only 2 minutes of it in this video so actually not too bad. I have ADHD so its hard for me to remain tuned in long enough to get to the information I am here for. Again, I am a subscriber and a fan and I appreciate your knowledgeable videos...just a little input from the peanut gallery.
Storage storage storage! Once we are successful and have all this amazing produce we need to know how to store it all. I’m interested to know what things I do cool storage that does not involve canning, fermenting, etc. (I’ll do that too but want fresh supplies throughout the winter 🙂🙂)
I am wondering if planting onion seeds in the fall will be beneficial. I have a fairly short growing season in my location. Our last frost was May 31st this year, and we can grow until the end of October typically.
First!!! I bought onion seeds from your store online Alisa Craig onions. And this is my first year to have BIG onions. I will definitely buy onions seeds again next season. I live in new Jersey.
My Alisa Craig onions are still tiny and look sad. Maybe I should try not watering them, like MI-Gardener does? I just don't understand how they can grow without water.
@@fishnlady I had no problem sprouting them (near 100% germination). They just aren't growing well. Maybe they need a longer day? I'm around 33 degrees.
Lars Sveen I am at 47.5 latitude. I tried to sprout a few seeds in soil blocks. Only one seed germinated then I tried direct seeding and none of the seeds germinated. I am wondering if I got some bad seed. I will try again next year.
Loved the video! I'm planting sets from a big box store now- I know, I know, but I'm a beginner and wanting to learn. Hey, I was just wondering, when you talk about pruning the onion tops, it made a lot of sense, but was wondering. What if you constructed a slat of fencing that would lay horizontally above the bulbs about 10 inches high or so. Could that maybe help support the leaves so they remain upright and reduce the need to prune? I only ask because as a former grower/harvester, it was always hotly debated whether pruning hurt or helped, because it forces the plant to heal, and also to grow new shoots. But as you say, creating new shoots may in fact add to the bulb size. This is something I may experiment with in the future and let you know if I have any success. Thanks a lot for the great info!
Thanks for the info. I just located the 32nd parallel on the map. I was terribly surprised that it was so far South. I’m in East Tn and I just assumed it was North of us. It’s a good distance South. I’ve always grown short day onions with good success here. The Walla Walla and the Georgia Sweets primarily. Great info I will start using in my bed this summer.
Issue #1: I planted sets from the hardware store Issue #2: I planted 120 onion sets in a 4x8 bed. :) Issue #3: Every gardener I've talked to said this is the worst they have ever seen the weeds in our zone. I've seen entire organic farms ruined this year. Our onion bed was so choked with weeds our onions only reached golf ball size. What do you do about weeds with a root vegetable that will get yanked out when you try to pull weeds?
I'm going through your old videos. Maybe someone will see the question? I started onion seeds in Feb (Ontario, Canada), do I need to fertilize the little seedling soon? I have trimmed them twice now and they appear to be doing well.
You always give amazing and clear advice. I have learned so much from you I almost feel like I need to pay you for your time haha. How can novice gardeners like myself support you? I have just over three months of Gardening experience and have feel in LOVE with this stuff. From Oregon, thank you.
@@10feralratsinacoat76 Thank you for the information. I will need to check it out. I quickly have became a fan of seeds instead of all starters from the nursery, so much cheaper for me!
@@White_belt_at_life I used the code SPRINGBOGO and the packets of seeds were only 50 cents apiece. I just ordered more 2 or 3 weeks ago. Super cheap shipping too. I fell for gardening too this year. You might like to check out Roots 'n Refuge and The Rusted Garden.
this video was greatly needed long before now for me. With tops falling over now I think its far too late for this year. Mine are like golf balls 😢 and I grew them from plants. Better luck next year!
What I find with old videos that the vlogger will learn more and the newer videos provide much more updated & experienced information so I'm glad you are speaking on this topic again. This was great info. When you recommend a product (like Trifecta +) could you put it below in your notes? Often it's really difficult to understand exactly what the product name is. Do you have a suggestion of how to cure onions when one doesn't have a basement? I put them under deep shade under trees (where they can still get good circulation) but it does still get warm during mid-day.
