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- From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
- To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Onion sets...
- Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:46:20 -0600
There is a commercial onion set industry in Illinois. Their system is pretty
detailed but follows the same principle as Jill used. Essentially, you
starve the onions for water soon after they start bulbing. They go into
dormancy as a response. Once dormant, they should be cleaned, dried
thoroughly and put into cool, dark storage (refrigerator, in a plastic bag.
They must be dry!). Ideal set size depends on the goal for their use. If
you're growing green onions for scallions, they should be 3/8" in diameter.
If growing for bulb storage onions, they should be smaller (1/4" or less). I
know this sounds illogical but it's because of the stage of their
development. Larger ones will shoot seed stalks and smaller ones will not.
In the field, growers plant seed heavily into a furrow, about 12 seeds per
inch of row. They grow fine until they start competing with each other. Let
them go into dormancy in late June, early July (depending on where you're
located. They bulb in response to daylength). You do this by with-holding
water. Rain won't overrule this if you really seed heavily. By August they
should be ready for harvest.
Bill Shoemaker, Sr Research Specialist - Food Crops
University of Illinois - St Charles Horticulture Research Center
www.nres.uiuc.edu/faculty/directory/shoemaker_wh.html
>I grew onion sets one year by starting onion seeds in a flat, close
>together, and having them stay there all season, then eventually not
>watering them any more so that they dry out. They did grow the next year -
>so it did work.
>
>There are probably very particular ways that one prepares and stores them
to
>last for the next season - but the above method is a rudimentary one.
>
>
>I prefer starting onions from seed - it isn't hard, and allows one to enjoy
>the emergence of seedlings when it is still snowy and cold outside:^)
>
> Jill Bussiere, Wisconsin, zone 5
>
>
>
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-
[Market-farming] Onion sets...,
, 03/21/2005
- RE: [Market-farming] Onion sets..., Marie Kamphefner, 03/21/2005
- RE: [Market-farming] Onion sets..., Jill Bussiere, 03/21/2005
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: [Market-farming] Onion sets..., Bill Shoemaker, 03/21/2005
- [Market-farming] Onion sets..., , 03/21/2005
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