Mark R
Are your onions blooming? In my climate if I plant onion bulbs (sets) in spring and leave them alone, they usually bloom that same summer. If I plant onion seeds in spring and leave them alone, they don’t bloom till the second summer. Onion seeds or sets planted in late summer or fall bloom the following year.
Which did you plant last fall? Little bulbs (sets) or seeds? My onion landrace is adapted to be planted as seeds at the same time as they make their seeds, which is early to mid-summer. I can’t guess how onions will act in your climate, but they have to bloom and make seeds before you can adapt them to your environment.
I’m not an expert on onions or much of anything else for that matter but I think some plants, maybe onions, need a cold period, rather than just a two-season time frame to bloom. If you planted last fall and they are not blooming, I suspect it might be that they didn’t get the cold period they need. If that’s the case, it may be difficult to make a Florida landrace of onions, but I would not give up.
Best thing, I think is to decide which you would rather have them do. If you store and replant you will be selecting for genetics that adjust to that. If you leave them in the ground, you will be selecting for that. If you have plenty, you might try doing some of each to see which they prefer. First things first, is to get seeds produced from your own plants, then you will be on your way to North Florida landrace onions.
Lowell M
This is helpful, thank you. I planted them by seed in October of last year. They are also not blooming and we’ve had a pretty cold year this year. Their tops are drying up and falling as they put all their energy into bulbing which makes me think they’re going into a sort of dormancy. I’m thinking I’ll leave them in the ground and see if they sprout and flower later in the year. I don’t have many so it might end up a wash but that’s okay. There were a lot of stress factors and elimination throughout their growing period since I neglected them so maybe this fall I’ll start over with a few more varieties and give them just a little more care.
Lauren Ritz
If you have enough, consider pulling half and leaving half in the ground. See which group adapts better and how the behavior is different for future plantings.
Ray S
I’ve never had great success growing onions. Always manage to get some but many bolt too soon. Haven’t got the timing right I suspect. I like Mark’s idea of seeding at the time they set seed. I might just plant a bunch somewhere, leave them do their thing, and collect whatever seeds they produce. If I note the time I collect the seed that will be my planting time for the following season. The more I think about it, the more I like this idea.
Thanks