It’s called hugulkculture or something like that. You bury wood and other things that will increase organic matter and water holding capacity. You still have to water just not as often once roots reach the spongy wood underneath (I probably spelled it wrong)
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
I never understood why companies even sell onion sets, my first year of gardening, I purchased sets, and I found out the hard way that sets do not grow decent onions. I now start seed indoors every February and most of my onion are softball size or better. I grow kalsae, and Alisa Craig, and walla walla. Zone 5a Wisconsin. I nevertop them, just run a string between rows, that way the neck doesn’t bend and the full leaves are still intact to absorb the sun.
chadj79 Great tip about running a string to hold up the onions. Thanks
What season is it in February please?
@@ralsharp6013 It is winter in Wisconsin, extremely cold there, and the seeds are started indoors 😊
I use sets every year and get onions at 5-6inch diameter. When the bulb begins to grow from the set, loosen the soil around the bulb with a bent butter knife, this will allow the bulb to expand alot easier.
How often to water red onions?
Thank you! All my onions have fallen over and I couldn’t figure out why, nothing on the web other than they were ready to harvest, when they definitely weren’t. Live and learn for next year!
You tube Charles dowding
Luke, thank you so much for the time you and your family put into helping us grow our food. We so appreciate every moment.
Thank you from UK. I have spent so much money buying sets of all colours and sizes and never produced a single onion worth talking about. This video is very helpful and identifies the problems. Hopefully next year I will grow some decent onions. Thanks. Really appreciate your vegetable growing videos.
Took your advice and planted 4, 72 cell trays with 3 different onions and a Carentan leek. Started on the winter solstice, so most plants are a couple few inches tall already, looking for larger transplants in the spring as well.
My potting mix is very similar to yours, 40%sifted aged compost, 40% sifted leaf mold and 20% aged worm castings. Next time I water, will start using compost and worm casting extracts as feed. Going to try using all home made fertilizers this year.
I have 2, 5 gallon buckets of comfrey/borage tea from last fall and plenty compost and worm castings for making teas and extracts.
Enjoy your videos. Stay well!!!
I discovered this channel 2 weeks ago and have been watching a few hours worth of MIgardener videos a day! I picked up a bundle of slab wood from the local Amish sawmill for $15 , and i am building several raised beds out of those. would have been close to $200 for the lumber so i am building them for basically $3 a piece. Just wanted to say thanks to MIgardener for inspiring me to get my hands dirty and help provide for my family! Also to try and eat healthier and get some exercise while we are stuck at home during these crazy times we are in! Always wanted to garden and now at 40 years old i'm diving in head first! Thanks Luke and family for the inspiration!
It seems like we're all going back to the basics these days. Are you prepping as well?
We are starting to get into prepping a bit more yes!
Fun fact, onions (and other bulbs) need nitrogen not phosphorus because bulbs AREN'T roots, they are modified leaves #TheMoreYouKnow
Got em” 💥 💥
Craig Munns That explains my huge onions, grown on an old horse paddock, with wide spacing
Craig Munns maybe a goos topic for Ask Levi?
Thats why i pee in my onion beds. Gives them nice coloring and a strong flavor
@@izzzzzz6 That made my eyes water.
I agree on avoiding sets, however I also avoid seeds. The easiest way to get big onions is to go to dixondale farms, pick a variety, order onion transplants, put in your zip code. They send the onions the week you should plant for your zone. I spaced mine at 8 inches and just harvested about 250 softball sized onions. Red zeplin and yellow Spanish. My largest are bigger than what you see in the store.
The key is green transplants, spaced 8 inches and most importantly planted on the date for your zone which is going to be an early date. The onions nearest my irrigation stayed green longer and got larger but I only irrigate 30 min a day so it's light.
Thanks for the tip on Dixondale Farms!
Where do you live?
@@rosedowling3690 At that time I lived in NE OH.
@@cruciferousvegetable I just received my order from Dixondale Farms, last month right on time to plant. They have good sales on bundles. I bought a bundle of 3 kinds for $22.
