Amish Yellow Bottle Onions

[JRinPA]

I have no experience with it. Maybe bag it with agribon type cloth and a rubber band at the base, then shake it after a while, collect the seed, and replace for a few more days? Probably something I'd try simply because I have agribon laying around.

[ponyexpress]

I checked on my onions this morning and noticed a couple of the seed stalks were eaten. I decided to clip all of the seed heads and start drying them.

Here’s a picture of the seed head that was eaten.

87FFCFC8-4E30-4703-919C-EC422EB0A9C5.jpeg

Here are all of the heads that I harvested for seeds.

C1D73196-68F1-446A-B20F-C82FCE2FE185.jpeg

[ponyexpress]

The seeds are dried. Now I need to put them in a bag and use a roller to break up the heads. Then I plan to use a fan to separate the seeds from the chaff. Have not done this before. Let me know if you have any advice.

C815FE6B-96DF-4041-BA35-F0385C0DB602.jpeg

[JRinPA]

Sounds like it should work. I have done the fan with lettuce seed and it worked - had to very light wind for the lettuce or the seed would blow too far and miss the catch pan.

[DriftlessRoots]

The seeds are dried. Now I need to put them in a bag and use a roller to break up the heads. Then I plan to use a fan to separate the seeds from the chaff. Have not done this before. Let me know if you have any advice.

C815FE6B-96DF-4041-BA35-F0385C0DB602.jpeg

I haven't done onion seeds (yet!) but have used a fan to winnow seeds before. My only advice is to start with the fan farther away than you might think you need to and adjust it closer as you get the sense of the weight of the seed. Depending on the depth of your receiving container, hard seeds may have a tendency to bounce out when dropped from a height. A towel crumpled in the bottom can pad their landing.

I've also used a hair dryer on the cool setting blowing over shallow pans of seed, again starting way back and sneaking up on them.

[bower]

I do a lot of seed cleaning in the house, so no setup for winnowing and have to use gravity instead.
For allium seeds, I start with them in a brown paper bag and squeeze and shake the bag to release as many seeds as possible without breaking up the chaff. This makes it easier to clean them.

[ponyexpress]

I'm ready to pass on seeds to those folks who would like to try growing Amish bottle onions from seed. If you're interested in getting some seeds, please send me a PM indicating your interest and your mailing address. You'll want to plant half of the seeds in early June so they'll grow to be sets. Then you can use the other half to grow as onions or regular sets next year. I was able to grow them to full size like regular onion seeds planted in January indoors.

This is what Martin wrote in his first post of this thread:

Do a search for that rare variety and there is little information. If there is any, it's usually mine. At the moment, they are so scarce that only 3 gardeners may be growing them this year. One has never grown onions before and the other didn't properly care for his sets and must start over. The third is me and I missed a year due to health. And that's the problem now.

These onions are the best cooking type that I've ever found. 1½" thick and 4" to 5" long, sometimes bigger. However, they are not something that one throws seeds in the ground and come back 4 months later and harvest. Seeds must first be planted at the right time to produce sets of a proper size. Sets must be saved to plant back the next year to obtain bulbs. Bulbs must be save to plant back to get seeds. That is how it used to be with onions before development of modern varieties.

If planted early, these will go straight to seed. If sets are too big, they will often merely divide or bolt. Thus it is critical as to when the seeds are planted to produce sets. The time is mid-June and so far only known for the Long Day zone. Ideal set size is about ¼" thick. Both the bulbs and sets store well so one should have no trouble storing them. Just need the incentive to do it.

Now, we need some serious gardeners to come forth and offer to become protectors of that variety. SSE has seeds but chances of them doing more than storing them are slim. We have a two-week window here for me to get seeds and growing instructions to serious gardeners. I would say Long Day only but they may work in Intermediate.

Timing of planting is important as bulbing only begins when daylight hours shorten. For set production, onios bulb quickly during that time and go dormant after about 60 days. The sets then have the same keeping quality as mature bulbs and will survive almost totally drying out. Thus one must be really negligent to lose them.

[ponyexpress]

Almost 3 oz worth of seeds from last year's harvest.

IMG_0552.jpeg

[eyegrotom]

P M sent

[JRinPA]

Yes sending PM, thank you, I wish I had gotten to know Martin better. He was font. edit was a font of knowledge

[AZGardener]

I'm very interested, thank you! PM sent

[ponyexpress]

I responded to the PMs.
to grow onion sets, you just need to sow your seeds in early June. Let them sprout and grow into little bulbs. Then at the end of July, beginning of August, the tops will die down. You then harvest and store the sets for next year.

