Topic: Egyptian Tree Onion - Q

[1066]

Hi
I've been busy swapping seeds and now have some Egyptian tree Onions  ;D Did a bit of a search for growing info and came up with the following blurb. It says I can sow from May to December. What time do you plant to get the best results - over winter or in Spring? And how long are they generally in the ground for?

Thanks
1066


" TREE ONION GROWING INFORMATION
© Frances Michaels
COMMON NAMES: walking onions, Egyptian onions, topset onions
BOTANICAL NAME: Allium cepa var. proliferum
FAMILY: Alliaceae, the onion family

PLANT DESCRIPTION
Tree onions produce up to 6-10 tender, juicy, mild onions at the base of the plant; and a stiff stem with 6-8 bulbils, or little onions, at the top. A biennial, it will self-propagate by folding its stem to the ground so that the bulbils plant themselves. It is the most cold-hardy of all the onions and survives frozen ground.

USES
The top bulbils are used for pickling. The base bulb is a tender, juicy salad onion. Tree onions will keep for up to 12 months.

PLANTING
Plant May to December in a sunny, well-drained position. Plant in late spring in cooler areas. Soil is best prepared a few months before planting. For a good crop, tree onions require a rich, loam soil. Avoid using manure, as too high a nitrogen content will reduce the keeping quality of the tree onions. Check the pH and add lime to correct acidity. Plant tree onions 3 cm deep. Space bulbs 15-20 cm apart.

HARVEST
Harvest the tree onions when the stalks dry, gather the bulbils and plant out straight away. Spread the bulbs on a wire screen in a cool, well-ventilated shelter to dry. Store in a cool, dry place or hang up in open weave bags. "

[chriscross1966]

I was planning on starting mine after the maincrop onions have come out of the propagators in late january/early feb, along with other hardy veg starting under glass.... the order is Giant onions, maincrop onions, hardy veg (x2 probably), tender GH veg, tender outdoor veg....... The giants start in december..... Tree onions don't commonly produce seed, though they do flower occasionally, generally the flower structure is replaced by the bulbil heads.... the growing instructions refer to bulbils being planted but TBH they are so robust I reckon that once you've got them big enough to recognise from the seeds (ie about 3" tall, harden them off and plant them out with some BFB, same as any other onion. THey don't normally "tree" in their first year (the same is true of smaller bulbils) .... The seeds you have cmae from Finland and the grower apparently leaves them in the ground over winter......

chrisc

[1066]

Thanks for the info ChrisCross - so they can tolerate cold then  :P
I'll have to figure out where to plant them out if they are to be in the ground for any length of time....

[chriscross1966]

Thanks for the info ChrisCross - so they can tolerate cold then  :P
I'll have to figure out where to plant them out if they are to be in the ground for any length of time....

I'm planning on moving the Catawissas I've already got in March to where the rest of the onions will be (and the garlic is) so as to keep a bed for alliums.... ATM they're in the bed that next year will be squash and sweetcorn so no worries about them blocking up the space....  Catawissa's are the biggest of the tree onions (by a distance too) but are if anythign supposed to be even hardier.... over the next few years I hope to be introducing a decent number of the A4A'ers to the delights of a four foot tall tree onion.... I also managed to pick up some bulbils of one of the other tree onions this year, ATM they're in pots awaiting sdome digging over to be done (as are some of the elephant garlic and the potato onions.... I do like growing onions (in case you haven't noticed) so they do tend to lead to me running a slightly odd looking rotation... onions and squash both on big plots then half-sized units each of beans, brassicas, roots and "misc"

chrisc

[Robert_Brenchley]

My catawissas have been in for a couple of months. I'd put them straight in myself.

[1066]

I thought I'd sow some of the seeds in pots at home and then transplant them when they are a couple of inches - presume this would be ok

[gardentg44]

Egyptian Tree onions ??? ???

thats a new one on me.

any pics please

[1066]

Me too Gardening44  :D - hopefully someone who has grown them will have some good pics, the ones I've seen so far on the internet don't make them look that intersting  :-\

And Chris - is this a world domination thing and should we all take cover now  ::) ;D

[chriscross1966]

Tree onion bulbils




Young Catawissa




Full grown Catawissa... that's a Kelsae behind it BTW, not just a normal size maincrop onion.



Catawissa bulbil at the top of the stem.

[1066]

thanks for the pics -  and yup they look bonkers to me  ;D

[chriscross1966]

thanks for the pics -  and yup they look bonkers to me  ;D

Yup.... Cats are the biggest tree onions and the only one that regularly sets more than one deck of bulbils in UK conditions, one of mine managed three layers of bulbils this year......

They come from a bit of the US that was settled by Germans fleeing the restoration of the Kingdom of Poland in the mid-nineteenth century, the town of Catawissa gets its name from Katowice I believe.... The strain was nearly lost, being rediscovered by a agricultural expedition to abandoned farms in the area.... still rare in this country though I hope I'm doing my bit to help on that front :-)

chrisc

[1066]

interesting background story - thanks for the info

[gardentg44]

[thanks for the pics -  and yup they look bonkers to me  ;D

]

And me