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Question about onions

smolejgoalie89161smolejgoalie89161 Posts: 3
in Problem solving
Hi all, I'm a bit new here so sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place, but I have a question about growing some onions. I left some onions in the pantry a little too long, and they started to sprout, so I thought I'd try my hand at growing them out. I initially had them in a jar of water, and once they had a reasonable amount of roots formed I potted them. That was about a week ago, but I've noticed that their leaves are starting to collapse.
I'm a bit new to gardening in general, and have no experience with onions, so I'm not sure if this is usual or not. I think the soil I have might not be draining well enough, that's my best guess. Any advice would be welcome!
(I potted the plant near the back first, and the one closer to the camera about 3 days later)

Posts

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    You can't grow onions from an onion. It is mature and has finished growing. If dug up then its roots are left to dry up it will most probably rot if you re-plant it. If left in the ground and not dug up it will make a flower then seeds from which onions can be grown. However you can grow shallots from a shallot. Plant it in the ground and several new shallots will grow from it. You can also plant baby onions, called onion sets, sold in garden centres. 
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • smolejgoalie89161smolejgoalie89161 Posts: 3
    Ah, I've been following an online guide (https://www.wikihow.com/Plant-Sprouted-Onions) so far. The onion was store bought originally, and then sprouted some leaves after I left it too long. It put out new roots in water, so I feel like it has some growth in it. I forgot to specify in the original post, but I didn't plant the entire bulb. I cut off most of the layers, and had a sprout that looked a bit like this(I forgot to take photos while planting, I found this one online but it looks very similar, the root formation looked a bit different)
    I hope this information helps, sorry for not including it in the original post!
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I didn't know you could do that! Sound rather a hassle, easier to plant onion sets.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I agree @Busy-Lizzie … fun for children of course, and probably worthwhile to do on the kitchen windowsill in the winter to get a bit of onion greenery to use instead of chives in the winter … but so much simpler to grow from seed or sets … can you imagine the space you’d need to grow the equivalent of a row or three of 20+ onions per row? 😉 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • smolejgoalie89161smolejgoalie89161 Posts: 3
    That is true. In all honesty, I'm mainly planting these to see if I can get a cheap houseplant and maybe an extra onion in a few months. I don't have the space to grow a consistent source of onions, this is mainly just a fun little experiment so I can get a bit more experience with growing plants indoors. Thanks for all the advice, I'll definitely look into onion sets once I move to a place with more outdoor space!
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