I ordered from them and they wouldn't allow shipping in the correct time before my last frost date. They shipped after my last frost date. Planting them late and hoping for the best. Trying several varieties, in two different CT gardens. Red Zepplin, Patterson, Highlander, and the long day sammpler
Here I am binge watching your old videos ❤
A topic that doesn't change much over time. Thanks for the summary, grown a lot of things but new to onions.
Hey Luke - great videos. Would you consider doing a video on how to harvest, cure & store onions similar to the one you did for garlic recently? Appreciate all your hard work. Alison from Canada (Zone 4B)
You might tap on Luke's channel and search for a video on that. He did say he did an extensive video on onions a while back. I'm going to check that out right now. :)
Pop
Thanks for mentioning the garlic video! I am looking forward to searching for it now!
Agree!
I have watched a number of your videos for years and I appreciate how sincere you are and try to give accurate information. You even admit when you get things wrong.
Great info! But don't just discard those pinched off greens. Those are my favorite part of the onion. 😋
I snip them into little rings that go in all kinds of salads, soups, casseroles, eggs...
I just out they can be frozen too!!
I’ve been freezing them and chopped chives for over a decade- fresh onion greens any time of year!
I dehydrate them and use it in compound butter, on salad, on potatoes etc
I feed them to my rabbits and goats!
I want to use them....have so many but found them EXTREMELY strong!!
I'm gardening for the first time and i felt mildly called out,,, but!
this was super helpful! I took lots of notes!
I have to admit Luke, I had no idea about long day and short day varieties! This was a great teaching video! I've only grown green onions, but I want to start growing many different varieties soon. This is going to help out a lot! Thank you so much for all this great information! Nothing beats fresh grown produce right in our own backyards!! I love how much beauty nature has to offer, right at the tips of our fingers🍃🐝
Watched this and kinda put it in the back of my mind. Local farm stand here in Eastern PA, Poconos had sets. Red, White and Spanish. I bought a flat of each for a raised bed. Stuck them in early and let them go. I came back to this vid a while later and I'v topped and weeded my box. Nothing but compost and eggshells crushed and a we bit of time release lime at the start. I'm pulling 2 or 3 each week for my salads and they are banging ! Big bulbs. I think the farm stand was selling appropriate sets for the zone. The weeding and topping has made a huge difference. Other gardeners in my community garden are seeing poor results. Care and attention are my best friends. Thanks for the vids..... You Rock Dude ! ! ! ! !
I binge watch new and old videos. I appreciate all of the time you put into these.
Thank for this video!! I’m a newbie at onion and garlic growing but this video taught me a lot for next year to top off, spacing and grow from seed in the variety for long day onions! I got quite a few small golf size onions this year just winging it so happy they grew at all!
Thank you for putting these videos out, even if repeat! Much appreciates!
I appreciate you going threw the chemicals in the fertilizer and what they do for the plant. For YEARS I've been gardening and they just won't stick in my head. I wish there was a fertilizer for the brain :( Thank you for the video.
I plant Onions in the Winter and pick them in July . I just pulled few out a couple days ago and the largest are the size of Tennis balls .
I want to do this. What zone are you in?
Glad I saw this video because my onion tops are so long. Tomorrow I'll give them a haircut!! This Florida gardener loves your videos. Go Big Or Go Home. Love it!!
Thanks for another well researched and presented video. I am growing onions in the sub-tropics (Brisbane Australia) so can only grow short day onions but finding out which varieties available here are short day onions is very hard. The seed packets don't specify. I now have found a couple of varieties and they are growing well. I will harvest them in October/ November ( our late spring). I dehydrate the onion leaves and grind them into a powder to use in my cooking. It is much better than the onion powder from the supermarket.
Zone 8 and my onions are doing great it’s my first garden short day onions and I just ringed them and wow so excited to start harvest when I get the 13th leaves they seem to be growing in different stages but that’s ok I can’t eat all 75 at one time lol going to be eating fresh and dehydrating for filling my powdered onion jar along with premade season packages I use for fast cooking
😊 thank you so much for reviewing this again.
I have epically failed at growing onions. That being said, I did little research and bought sets with no knowledge of long day short day.
