Re: Flowering Onions

[bluebubble30]

Help!!

I bought some red onion sets and planted them a couple of months a g and they were going great. Now I have noticed they have flower buds a the top of one of the stalks. Have they bolted or is this natural?

Never grown these onions before so not sure what to expect.

Any advice greatly received!

Thanks

- bluebubble3

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[Stan Goodman]

were going great. Now I have noticed they have flower buds atthe top of one of the stalks. Have they bolted or is this natural?

That's what onions do. They are not bolting. Snip off the buds, however, and put them in the wok (call them "Lily Buds"). You don't need them to put their effort into making seeds.

[Ross Reid]

were going great. Now I have noticed they have flower buds atthe top of one of the stalks. Have they bolted or is this natural?

Unfortunately, while that's true for garlic, it is not true for onions. Onions are biennial and, if the onion sets were too big when harvested they think they've finished their first year. When they're planted again they think they are in their second year and send up a flower stalk. Once an onion sends up a flower stalk, you might as well pull the onion and use it; it will not continue to grow larger nor will it store well. Leave any that haven't sent up a flower stalk, they will continue to grow. Any that have sent up a flower stalk are on an unstoppable downhill slide as far as being edible. You could always let them mature and save the seeds. In most cases, growing onions from seed produces far more satisfactory results and onions grown from seed will store much better than those grown from sets. Ross, Ontario, Canada. New AgCanada Zone 5b

43º19' North 80º16' West

[Nick Apostolakis]

were going great. Now I have noticed they have flower buds atthe top of one of the stalks. Have they bolted or is this natural?

This could happen also in the first year if the onions has been exposed to cold conditions.