Plant the sets in early April to grow full sized onions. Save some onion bulbs to plant the following year to get seeds.

You can skip the process of growing sets if you start the seeds early enough like January and plant seedlings out in April.

[ponyexpress]

Just a reminder folks that now is the time to plant amish bottle onion seeds to grow sets. Do it any time between now and June 15th.

[JRinPA]

I apologize, as I am still new to onions and saving seed for them.

I am a little confused by the wording above, "Plant the sets in early April to grow full sized onions. Save some onion bulbs to plant the following year to get seeds." What bulbs are getting saved to plant?

These are Biennials, right? Won't seed until the second year?

If I plant seed June 2023 and leave it in the ground over the winter, when will it have harvestable seed? July or August of 2024, right?



This was my thinking going in to this project:

I'm thinking I need to save half the seed for next year. So divide giftseed into half1 and half2.

This year I need to plant half1 in early June to generate sets1 and to leave a few in the ground for newseed1 that will be created in summer24.

Next year I need to re-plant sets1 in early April. Then I need to plant half2 in early June to generate sets2 and to leave a few in the ground for newseed2 that will be created in summer25.

Also, I can substitute Jan seed planting for the set cycle, except that I definitely need to plant some seeds now to have newseed1 next summer, and need to leave some in the ground every year after to generate seed. ?

[JRinPA]

I've read Martin's post a few times as well, bulb versus set is getting me there too. It seems to me like you need two seed pools to get fresh seed each year. So I figure to divide the giftseeds into the two pools.

[ponyexpress]

I apologize, as I am still new to onions and saving seed for them.

I am a little confused by the wording above, "Plant the sets in early April to grow full sized onions. Save some onion bulbs to plant the following year to get seeds." What bulbs are getting saved to plant?

The sets that you planted in early April will become full sized onions by August. Eat some of them. Save 8-9 and replant next year for seeds. You could leave them in the ground all winter but I haven't done this with Amish onions but have with others.

These are Biennials, right? Won't seed until the second year?

If I plant seed June 2023 and leave it in the ground over the winter, when will it have harvestable seed? July or August of 2024, right?

You probably will have seeds if you leave the sets in the ground. Not sure if you want to do that. I keep my sets in a cool room over the winter. Some of the sets will not survive the winter or they'll sprout early. I don't plant those. I plant the ones that survive the winter intact as I want to keep those seeds as the strongest.

This was my thinking going in to this project:

I'm thinking I need to save half the seed for next year. So divide giftseed into half1 and half2.

This is good.

This year I need to plant half1 in early June to generate sets1 and to leave a few in the ground for newseed1 that will be created in summer24.

I would pull the sets and store them over the winter in a cool room. You could leave a few in the ground (maybe 9-10) to see what will happen. I don't have experience with it. It's possible that the sets will not have enough energy/food to survive the winter.

Next year I need to re-plant sets1 in early April. Then I need to plant half2 in early June to generate sets2 and to leave a few in the ground for newseed2 that will be created in summer25.

Yes, except for the part about leaving the sets in the ground. Not sure if that will work.

Also, I can substitute Jan seed planting for the set cycle, except that I definitely need to plant some seeds now to have newseed1 next summer, and need to leave some in the ground every year after to generate seed. ?

Yes except for leaving the sets in the ground.

[ponyexpress]

I planted seeds on June 1st and my pots all have seedlings coming up. I planted the second half of the seeds that Martin gave me last year in one pot (the upper left). The other 3 pots have seeds that I produced last year. They're looking good.

IMG_1186.jpeg

[JRinPA]

I haven't seen any sprout yet; might have been the 5th when I got a chance to do it. Pots are outside in the sun. After this rain I think they will come up. Life here is a mess right now. I should get more started as I only used about 1/4 the seed to do the two pots I had ready.

[steve ok]

First time growing Amish Yellow Bottle Onions. I planted 96 seeds today, with 32 each into 3 pots.
What germination rate might I expect from the seeds?
How many viable sets might I end up with?
Thanks, Steve

[JRinPA]

I just sprinkled a bunch in two pots, I can't comment on the germination rate. They look sparse-ish but the weather is not what I consider ideal. Certainly they didn't see much rain and I've been busy. I just did third pot a half hour ago, a couple weeks late but we'll see. Did it the same way, wet it, sprinkled on seeds, trying to be even, and added some more dry mix over top and watered again lightly. I hope they come up faster than the last two pots. I didn't count these either so I won't have any data to add.

Hey, question about Onion Seed Storage. I bought seed in Jan 2022 and not much of the leftover seed germinated in Jan 2023. How should onion seed be stored to make it a mostly viable for more than one year?