[chrissie B]

just grown our first onions and some have pushed halfway out of the ground , now they are all different sizes and in my excitement i have pulled a rather large one and now I'm wondering have pulled it too soon they don't have brown skins when do they come ?later should i leave them in the ground all advice welcome thank you
Chrissie b

[Trillium]

You should eat the one you've pulled as there's no protective brown skin as you mention.
The time to pull onions out is when you notice many of the tops starting to flop over on their own, or after the best part of the season (late July, early August for us) you push them down. This stops further growth and starts building up the 'storage' skins. After a few weeks of this, you can pull them, dry them outside for a few days then put into storage, whatever. Just don't leave them sitting on the soil as the roots will simply work their way back in and start growing to seed again.

[chrissie B]

by pushing down do you mean the storks ? pushing them over or do you mean the bulb part ?
chrissie b

[iwantanallotment]

Trillium, have I boo-boo'd with my onions?
I planted them under the compost, no tips showing  :oops:  Today I lifted one, cos the tops are massive & floppy, but there was just a soggy little brown thing on the end, no bigger than when I planted it at the end of March.
Got hundreds of onions planted this way so hope I haven't boo-boo'd....but think I have  

Soz for butting in on your prob, Chrissie

[Diggerpete]

They won't be ready for pulling up yet. As long as there is roots on them the will swell up later in the season.

[WhippetMaster]

Glad I saw this mine are the same, all tops and no bum not quiet how I like them!!!1

[gobs]

by pushing down do you mean the storks ? pushing them over or do you mean the bulb part ?
chrissie b

I'd leave them well alone, Chrissie, when they are ready they bend over as said. Perfectly done by themselves, don't need helping. You don't get them up with dry skin mind, that happens on drying.

No reason not to use some in the mean time.

No idea , when all this happens on your climate.

[chrissie B]

ok then i will just leave them to their own devices the stems are still bolt upright .
thanks
chrissie b

[vegmandan]

Onions only start to bulb after the longest day June 21st.

So they'll just grow leaves 'till then and then after that they'll grow the bulb.

You'll know when they're ready because the leaves will fall over in about August then you can pull them up and dry them.

[sharky]

I also planted my sets under the surface of the soil. Will they be OK and grow normally? If so, what is the purpose of only planting them halfway in the ground?

[chrissie B]

if i have to wait till then i will need a wheel barrow for each onion .
chrissie b

[gobs]

Yours should be ready much sooner than ours, even mine are not rare to be ready in july.