I plant small onion bulbs but they aren't sprouting... why?

[Muse]

I have onions growing in front of the house and I've been watering them daily. It's mid summer and figure good vege growing weather. But the onions have sent up seed shoots (couple months ago at least) and the leaves have basically all died back. There are lots of little onion bulbs surrounding the main bulbs, some even seem to have no root contact with the ground. I removed maybe 20 of those, some yellow onions, some red (I got all these originally off tiny onions at the supermarket 2-3 years ago), and planted them in the back yard where I used to grow tomatoes. Good soil. I've been keeping that ~5-6 foot strip reasonably moist and it's been a month or more and there's nothing happening. I remember reading years ago that onions are a cool weather crop. Are my onion bulbs refusing to grow because it isn't cool enough? Average daytime temperatures are maybe 78F this time of year. Evening temperatures have been around 57F and above.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I have onions growing in front of the house and I've been watering them daily. It's mid summer and figure good vege growing weather. But the onions have sent up seed shoots (couple months ago at least) and the leaves have basically all died back. There are lots of little onion bulbs surrounding the main bulbs, some even seem to have no root contact with the ground. I removed maybe 20 of those, some yellow onions, some red (I got all these originally off tiny onions at the supermarket 2-3 years ago), and planted them in the back yard where I used to grow tomatoes. Good soil. I've been keeping that ~5-6 foot strip reasonably moist and it's been a month or more and there's nothing happening. I remember reading years ago that onions are a cool weather crop. Are my onion bulbs refusing to grow because it isn't cool enough? Average daytime temperatures are maybe 78F this time of year. Evening temperatures have been around 57F and above.

I’m no expert but I would guess it has been too warm for them to grow.
If they were grocery store onions that sat around too long and sprouted that could be the problem too. Not sure what it is about grocery store stuff and replanting but it seems to fail frequently. I tried planting potatoes and garlic that sprouted with same results they kind of grow but not really grow. Probably due to them sitting on the counter too long before being planted.
I have bought seed potatoes and they grow fabulously.

 

[Muse]

I’m no expert but I would guess it has been too warm for them to grow.
If they were grocery store onions that sat around too long and sprouted that could be the problem too. Not sure what it is about grocery store stuff and replanting but it seems to fail frequently. I tried planting potatoes and garlic that sprouted with same results they kind of grow but not really grow. Probably due to them sitting on the counter too long before being planted.
I have bought seed potatoes and they grow fabulously.

I bought some onions a while back (~3-4 months) and a few were so small I just planted them instead of preparing for food in my kitchen. They were "standard" yellow onions and grew great in my back yard. They were overtaken by my tomatoes and I don't know what they're doing, but they did send up seed shoots.

The onions that aren't coming up are from ones that were growing fine in the front yard, kind of small satellites. I think your guess that it's too warm must explain this. They are a "cool weather" vegetable, I remember reading that in at least one of my vege growing books. Maybe they'll send up shoots as nights (and days) cool. It's right now very warm, we're in what passes for an extended heat wave here... days in the 80s or even 90s. Won't stop for a week or something. Maybe they'll survive in the ground or maybe they're rotting. I'm thinking Oct. or Nov. will see them come up.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

FWIW I planted some green onions after using all but the bottom ~3" and they're like three feet tall now, with formed bulbs and flowering. Gonna harvest them soon and see what green onion bulbs taste like.

 

[Iron Woode]

I have onions growing in front of the house and I've been watering them daily. It's mid summer and figure good vege growing weather. But the onions have sent up seed shoots (couple months ago at least) and the leaves have basically all died back. There are lots of little onion bulbs surrounding the main bulbs, some even seem to have no root contact with the ground. I removed maybe 20 of those, some yellow onions, some red (I got all these originally off tiny onions at the supermarket 2-3 years ago), and planted them in the back yard where I used to grow tomatoes. Good soil. I've been keeping that ~5-6 foot strip reasonably moist and it's been a month or more and there's nothing happening. I remember reading years ago that onions are a cool weather crop. Are my onion bulbs refusing to grow because it isn't cool enough? Average daytime temperatures are maybe 78F this time of year. Evening temperatures have been around 57F and above.

Best to plant bulbs in the spring. If just for scallions then pick them before they get too big. If wanting large bulbs then leave them to grow until the green leaves turn brown and wilt or push them over to cause them to dry and brown.

I loved growing onions when I was younger.

 

[Muse]

I think it must be too warm now for the small onions I planted to send up shoots. Unless there's something weird in the soil, which seems unlikely. I mean, didn't have this problem when I planted in front of the house and in my other growing patch in the back yard.

 

[Muse]

I loved growing onions when I was younger.

First thing I remember growing was corn. Corn grows so fast in the summer it's amazing. Maybe 3 inches/day. Thing with corn is you can't grow just one row and expect to get ears with a lot of kernels because corn is wind pollinated, so you need adjacent rows.

 

[Iron Woode]

First thing I remember growing was corn. Corn grows so fast in the summer it's amazing. Maybe 3 inches/day. Thing with corn is you can't grow just one row and expect to get ears with a lot of kernels because corn is wind pollinated, so you need adjacent rows.

I guess it depends on where you live. Corn growth is highly variable here.

 

[Muse]

I guess it depends on where you live. Corn growth is highly variable here.

Likes heat, sun.

 

[Iron Woode]

Likes heat, sun.

I know that.

I live in SouthWestern Ontario Canada. We get a lot of sun but the heat and humidity are quite variable so the corn here is different heights and ear development. Rain has been pretty erratic, too. The farmers are hoping for a good crop this year.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Off topic:
My Potatoes look EPIC and should be ready soon.

I highly recommend huckleberry potatoes. They grew great and have all the red potato benefit but the inside is like a golden starchy potato.

 

[herm0016]

we will have to try those. we recently harvested our potatoes, we got a good 15 lbs or so from just a few plants!.

we grew onions from seed this year, they are looking great.

our onions started bulbing out when it got hot. the greens are starting to fall. i have, in the past, left them in the ground until mid winter and they were still great.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

we will have to try those. we recently harvested our potatoes, we got a good 15 lbs or so from just a few plants!.

we grew onions from seed this year, they are looking great.

our onions started bulbing out when it got hot. the greens are starting to fall. i have, in the past, left them in the ground until mid winter and they were still great.

Yeah first year I’ve grown them but they are awesome potatoes, they just look funny.
My plants grew to be about 3’ high which has never happened with other potatoes and are starting to turn brown so I should be able to harvest soon
One thing I did notice, took them a long time to sprout above the ground. Just be patient.
Also the seeds for them were unusually large basically the size of a potatoes from the market. My previous seed potatoes have been the size of a big marble. I know potatoes come from potatoes just the huckleberry potatoes are just different. Hard to explain.