My husband just came out of his office and giggled as I am watching your video and said “so your trying onions again I take it?”
My response right before you talked about. I bought sets and the store doesn’t say long day or short day. So I was doomed before I started. 😂
This year is my year!!
I grow my onions through a sheet of square mesh which sits around 9 inches above the onion.
I wait till the neck goes really soft before picking.
I was always told that if you top the leaves, you run the risk of rain going down inside the leaf and rotting the bulb. You get a lot of rain in the UK !
Hi Luke, in your opening comments you spoke about watching your older videos, I watch everything that you produce. You are the best source of information for gardening anywhere!!! 😃
You are my first go to for everything. Thank you and Cindy and your team so very much for providing all this free source material for gardening. That being said, do you have a video on Core Gardening? I would like to find out how to do that and apply it to my beds. I am in zone 9B, South Houston Texas. 🇨🇱 A lot different than Michigan. LOL.
Again, thank you for all the great material. I wouldn’t have very much success if I hadn’t watched all of your videos.
God bless and thanks 🙏🏽
Great tips! I’m resurrecting an old garden bed that my parents used and I used several years ago, hopefully it will yield a good crop for me! Hugs and love from Texas! Zone 8
Good info. I 100% agree about onions sets. One option that you didn't mention is buying onion plants. Browns of Omaha or Dixondale are good places to buy plants. They ship when you want them and offer a good selection of varieties and the more you buy the cheaper they are. I usually order for a bunch for the neighbors also. So much easier than starting from seed. Long day onions are very frost tolerant. I planted mine on April 4th and had two heavy snows after that. (I am west of you and another MI gardener) Only the cippolinis (Italian flat) wanted to flower. Cheers.
Dixondale Farms are an awesome company to deal with! Their plants are very healthy, and the customer service is top notch.
Thanks for info..I truely appreciate it. You know you are one of the few channels I watch the whole video. .Blessings
Little Jordan Farm this means the world!
How do you take a vacation? Like I mean, what prep do you do before & do you have someone come water/weed for you? Would be interested in a video on that please.
Thank you for your videos!
he uses core gardening .
Walmart sells pretty inexpensive timers that just go on your faucet & the hose. Weeding can wait til you get back!! :)
@@kit2130 I water exclusively from rain barrels & a small electric pump that has to be monitored.
@@catladycatlady7359 I’d ask a neighbor to water for you then! :)
@@kit2130 I usually have my cat sitter get anything that can't wait
learned a lot , thanks. This year I will try seeds and trim the tops.
Long/short day has always frustrated me haha, on my street I’m above 32* latitude. But my neighbor is south of it! Right on the line.
Thank you so much Luke! I tried onions for the first time last year, and they didn't get much bigger than the sets I started with. ☹️ I thought I just won't bother with onions anymore, but you have reinvigorated my resolve to try again. I did everything wrong, starting with the sets. 😝
Me too
I used your advice and grew the biggest onions I’ve ever grown! I’m setting an alarm for next winter to get my onion seeds started. Never using onion sets again.
Hello Luke, first of all I love your videos, honesty and passion you have for gardening. You’ve mentioned that you don’t water your raised beds because you do core gardening. My question is, would this apply to my beds being that I live in Southern California? In the San Fernando Valley to be exact, where the summer temps can be over 100 degrees, and we don’t get any rain like you guys in MI. Thanks in advance and keep up the great job! 👍😊
I bet you need core gardening even more!
Can't wait to see the response.
Same here.
My onions were not very large but I am super excited that I was able to grow what I did in a couple pots. Hoping for more and better next year.
Thanks. I'm going to try topping. Never done that. I had done sets, but next time I'll try the seeds.
Thanks for the video. A few questions when starting from seed...approximately what date do you start the seed, do you provide bottom heat when doing so, roughly when do you transplant outside, and when does harvest occur? I'm struggling to find a tutorial that actually hits on approximate dates when starting from seed and subsequently transplanting and harvesting (I'm in NC...gonna try my hand at growing Red Creole [short day] onions in calendar 2023). Thanks in advance, and keep up the great videos!
