Hello,

I am growing some red onions in the garden (Red Baron). They are doing well.
I notice that there is something like a small bud forming on the tips of the
mani stems. Is this normal ?

Thanks

KK

dido22 wrote:
Hello,

I am growing some red onions in the garden (Red Baron). They are doing
well. I notice that there is something like a small bud forming on the
tips of the mani stems. Is this normal ?

Thanks

KK

Sounds like a flower bud? In my experience red onions tend to have a
habit of running to seed more than white onions. They seem more
susceptible to periods of dry weather triggering bolting. Some suggest
cutting off the flower buds to discourage them from bolting, but that
only had limited success when I tried it a couple of years ago. Due to
this problem I only grow white onions now.

--
David in Normandy.
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subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
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"David in Normandy" wrote after
dido22 wrote:
I am growing some red onions in the garden (Red Baron). They are doing
well. I notice that there is something like a small bud forming on the
tips of the mani stems. Is this normal ?

Sounds like a flower bud? In my experience red onions tend to have a habit
of running to seed more than white onions. They seem more susceptible to
periods of dry weather triggering bolting. Some suggest cutting off the
flower buds to discourage them from bolting, but that only had limited
success when I tried it a couple of years ago. Due to this problem I only
grow white onions now.

Quite agree, red onions tend to go to seed more than white onions. I always
cut/pull off any flower heads as soon as I see them but the onion will
usually end up with a tube through the middle where the flower spike grew
from. Pick those onions as you need them from now on as they will never bulk
up as you might wish.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"David in Normandy" wrote after
dido22 wrote:
I am growing some red onions in the garden (Red Baron). They are doing
well. I notice that there is something like a small bud forming on the
tips of the mani stems. Is this normal ?

Sounds like a flower bud? In my experience red onions tend to have a
habit of running to seed more than white onions.
snip
Quite agree, red onions tend to go to seed more than white onions. I
always cut/pull off any flower heads as soon as I see them but the onion
will usually end up with a tube through the middle where the flower spike
grew from. Pick those onions as you need them from now on as they will
never bulk up as you might wish.


About 30% of mine (white onions) have gone to seed. Chop them (and leaves)
into a salad.

..

On 2009-06-14, David in Normandy wrote:

Sounds like a flower bud? In my experience red onions tend to have a
habit of running to seed more than white onions. They seem more
susceptible to periods of dry weather triggering bolting. Some suggest
cutting off the flower buds to discourage them from bolting, but that
only had limited success when I tried it a couple of years ago.

Several of my red onions are running to seed in this way. I've tried
cuting the flowerheads off in the past, but have found the onions didn't
really swell all that much, didn't store, and weren't really worth the
effort.

So this year, I'm going to leave the flower heads on, allow them to flower
and see if they're pretty. I may have a crack at saving the seed as well,
possibly bringing it on next year as spring onions or something.

If nothing else, the flower stalks serve as a reminder to me that I
have to keep on top of watering the onions ;-)

-Paul
--
http://paulseward.com