Earlier this year, I bought about fifty mixed red and white
onion sets from a local store. These were planted into various sites both in
formalized beds and in areas I had cleared of sod. The results in all cases were
the same; very little bulb development with a good percentage going to seed.
I fault this lack of growth on a number of factors with soil
quality (perhaps surprisingly) not being one of them. Three reasons I feel that
good development did not take place were; 1) lack of good consistent moisture,
2) unusually hot temperatures combined with a shorter than normal spring and 3)
I failed to get the sets planted the previous fall. Rather they went into the
ground in the early spring and didn’t have time to develop good root systems
prior to the warm spring and early summer days when they are induced to bulb
up.
A representative collection of three onions pictured above
tell the story pretty well. The red onion weighed in at 68 grams while the two
whites averaged about 38 grams. Sizes ranged from 1 ¾ x 1 ½ inches up to 2 x 1
¾ inches; not very large, but still usable in salads and such.
Next season, I hope to perform a field test whereby I start
equal numbers of onion sets at the same time (this coming October in cold frames). Over
time, factors like rainfall and average temperatures will also be recorded. I’m
still not sure, at this point what varieties I’ll be experiment with.
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