I agree. I can't find much if any information on starting onions by seed. I decided to try planting the seeds in the fall for the heck of it to see what would happen in the spring. Hopefully some of them germinate.
Yep. I started 42 onion seeds in January AND I bought onion sets. I’m doing a little experiment to see which comes out better 😊
That depends on what zone and microclimate you are in. Check with local University Extension and/or local masters gardeners to find out these proper dates.
I truly love your video's . I just planed my onion seeds today
Please talk about the difference between onion sets and small onion plants, I think these are often confused.
Luke! You are using 32⁰ as the cut off for short day onions. I'm just shy of 35⁰. I have struggled to grow onions for years. 😅
I've been planting short day onions. You just blew my mind.
Both onion sets I bought this year were dried up or rotted. I’ve learned my lesson! Thanks for the info!
well, i failed onion seeds this summer, so bought garlic and onion bulbs at lowes for fall planting. i see now that was a mistake, but it's done, so i will plan to retry seeds in the spring! sooner or later i'll get it right!!!
At the start you mentioned that you hadn't watered those onions and they turned out great. A little later in the video you mentioned the more water (within reason) the larger the onion. I was researching how to water onions and was a little confused by those two statements. Many thanks.
I'm growing sets, and their turning out great.
Debbie here,,you explained that very well, thank you
Luke your onions amaze me and this year I tried my hardest to get there. I did have a success as they grew well the failure is that I kept picking them because they were so tasty. Will plant more next year and try to keep away. Thank you for all your information.
I go back and watch your old videos all the time. I even watch ones ive already watched to refresh my memory haha. God bless!
Thanks! This helped me alot! I'm growing one onion in a container and its top was about to bend down so, I topped it off. The top of the onion tasted yummy!! I do have nitrogen soil in with my compost and it's doing great. I'm brand new at this. I have started a container garden on my lanai.
Now I’m going to try onions from seed next year!
I'm from the future and I can say that I definitely have been watching the old videos. Ive been watching gardening videos since April of 2021 and keep getting deeper and deeper into gardening youtube lol
Thanks for the information. Last year was the first time I planted onions. Very helpful video!
Thank you for the great video on onions. I am a little despondent that the sets I just planted may not produce the amazing onions I have imagined. Seeds next time!!
Very good and most interesting as usual! You Yanks are so enthusiastic, which is very refreshing. We Brits are naturally a bit on the gloomy side! Keep up the good work and thankyou.
Vic in South Oxfordshire, UK.
Only just started to watch your channel and have found that you can teach a very old dog new tricks.
Thanks for clearing up about the 32 degrees for I knew nothing about that and I am planning to grow huge onions and at least pingball size and much like yours and larger.
Last season I did have a bigger than my head size 16.5 lbs canolope hybrid from Gurneys Seed and they said often between 10 - 20 lbs.
Great video Luke! It answered a lot of questions for me. Can you also do another growing guide on shallots?
I love binge-watching all your informative videos
I enjoy your garden videos. Very informative.
This year my young onion leaves are curling after transplanting as if someone gave them a perm.
There seems to be some deformity. This is with more than one variety.
I'm in zone 7a in Virginia growing in a raised bed. Any advice you may offer will be very much appreciated.
Thank You,
Red
Awesome thank you I’m planting onions this year for my canned salsa!
I always knew onions were biennials, but for some reason it never dawned on me that the reason my sets were flowering the first year was because of that... I feel dumb now. BUT I ordered my seeds so I can get them started the right way. Thank you!
If I can't seed start indoors when can I sow seeds outside? Thanks for your channel. I learn so much from you.
WOW! I had no idea I needed to top my onions. Thank you!!
Brilliant explanation of why nitrogen is needed rather than phosphorus. Thank you!
Luke thank you for doing this again! I just pulled out my garden journal and took notes while you spoke. I never knew that topping the onions could help. Or that you need high nitrogen.
Great info, I always wondered how to get BIG onions. First time last year growing onions from seed(winter sow method) which germinated wonderfully but it was such a busy year they suffered. I have seeded some onion seeds in the fall, curious to seed if they will germinate and grow(zone 3).
