growing onions for seed

[lurley]

This is the first year where I will be overwintering some onions for seed production next year and I have a few questions that occurred to me while planting out my seedlings. Do onions cross readily? If they do what is the desired space between varieties to prevent cross pollination? Are they self fertile or do they need to cross with another onion of the same variety?

[mjc]

Yes, they readily cross...no, they aren't very self fertile.

As far as keeping varieties pure...a couple of hundred yards between varieties would do it. But it is best to only let one type go to seed at a time. You can also cover them...

I'm basically just letting them mix and saving them as a 'storage' type...it's a lot easier than worrying about keeping specific varieties.

[lurley]

I have one variety that I got from Marko here that i want to keep pure to "pass it on" along with two italian varieties that were kind of hard for me to get seeds for, so id like to keep those pure also. if i am growing them within twenty feet of each other this year, could i just replant them the required distance apart in the fall or will the roots take too much of a hit from transplanting the dried bulbs? also you say i can cover them but they are not very self fertile, so does that mean cover the whole patch of a certain variety with something like a tarp, a clear one, or opaque one, or maybe a floating row cover? and how are they usually pollinated? by wind or insect, and will they still be adequately pollinated if they are covered? sorry if this seems like a ton of questions but i really dont want to lose these varieties and after saving seeds from three varieties maybe the letting one variety go to seed each year for three years would be the way to go but i thought onion seeds viability fades fast after one year and i would need to make it last for three if i rotated that way.

Sent from my X10a using Tapatalk

[fortyonenorth]

Hi Lurley,

Andrew at Adaptive Seeds has a PDF overview of seed saving for various fruits and vegetables. I haven't reviewed it in a while, but I know there's a section on Alliums which may answer some of your questions.

http://www.seedambassadors.org/docs/...ne4handout.pdf

[lurley]

Thanks I'll check it out :-)

Sent from my X10a using Tapatalk

[fortyonenorth]

I also found this:

PLANT: Separate from other flowering Alliums of the same species at least 1000 feet for satisfactory results or at least 1 mile for purity. Caging with introduced pollinators or alternate day caging is also recommended in small gardens. Seed to seed: Plant seeds in late-spring or early-summer. Immature onions are more winter hardy than larger, full-grown bulbs. Mulch in late-fall to ensure winter survival. Thin to 12" spacing in the spring. Root to seed : Harvest in the fall and select the largest bulbs which produce more seed. Clip tops to 6" and store at 35-40° F. in dry, airy location. Replant in early spring with 12" spacing. Cover bulbs with 1/2" soil.

It sounds like you can either sow late and overwinter or harvest as per usual and then replant the bulbs in early spring.

I found this here: http://www.seedsave.org/issi/904/expert.html

[mjc]

Fortyonenorth got to the specifics before I could...but basically that's the 'meat' of it.

[davespitzer]

If you plant from sets and get flower stalks the same year (or the following spring), will the bulbs still be edible, or does the seed production take all of the energy of the plant?

[mjc]

They'll be edible...but probably not eatable.

Won't be much to them and they won't keep well. Pretty much use them as 'green onions'.

[davespitzer]

I was afraid of that! I will have to decide which of the plants to keep for seed, as I have allowed the best of my bulbs to go to flower (most haven't actually bloomed yet). Maybe I can save the rest by removing the scape. Thanks for the timely advice! Dave