Can you grow onions from an onion?

[papillon]

Having just read that it's not recommended to grow potatoes from a store bought one, I wonder if you can grow onions that way. One of the onions in my cupboard looks like it has about six sets of leaves sprouting out from the top. Would it divide into more onions if I plant it? Or could it introduce a disease into my garden?

 

[zigs]

Onions are biennials, they produce a bulb one year and use the energy stored in it the following year to produce seed, so if you plant the bulb it'll produce long leaves and seed heads, not a lot of eating on them.

With Shallots however, you could replant one of those & it would divide up and make more Shallot bulbs.

Disease wise, possibility of introducing Onion White Rot, a fungus that destroys the bulbs and makes it impossible to grow any onion family plants for about 10 years.

 

[blueiris]

I don't know about planting them but the green sprouts on the onion are delicious to add to your favorite dish. I don't think the sprout hurts the white or yellow part of the onion, and it tastes great, too. I eat my sprouting onions.

 

[happyflowerlady]

I have planted green onions from the store before, and they will grow just fine. I usually use the top of the onion, and then plant it with about 2" of top sticking out of the ground. Soon, it will start to grow more tops, and I just let it grow, and harvest the tops as needed for salads or whatever. I imagine that you could also plant an onion bulb that has started to grow more tops, and then use the greens from that , but I don't think it will grow another bulb.

 

[headfullofbees]

Most of what we call onions are actually shallots, so you could, theoretically, grow it like a shallot set

 

[claudine]

My mother sometimes plants onions and they never produce any extra bulbs. Instead, we get a lot of fresh onion chives It tastes great with scrambled eggs.

 

[Rzashida]

Like zigs said they go to seed. I have planted old onions and they made neat musty flowers then go to seeds. I happens rather quickly too.

 

[firelily99]

I'd go with the shallots mainly due to their taste which I like better than regular onions. I don't monkey with growing things like garlic and onions, I can go to a farmer's market and get whatever I need.

 

[Pat]

We have wild onions growing though out the yard. I pull them up or cut the tops off and use in salads. I guess the wild blew some seeds that took root and now we have wild onions, you can smell them in the spring. I have never tried to grow onions from an onion.

 

[Gardener]

I honestly had no idea how onions were even grown until a friend of mine informed me. I always pick the onion up before they even get seeds and use the tops for salad. I don't plant to many though because I eat maybe 1 per week. I plant about 50 and as soon as they are about to produce seeds, I just pluck them right out of the ground and store them in the garage.

 

[IcyBC]

I have planted green onions from the store before, and they will grow just fine. I usually use the top of the onion, and then plant it with about 2" of top sticking out of the ground. Soon, it will start to grow more tops, and I just let it grow, and harvest the tops as needed for salads or whatever. I imagine that you could also plant an onion bulb that has started to grow more tops, and then use the greens from that , but I don't think it will grow another bulb.

I have been growing green onion this way for about a year now, of course in the summer only, and didn't have to buy green onion during this time. It is the easiest to grow. I just buy one bunch of organic green onion and use the white top to put them in the soil.

 

[Claire]

We have wild onions growing though out the yard. I pull them up or cut the tops off and use in salads. I guess the wild blew some seeds that took root and now we have wild onions, you can smell them in the spring. I have never tried to grow onions from an onion.

I just wrote almost this identical response in another conversation. Hah. We also have wild onions throughout the yard. In my suburban neighborhood, local green grass companies have come by to do a free lawn assessment, and I'm always ranking very high in clover and onion. Then they give me a prescription to get rid of it all.

I don't know about you, but they just don't bother me. I rather enjoy mowing over them and smelling the release of onion juices. I also just don't mind that my grass isn't a perfectly manicured all "grass" lawn. As long as it is green, it looks healthy. I sort of hate this American notion that we need perfectly cultured and manicured lawns.

 

[headfullofbees]

I've been convinced, for some time, that there is no difference at all between onions and shallots, merely that shallots are a group of onions with particular traits; they tend to be small and sweet.
Further, both are Allium Cepa.

I've decided to put it to the test by doing two things:

1) Growing small sweet onions which are definitely classed as onions, not shallots. (Variety Rouge Longue de Florence.)
2) I've planted one of last summer's Red Baron onions (again no ambiguity, these are definitely onions), which had begun to sprout, into a florist's bucket, filled with multi-purpose compost, and allowed the sprout to grow.

I'm now at the position where there are 7 identifiably different sprouts, and I'm now at the stage where it/they definitely require planting out.
The question is, "Do I plant it in one, or do I try to tease the sprouts apart, in order to hopefully grow bigger onions?"

I think the answer may depend upon what it's like when I get it out of the bucket, in terms of separating, (which I'd rather do), and the risk of breaking.

 

[zigs]

Won't they bolt, being in the second year Bees?

 

[headfullofbees]

Won't they bolt, being in the second year Bees?

That's why I'm experimenting.
Sets (Dutch onions) are in their second year.