I will definitely put your advice to the test this year! Had no idea to top the leaves which makes alot of sense.
Thank you for this video, it is very helpful.
Awesome video! I learned a lot! I just set out a bunch of seedlings without knowing whether they are short or long day variety…. I guess I will find out! Next year I will be more careful on selection!
Thanks for another great video. I think I have made every mistake anyone could ever make!
my onions were grown from starts, and I noticed they have all bent and fallen over. I didn't know that mean the onion was done growing until watching this video. Thank you for the tip, and for helping free up some space in my beginners garden.
Thank you, I found it. I found your video on the core gardening that you produced sometime ago.
Take care guys❌⭕️♥️
🐰
I love growing green onions!! You have such great tips about so many different plants. Thank you for clarifying how they grow! I can't wait to have an onion bed like yours!
Well I learned something new todaythank you very much I always thought those onions came from Vidalia Texas I had no clue that they came from Vidalia thank you for educating me
The rain knocked down all my onions!!! I am SO bummed. I'm glad to hear this because I'll concentrate on this next year!!!
sounds like a conundrum: yes, the size of the onion greens is directly related to the size of the bulb, and yet, you recommend we trim the greens. Maybe a better idea would be to find a way to support the green tops so they don't fall down. I put a short wire "fence" around my onion beds for that very reason; it supports the green tops; they can drape over the fence as they get really tall, and also, it keeps slugs and snails from getting access to the tops.
Thank you, great tips! My onions look beautiful this year but they have a crazy amount of leaves and I was wondering if I needed to top them. Now I know!
Thank you I've learned very useful stuff from your videos
Great information.Really enjoyed viewing it.
I never knew the importance of keeping onion plants from getting top heavy so thank you for that.
You mentioned your raised beds all have a Core. I recall in past videos you mentioned a need to prepare the core by wetting it. How do you decide how much water to give the core, especially for *un-rotten* straw? If I were to put a moisture into the soil of a raised bed with a core, what is the ideal reading at 6” into the soil (dry, moist or wet)?
Another great timeless video. Can/should you grow onions in just compost from a mushroom farm? We are fortunate enough to be less than 30 miles from one.
Thanks for another GREAT video! I always thought I needed to add a lot of phosphorus so I was gonna load up on Bone meal. But now I will add some Blood meal to my trifecta + application. Thanks again Luke!
Something not mentioned here is about removing the soil from around the top portio of the onion . Maybe Luke does that during weeding. Because another gardener has shown us that is when she does it.
I am brand new sub. I picked out 4 videos I really needed to watch and now as I am doing some chores I am going down the lines to watch all of them or at least I will watch 95% I bet. You would be surprised at some golden nugget bit of info you really needed found in some previous videos. Learn from others!!!!
I really enjoy how knowledgeable your videos are. They are full of tons of useful information. I also love your seed store and prices. The only thing I get hung up on in your videos is how much you tend to ramble at the beginning. Only 2 minutes of it in this video so actually not too bad. I have ADHD so its hard for me to remain tuned in long enough to get to the information I am here for. Again, I am a subscriber and a fan and I appreciate your knowledgeable videos...just a little input from the peanut gallery.
Storage storage storage! Once we are successful and have all this amazing produce we need to know how to store it all. I’m interested to know what things I do cool storage that does not involve canning, fermenting, etc. (I’ll do that too but want fresh supplies throughout the winter 🙂🙂)
I am wondering if planting onion seeds in the fall will be beneficial. I have a fairly short growing season in my location. Our last frost was May 31st this year, and we can grow until the end of October typically.
First!!! I bought onion seeds from your store online Alisa Craig onions. And this is my first year to have BIG onions. I will definitely buy onions seeds again next season. I live in new Jersey.
My Alisa Craig onions are still tiny and look sad. Maybe I should try not watering them, like MI-Gardener does? I just don't understand how they can grow without water.
I tried the Alisa also. Out of a full pkg of seeds I got one to grow. So disappointed.
