Amish Yellow Bottle Onions

[ponyexpress]

I thought that we went through the nag thing before but must be wrong.

Yes, we did, not even a month ago!
However, it wasn't clear whether you did the leaves loosely or put the bag physically on top. I'm a literal person who needs explicit directions.

Anyway, I think I know what to do. Looking forward to planting a few onions for seed. Will plan to use a wire cage with leaves to protect them. May also do the same for my hydrangea & blueberry bushes.

[Paquebot]

I hope to be able to have some seeds for you to get sets next year. Looks good sp far..

mARTIN

[Paquebot]

Harvest of the 48 planted from sets is done. Due to April and May drought, probably 10 days early but they were done. Size also affected as the biggest would have been barely average last year. C

Martin

[ponyexpress]

Do you pull them up when they still have green leaves? Or do you leave them in the field until they're mostly brown? Dixondale has this advice:

Examine all the leaves, particularly the most recent one to appear (last leaf). The leaf sheaths mature and dry from the oldest to the youngest leaf. If you pull the onions from the soil before the last leaf is dry, rot could occur during storage. The neck cavity or top of the onion should not be sunken or soft before lifting the onions out of the soil.

[Paquebot]

All had flopped about 2 weeks before. after that they quickly began to shrink and brown. Some had dried down to only 6" or so. After several more days on a screen, what was left was trimmed off. All should store well.

Martin

[ponyexpress]

I pulled all of my onions. Most of mine were small but I did get a few decent sized ones. One onion was a traditional round shape instead of a bottle one. Here’s a picture of my onions:

B4F7091E-47FB-49A9-9B90-0649C1D85020.jpeg

[bower]

Very nice looking onions.

[ponyexpress]

It's getting to the time of the year where one plant garlic for next year. I will be working to plant some of my bottle onions for seed production. Will make a cage for them and ensure that they have leaves to protect them from the worst of winter.

[Paquebot]

I've got a "ton" of seed for anyone wishing to get involved with saving this rare variety. No charge, just a desire to do your best like Pony did.

Martin

[wykvlvr]

would love to try some here but would they work in Wyoming?

[Spike]

@Paquebot Not gonna do that again. I had a beautiful crop of your onions. Started with your seeds, saved and planted the sets and my stupid cousin came and took every single one of the onions. He said they were delicious and hoped I would be planting more >,<

[Paquebot]

If a stupid cousin were my only obstacle in saving these, I would be happy. For a time there were maybe 1 in 100 sets turned up to be white. Planted them on year and got perfect bulbs. Planted them back for seed. Just when hey were in full bloom a large branch came down from a tree and crushed them. I haven't seen a white set since. Thus a potential new long-keeper white variety was lost. That year caused a hiccup in the whole system with the result that I will not have sets to plant next year. I may not have enough years in me to see another white set.

Martin

[Spike]

Well my dear Martin, if you are willing to let me try again, I would love some more seeds. <3

[Paquebot]

Anyone wanting to try them, PM a mailing address is all that's needed.

Martin

[ponyexpress]

I got my seeds from Martin yesterday. Thanks!

I should be able to offer my own seeds next fall to those who are interested. Will be planting my mature onions for seed production this weekend.

[ddsack]

My bottle onions came out of winter storage in the house in poor shape, about 1/3 were too desiccated to sprout. The hot dry summer and sandy bed were not kind to the survivors and they did not increase much in size, mostly just got back to a barely growing status. I did have one larger bulb that flowered and I saved the seeds. I hope they will be fertile.

Now this fall, after the rains started, I see the survivors which had dried down and gone dormant are putting up green leaves. They were so small and looked so bad that I didn't bother pulling them, thought they might have just dried to death in the summer heat. I will leave them alone, and see if they will overwinter in the ground and put up seed heads next summer. Unfortunately that means I have to weed that bed now, or they will be lost in the jungle next spring.

[wykvlvr]

I got my seeds today My understanding is I plant these in about June to make sets that I save over winter and plant in 2023 for eating onions and seeds. I am in zone 5b so hoping they like it up here.

[ponyexpress]

Sad news. I just saw on Facebook that @Paquebot passed away overnight. His son said that Martin wrote an obituary and will post it once he figures out how to access it. I will do my part to keep his legacy going with Amish Bottle Onions. Will miss his advice in these forums.

[MissS]

Paquebot was also known for his Prairie Star tomatoes and bringing back Wisconsin 55 and Wisconsin 55 Gold. He contributed so much to the gardening world. He will be missed.

[ponyexpress]

Hi folks, what's going in your world with the bottle onions? Feel free to chime in with your plans.

I started some seeds yesterday along with 4 other onions and 1 shallot in my quest to grow plants equal to Dixondale Farms. I was successful last year using the root trainers. Had wanted to start these on New Year but was lazy and kept putting it off. I would like to see if I can grow the bottle onion like a traditional onion to make the process a bit easier.

I will plant some seeds in early June to grow as sets as @Paquebot recommended. The rest of the seeds I will reserve for next year in the event of a crop failure.

This past fall, I planted some mature onions in my house garden under a good layer of mulch. Will plant more onions this spring. These will be used for seed production. Since this will be at my house without any nearby onion plants, I hope to keep the seeds very pure.

Unfortunately, I don't have any sets to plant for onions this year.