Ping Songbird: onion seeds

[T]

Hi Songbird,

The green onions I planted last years in my farrow bin are going nuts! I have been ripping their leaves off regularly.

Now they are starting to seed. They look like this:

I would like to collect the seeds for next year. What do I do next?

-T

[Snag]

Cut a piece of pantyhose leg about 6 inches long . Tie one end in a knot , pull it over the seed pod and use a twist tie to hold it snugly against the stem of the seed pod . This will allow the seeds to mature naturally and the pantyhose will catch them for you .

[songbird]

let them flower and set seeds. the bees love those flowers and you can find out a lot about your local bee population by observing who visits. the flower head doesn't need to be covered to catch the seeds - just keep an eye on them for when the pods start to open. at that point you can trim the stalks with the pods off and then let them finish drying in a box top to catch any seeds that want to fall out. after they are fully dried you can knock the seeds out that you want (likely there will be more than you can use).

songbird

[T]

What do you mean by start to open? The paper covers are starting to break. Is that what you mean? Or do some kind of flower come out of the paper cover?

What do they look like when they are about to seed?

How much of the stalk to I cut off when I do? The stalks are 1-1/2 foot long.

After they flower, will the plant die or will they bolt and come back next year?

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

most onion flowers look like big fuzzballs of different colors. these are chives (the light purple flowers in the foreground):

the bunching onions i have will have yellow fuzzballs instead but otherwise look much the same.

the difference is that the chives will not make as large of capsules to form seeds as will the bunching onions or regular onions. i'm not sure what you have there, but just leave them alone for a while and keep them watered. :)

what should happen is you seem some kind of flowering and some kind of pods form where seeds will develop after the bees get at them to pollenate them.

notice there is a variety of forms being shown there and different colors of flowers. i don't know exactly what you have, but i'm sure if you google looking for onion seed pods with that name you should see some images available that will show you what to expect for what type of plant you have.

8-12 inches is plenty, but don't cut it until the pods start to crack open and you see some black seeds. this way you know you have most of the energy that has already gone towards ripening the seeds. you just want to finish them ripening inside in a controlled box top instead of having seeds falling around the garden or in the pathways.

depends upon the onion type. some will just keep on going and others are more strictly biannual and will not regrow. i've had some clumps of regular onions continue growing and flowering after i've removed some of them as some small bulbs or bits of root can regrow, but other times i've had them only come back from a bulb the previous year and that was it. some i've replanted seeds and then gotten tiny bulbs which i then lift in the early summer and store until later in the season and replant them so they will flower the next spring.

i am right now growing some bunching onions to see if we like how these work out. if they do i'll have tons of seeds (i already have tons of seeds from last year's flowers). they have yellow flowers and the bees are all over them (like any other onion we grow). i like growing onions for the flowers alone, it's nice that some of them are edible. :)

songbird

[T]

Thank you!

I planted some onions in the font yard's flower circle along with the tulips and hollyhocks. It will be interesting! Wonder if anyone will realize they are onion. Chuckle.