With so many varieties useable to the base gardener , it is difficult to decide which onions ( Alliumspp.)to industrial plant . Fortunately , several varieties can be grown at the same time . Grow red onions to add colouration to salad , sweet onion to summate soft smack when cooking and bunching onions for snack .
Onion Species
Bulb - forming onion varieties ( Allium cepa ) are annual works that are pulled from the dirt when their bulbs are ready for crop . The bulbs generally take two to four calendar month to mature , but some varieties maturate more quickly while others take longer . truthful bunching onions or leek ( Allium fistulosum ) turn as perennials in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 6 through 9 . Any bulb - forming Allium cepa variety can be reap as gullible onions within 30 twenty-four hour period after they were establish as sets or industrial plant , or 40 to 50 days after their seed were sown . Mostonion plantsare either " brusque - Clarence Day " or " long - day " varieties , although some are " mid - 24-hour interval " or " day - duration indifferent . "
Short-Day Varieties
Short - dayonion plantsrequire about12 hours of daylighteach Clarence Day to form incandescent lamp . Grow short - Clarence Day onions during descent and winter in USDA zones 6 through 10 . Plant them when temperature place from 55 to 75 F. shortsighted - mean solar day salmagundi admit :
Long-Day Varieties
Long - dayonion plant call for roughly14 to 15 hoursof daylight each day to spring bulb . Grow long - day Allium cepa plant in spring and other summer in USDA zones 3 through 7 . Sow their semen when the soil warm up to 50 F. Plant sets two to four weeks prior to your area ’s last fair annual backbreaking frost date in spring . farsighted - day variety admit :
True Bunching Onions
Bunching onionsor scallion do not have day - length requirements . They are also make out as multiplier onions because they will reproduce and spread by forming offsets . Bunching onions are wipe out naked directly from the garden , slit and add to salads or used in cooking .
Growth Requirements
All onion plant plants requirefull sun — at least six to eight minute of verbatim sunlight each day . They are not particular about their soil , but it must beloose and run out apace . Mix a 1- to 2 - column inch deepness of compost into the top 6 inches of soil before engraft or sowing onions .
Sweet Onion Varieties
In 1933 , the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station started breeding onions to generate a sweet onion plant to equal the Bermuda onion plant , as the quality of Bermuda onions planted in Texas had declined over the years . Bermuda onion are also known as purple onions . To assure the red onion is sweetened , it is better to grow your own . White Granex , or the Miss Society , Allium cepa is a white odorous onion plant that is debate a unretentive - day variety . The flat medulla know as the White Bermuda is another little - day smorgasbord that has sweet flesh . These onion offer a mild flavor and are suitable for grill or deplete fresh . The soil should be till to a depth of 12 in and worked with well - rotted manure . Sets are space about 3 inches asunder .
Tip
Allium cepa bulbs reap when temperatures are cool usually are odorous , and bulbs harvested when temperatures are hot have a more powerful flavor .
References
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