Odd question, but can you eat onion sets?

[shaolin101]

Hi All,

I have some red baron sets left over and might not be able to plant them - can they be eaten or is that a bit too weird?

If it comes to it i will find a piece of floor - weeds or not - and put them in to see what happens.

[shaolin101]

[Uncle Joshua]

I guess you can but I'd plant them or give them away.

[GodfreyRob]

I guess you can but I'd plant them or give them away.

I'd want to wash them very thoroughly before eating though - if they are not organic then they may have chemical residues on them.

[marie59]

I read somewhere that is you plant those extras very close together you can then eat them like  spring onions once they have growen a few green leaves  - for what its worth.    Put in between the oringal rows planted    I have tried this, this year so will see how they taste  ???    Marie

[shaolin101]

Thanks - I will find some space and have smaller onions just to be safe.

Is there any reason i shouldn't plant them around potatoes - I have some space around them.

Liam

[Kea]

They may have been treated with fungicide, I wouldn't eat them. Put them in a pot if you have no other room.

[goodlife]

Is there any reason i shouldn't plant them around potatoes - I have some space around them.

Depends what you mean with having some space ...
Potato tops grow large and eventually flop over so quite likely your onions would be covered over if they are planted too close.. other than that there is no problem with putting few left over onions nearby...

[djbrenton]

I've planted spare onion sets and garlic cloves an inch apart before and just used the tops in salads.

[bupster]

Surely if the sets weren't ok to eat then neither would the full-grown onions?

I'd either freecycle them or plant them for greens. I always have a load left over.

[shaolin101]

thanks - i will clear a patch and just plant some close together - will give me something to look forward to a bit earlier!

[OllieC]

As a grower, you can use horrid chemicals on seed spuds as they're not food - they're seeds. I would never eat anything intended as a seed for this reason!

[bupster]

Yes, but seed spuds shrivel away in the ground and you don't eat them. Onion sets bulb up, so you are eating the seed.

[OllieC]

Yes, but seed spuds shrivel away in the ground and you don't eat them. Onion sets bulb up, so you are eating the seed.

hmmmm, good point. We need someone who lives in a place where onion sets are grown (that's the reason I know about seed spuds!)!

[bupster]

I thought (but not particularly deeply!) that the onion seeds themselves might have been treated, but that the sets were cold-stored to stop them developing. Maybe we should ask someone that sells them...

[jennym]

On page 2 of this pdf, the grower (Elsoms) makes a statement regarding treatments applied to onion sets: http://www.elsoms.com/PDFs/23-26.pdf