On Mon, 3 May 2010 18:29:13 -0400, "None4U"
wrote:


"Bobo" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 3 May 2010 00:33:18 -0400, "None4U"
wrote:

Hi . Anyone care to explain how to grow onions from year to year. I'm not
understanding how making onion sets gets you anywhere. You either let
then
grow and eat them or plant them late and make sets for next year. How do
you
get onions to reproduce. Without buying them over and over. They don't
seed do they?


I grew up planting onions with sets. Once I started with seed I never
went back. Onions from seed are bigger and better with more variety
available. In Ohio anyway, prepare the soil in the fall for spring
planting. I planted around the first of March this year though
sometimes go as late as April, earlier is better. My soil is heavy and
so I cover the seed with compost. Planting mix or sand work too.


I got about 80 sets of red onions.For this year already. But I would like
to get them from my own seed.


I just googled this and it looks like planting from seed late in the
season is the way to produce sets. The onions go dormant at a small
size and are pulled and dried. I think the key to this would be the
timing for your area. Onions mature with different day lengths, long
day in the north and short day in the south (US). So you might have to
have just the right kind of onion for this. I've only seen certain
varieties available as sets too, so maybe some onion types are
unsuitable. Anyway it looks like you'll have to experiment to get it
right.