@@fishnlady I had no problem sprouting them (near 100% germination). They just aren't growing well. Maybe they need a longer day? I'm around 33 degrees.
Lars Sveen I am at 47.5 latitude. I tried to sprout a few seeds in soil blocks. Only one seed germinated then I tried direct seeding and none of the seeds germinated. I am wondering if I got some bad seed. I will try again next year.
I sowed my seeds indoor last late winter in a seed tray and almost 100% germination and I put a heat lamp over it.
Luke great tip on cutting the extra greens off the top of the onions.
Loved the video! I'm planting sets from a big box store now- I know, I know, but I'm a beginner and wanting to learn. Hey, I was just wondering, when you talk about pruning the onion tops, it made a lot of sense, but was wondering. What if you constructed a slat of fencing that would lay horizontally above the bulbs about 10 inches high or so. Could that maybe help support the leaves so they remain upright and reduce the need to prune? I only ask because as a former grower/harvester, it was always hotly debated whether pruning hurt or helped, because it forces the plant to heal, and also to grow new shoots. But as you say, creating new shoots may in fact add to the bulb size. This is something I may experiment with in the future and let you know if I have any success.
Thanks a lot for the great info!
Thanks for the info. I just located the 32nd parallel on the map. I was terribly surprised that it was so far South. I’m in East Tn and I just assumed it was North of us. It’s a good distance South. I’ve always grown short day onions with good success here. The Walla Walla and the Georgia Sweets primarily. Great info I will start using in my bed this summer.
Issue #1: I planted sets from the hardware store
Issue #2: I planted 120 onion sets in a 4x8 bed. :)
Issue #3: Every gardener I've talked to said this is the worst they have ever seen the weeds in our zone. I've seen entire organic farms ruined this year. Our onion bed was so choked with weeds our onions only reached golf ball size.
What do you do about weeds with a root vegetable that will get yanked out when you try to pull weeds?
Bobos Curse I have that problem too, help Luke.
I'm going through your old videos. Maybe someone will see the question? I started onion seeds in Feb (Ontario, Canada), do I need to fertilize the little seedling soon? I have trimmed them twice now and they appear to be doing well.
Excellent video on growing big onions.
You always give amazing and clear advice. I have learned so much from you I almost feel like I need to pay you for your time haha. How can novice gardeners like myself support you?
I have just over three months of Gardening experience and have feel in LOVE with this stuff.
From Oregon, thank you.
Oregon Overlanding he sells seeds and stuff on his site. You’d prob have to research if his seeds work in your zone though :)
@@10feralratsinacoat76 Thank you for the information. I will need to check it out. I quickly have became a fan of seeds instead of all starters from the nursery, so much cheaper for me!
@@White_belt_at_life I used the code SPRINGBOGO and the packets of seeds were only 50 cents apiece. I just ordered more 2 or 3 weeks ago. Super cheap shipping too. I fell for gardening too this year. You might like to check out Roots 'n Refuge and The Rusted Garden.
Oregon Overlanding check out the online seed store and show your support there! :)
Vidalia, Georgia is about ten miles north of the 32 degrees latitude line. Pretty close to right on.
this video was greatly needed long before now for me. With tops falling over now I think its far too late for this year. Mine are like golf balls 😢 and I grew them from plants. Better luck next year!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, all your videos are great source of information. Keep up the good work.
What I find with old videos that the vlogger will learn more and the newer videos provide much more updated & experienced information so I'm glad you are speaking on this topic again.
This was great info. When you recommend a product (like Trifecta +) could you put it below in your notes? Often it's really difficult to understand exactly what the product name is.
Do you have a suggestion of how to cure onions when one doesn't have a basement? I put them under deep shade under trees (where they can still get good circulation) but it does still get warm during mid-day.
Great tips! I never knew to top onions. Or, feed them nitrogen. Makes sense the way you explained it though.
Can you share more specifics about digging a trench and putting something on the bed so you don’t have to water??
It’s called hugulkculture or something like that. You bury wood and other things that will increase organic matter and water holding capacity. You still have to water just not as often once roots reach the spongy wood underneath (I probably spelled it wrong)
He has video on this channel that answers your question.