# growing candy onions -help,please???



## charliesbugs (Feb 25, 2007)

I've never tried growing BIG onions before.. This year I put out onion plants- candy onions. Someone always has them to sell by the road and they are the best onions.I've always bought some and wished I had more. 
I have 5 rows of them and they are getting really big-at least the tops are and the part going into the soil. What do I do with them now? I can't really 'see' the onion itself. Do I keep the soil 'up' around the growing bulb, or hoe it away? I usually mulch the garden with straw to keep weeds down, but should I do the onions ,too???? Onion growers, any help would be appreciated. These look so nice . I don't want to ruin them. Thanks.


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## Phoebesmum (Jan 4, 2009)

I also grow Candy onions from seed. With Candy onions and all onions, I keep at least the top half of the bulb above the soil line. Then I just keep them watered and fertilized and watch them get huge. Once about 1/4 of the tops fall over on their own, I knock the rest down, leave them in the ground for a week and then pull them and let them sit out in the sun for a few days before storing them.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i wouldn't leave them in the ground too long. i tried to be greedy last year and had half of them begin to rot. once one or two of them begin to get a bit soft at the base of the stem, i would pull them all.


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## Randy Rooster (Dec 14, 2004)

a bulbing onion needs to have the soil pulled away from it in order to grow larger.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Don't mulch the onions unless you live in a very arid area and have very loose or sandy soil. Last thing that the roots need is to be kept damp all the time. In fact, I'm finding that the best way to grow them is on the top of mounded rows about 3" or so above grade. They are never sitting in a pool of water and are able to easily move the soil aside as they expand.

Martin


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

We grow candy onions too. This year though, due to all the rain we've had, most of them merely rotted from the tops down. We were able to dig the bulbs to use, but they were only half grown, about the size of a golf ball or a little larger, but the tops rotted off completely. We chopped up the bulbs and put them in bags in the freezer as they wouldn't last long fresh. We ended up with 2 1/2 quarts of chopped onion. Our yellow Ebenezer onions don't have any sign of rot on them though, so we'll let them continue to develop in the garden.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I grow Walla Walla sweets here, My soil is so soft I keep them buried so they don't fall over. They are planted on a 6" hilled row to keep them above the surrounding wet soil. I water with a small drip soaker type hose buried 3" underground. Mine will grow to 6 inches. When they are half that I quit watering, let them start dieing down and fold the rest of the tops over and wait until before it rains or they are nearly completely dry to pull. I leave them out for 3 days to dry and then store in the garden shed hung on nails tied 6 to a string by the tops. They will keep all winter. Walla Walla's aren't known as keeping onions but it works for me....James


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## duggie (Sep 6, 2009)

mine are starting to make bulbs,i hoe it away and when done looks like balls setting on the top of the ground.


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