Topic: Bolting onions 2 pics

[kenkew]

The first pic shows what happens when onions 'bolt' or run to seed. If it happens to your onions all isn't lost, nip off the seed bulb and let it continue growing. The onion stalk might thicken up and the onion not as full as the others. Just eat those ones first. In this case I'm not too bothered about this bolting, the onions here are actually onions from last year which were hung up in the garage and begining to srout green stems. I put them in the ground in February to see what would happen. The result is pic 2. Quite mild onions very much like leeks.

[kenkew]

I meant to add that the onions actually grew like shallots, a bunch from one bulb.

[Merlins Mum]

thanks for putting on the first pic kenkew as only this afternoon someone on the lottie was asking me about this and what he should do about it, and I wasn't sure.

MM

[undercarriage plan]

I thought you were supposed to leave the onion in the ground until the leaves beant over.  What if the onion bolts before this? Mine are bolting at the min. I've nipped off the buds and they seem OK.  Should I pull them?  Thanks Lottie  ??? ???

[Debs]

What about leeks? (same Allium family)

I noticed today that mine were beginning to form seed heads, so

snapped them off - was this a right or wrong thing to do ???

Debs

[Mothy]

Pulled 2 red onions today as they bolting......ate them with a ham sarnie at lunchtime like  big spring onions!!  Lovely..... ;D

[kenkew]

If you take the seed pod off as soon as possible, you can leave the onion to continue growing. As I said, the bulb may not make as big an onion as without a seed pod, but it will continue to grow. The leaves on all onions will eventually start to die back but the confusing thing sometimes is that this can happen quite late in the season. Normally the leaves will turn yellow and start to topple around the end of August or into September. If it's a wet August the onions tend not to start dying back and the best solution is to bend over the leaves, this will speed up the ripening process.

[Mrs Ava]

Don't bend the stems, unless it happens naturally, as this will only encourage pests and lurgies in!

Once your leeks start to flower, I don't think they will be that great.  I was given a load of bolted leeks which were HUGE, and I found the flower stem that ran right through the middle of the leek was incredibly tough and stringy.  However, the rest of the leek, the outer layers, were fine, and I made a vat of delicious leek and potato soup with them, so all is not lost.  Dig them up now - a nice gap to fill with something else!  ;D

[kenkew]

Bending the stems over (onions) cuts off most of the 'juices' to the tip, the onion bulb then starts to ripen quicker. Done at the right time won't break or snap the stem so no lurgies are going to get in. Leaving unripened onions in the ground too long risks loosing the lot. (Lifting unripened onions is ok if you don't intend to store them for long periods, they simply won't keep.)

[Icyberjunkie]

Hadn't heard of leaf bending before.  I was under the impression that when they started to die back you dug them up and left them to dry in the sun for a couple of hours and they would keep fine.  Is that wrong or just a different way of achieving the same end?

[kenkew]

Spot on Icy', ideally the leaf/stem should be allowed to die back naturally and laid to dry in the sun for a few hours, but as I said above, sometimes this is delayed and a 'little help' is required to speed up ripening.

[Debs]

EJ - Shall do as you suggest and dig em up (you can never have enough
leeks ;D).

Debs

[Lizard Man]

Some of my onions are bolting again this year. Last year I treated them the same as the ones that didn't bolt (pulling them when the leaves had died back naturally, leaving to sun dry and then storing). The bolted onions were fine but just didn't store for that long.

The bending leaves technique sounds a good idea if the onions aren't dying back quick enough, though I've never tried this. As for leeks, this is my first year growing them. But would assume that all the Allium family would behave in a similar way.