Walla Walla Spacing and Storing..

My book is across the street with a friend, and I feel naked without it as a quick resource. Google stinks now that I know you guys are here. So....

I broke down and bought an onion set from Lowe's for $3.69. I mispoke earlier this week when I said they were sets of 15. They are sets of 60. There are 15 bunches/sets per box. I crossed up the numbers on the drive home. And, it won't be the last time. Still likely pricey, but what the wife wants, the wife gets. (It's a good rule of thumb imho)

16/square seems awfully tight. Is 9/square ok? The tag says to space 4" in rows.

Secondly, how the heck will I store the rest? I only used 18. I am not opposed to giving some away to neighbors. I'd even offer them to all of you if I thought they'd ship and arrive alive. But, I want to get another stagger in the ground in a month, if possible.

Should I keep them dry or damp? Dark or under lights? Do they go dormant like other bulbs...and are onions sold to retail stores from dormancy?

Thanks.

I just planted some Walla Walla starts I got from a friend. He had some soil that was prepared, but nothing was planted yet, so he put the bunch in the soil so that the bulbs were covered. The starts stayed just fine and even grew a little before they were actually planted.

I planted mine 4 per square, but 9 per square would probably have worked. You're right that 16/sq is just too tight for those.

BYBG

If the instructions say 4 inches apart, then you would set them 9 in a square. I would only place 16 in a square if I planned to use them as green onions and not allow them to bulb up. I guess the exception would be plant them 16 in a square and harvest alternate plants as green onions and that would leave you with 8 per square to bulb up.

I have not tried to store sets for any length of time and really do not know the best way to hold them over for a month or two

I forgot Mel's super easy "square" rule for spacing. Can anyone explain it to me again? If I could only remember it, spacing would be a snap.

I planted my texas giants and red granex's at 9x per square. 16x just looked like it was going to be too tight for the larger size onions. I guess I will find out if that was right in about 100 days...

4 goes into 12, 3 times, 3 X 3 = 9 so that's how many can go in a square.... you just take the spacing and divide it into a foot (12in), then square it (or multiply it by itself). Of course, Mel's explanation is a little smoother....

Funny...tonight I went to Big R and picked up a few things...they had bunches of Walla Walla starts, rubber banded together...I estimate there are about 100 in the bunch, for $1.79. Now I live in Idaho, right on the border of Washington...not too far from the Walla Walla Valley where these come from. Maybe they are cheaper for me because I am closer? Who knows.

Anyway I was looking at these things thinking how in the heck long do I have to plant them? They are a little dried, some green on top, but the part that would bulb and the roots are definitely papery. Were yours like that BYBG? I also need to figure out what to do with them...I don't think I can plant them yet...I still have frosts coming. On the company's website there was no info about how to plant the dang things...or when!

AHHHHH!!!!!

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:I forgot Mel's super easy "square" rule for spacing. Can anyone explain it to me again? If I could only remember it, spacing would be a snap.

If the thin to spacing is
3 inches apart = 16 per sq
4 inches apart = 9 per square
6 inches apart = 4 per square
12 inches apart = 1 per square

These also happen to be the squares of the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4

BBG, we plant our onions 16 to a square, regardless of whether we are using sets or transplants. Then, as Furbalsmom said, we thin every other one to use as green onions, leaving eight in the square.

I've found that here in the mid-section of the country our onions don't grow as large as they do in the south and north - short-day onions grow large in the south, long-day onions grow large in the north. Either type grows here, but they do not get as large. If I expected mine to get as large as the big ones in the grocery store, four or six per square would probably be about right.

Onion sets are dormant, and should keep quite a while at temperatures between 32-50 degrees. In warmer temps they will start sprouting, but they can still be planted. Onion transplants are better if they don't dry out completely, but they can hold for a short time.

Jen, onions can take freezes. Their ends might get nipped, but I'd recommend you get those transplants out now. The sooner you plant them, the larger your onions will be.

Awesome info, Ander. Thanks a ton!

Jennie, mine were rubber banded together, too. But, I don't know about "papery." Mine were getting watered along with the rest of the veggies set out by Lowe's to sell. That was what was making me so nervous. If they were shipped in dormant, they won't be for long getting the sun and water every morning. I wet mine again, and put them in a grocery store's plastic baggy. I wrapped it up and put it downstairs under my lights. If they bend up and reach for the light, they ain't dormant no mo...lol. Then, if I want to force dormancy, I guess I air them out until they dry, pack them in some sand, and drop them in the refridgerator to cool them down?....like tulips? Or, I just go door to door with the neighbors until someone takes them off my hands.

Furbalsmom has the quote from the book I was looking for. Thanks.

But, krazikandiland has the clarification so I can't forget. So darned simple.

Thanks to all of you for helping. (We need a smiley giving a hug.)

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:(We need a smiley giving a hug.)

At the moment, we have these

Johnny on the Spot once again, you are. You sure would think someone would find one if they just looked.

I was never good at open-book tests.....I tried to remember things anyway. Duh.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:Awesome info, Ander.  Thanks a ton!

Jennie, mine were rubber banded together, too.  But, I don't know about "papery."  Mine were getting watered along with the rest of the veggies set out by Lowe's to sell.  That was what was making me so nervous.  If they were shipped in dormant, they won't be for long getting the sun and water every morning.  I wet mine again, and put them in a grocery store's plastic baggy.  I wrapped it up and put it downstairs under my lights.  If they bend up and reach for the light, they ain't dormant no mo...lol.  Then, if I want to force dormancy, I guess I air them out until they dry, pack them in some sand, and drop them in the refridgerator to cool them down?....like tulips?  Or, I just go door to door with the neighbors until someone takes them off my hands.

Furbalsmom has the quote from the book I was looking for.  Thanks.

But, krazikandiland has the clarification so I can't forget.  So darned simple.

Thanks to all of you for helping.  (We need a smiley giving a hug.)

I had the same thing happen at Walmart this week. Today I soaked them all, planted the big ones in containers, the medium-sized ones in a bowl of perlite for later planting somewhere  , and the tiny ones -- just barely sprouted seeds with root stubble -- in a plant tray with perlite for much later planting, if they survive.  I only expected a dozen or so, but I wound up with 81. I'm guessing there were supposed to be 60, and the rest aren't expected to survive, but I spent an hour messing with them as an experiment. 

The first pic is of the largest bulbs in large containers -- 3-5 gal.


Next is the medium-sized bulbs in perlite.


Finally, here are the babies in their perlite bed. I have never grown onions before (except bunching and planted tops from grocery store onions) so I haven't a clue what I'm doing or if this is the right time to do it.

All advice and comments welcome.