Anybody with experience with "potato onions"?

[dissimulo]

Well, potato onions are the perfect choice. They don't grow bigger than a golf ball (well, rarely), so you will never have to feel like you didn't grow them large enough. ;)

It takes 4-6 to equal a medium sweet onion. But, they store better than the best storage onions in my experience. We have planted the remainder of our pantry onions in October after harvesting them the previous July (15 months). They don't all make it that long, but most do.

[Summerthyme]

For those having trouble growing good big onions, try some plants from www.dixondalefarms.com

They're expensive if you only order a couple/few bunches. I run around to my Amish neighbors and get orders, and we buy 2 cases or more every spring.

The WallaWallas get nice and big, and are SO deliciously sweet. The Copras don't get any bigger than a tennis ball, but store for 9 months! For BIG onions, grow Ailsa Craig or Big Daddy...

The secret to big onions is planting EARLY (cover if frost looms) and lots of compost or other balanced fertilizer. Water often, but don't drown. They are classic "heavy feeders"... need lots of food. The larger the tops grow before they start to change over to bulb producing, the bigger the bulb will be.

Oh, and make sure you grow the right variety for where you live!! Growing "short day" onions in the north will give you golf balls! Ditto "long day" in the south- they may never bulb at all.

I've grown onions from seeds and purchased sets, and I've grown my own sets once or twice, but I've never had better results than from purchased field grown plants.

Summerthyme

[bbkaren]

I don't really mind them small (except when I buy them as sets and they barely double in size! grr)...if they're sustainable.

Meaning, they're small but there's a ton of them, and I can use them to make a ton more.

It just irks me when there's a finite quantity, and they're tiny...and when they're gone, I have to go buy more at the store.

[bbkaren]

ST, I confess. I ordered some...I ordered the short day sampler (for TN). Like I didn't have my bases covered; now I guess we'll be overrun with onions. I say, "bring it on!" :)