My Journey to Potato Onions
What Led Me to Potato Onions
Onion Sets
Before 2018 I purchased white onion sets from a local nursery, and harvested roughly 50 onions (pic), which would last a few months. Then it was off to the grocery for the remaining nine months.
I wanted something sustainable that would provide enough onions for an entire year.
Walking Onions
My first step toward sustainability started the fall of 2018 when a co-worker gave me 50 Walking Onion bulbils which I planted that fall. The summer of 2019 I collected 400 bulbils from the 50 walking onions and planted them that fall. The 50 golf ball and thumb size bulbs I originally harvested (pic) did not store well, growing shoots while curing and during the few months thereafter. Also, I did not like the leathery slip/tab (from the bulbil stalk) running along the outside of every bulb.
Spring of 2020 I searched online for another variety of Walking Onions that would store better, which led me to multiplier onions, i.e., potato onions and shallots. There is very little information online about potato onions; back in the 1800s when potato onions were more prolific, there were a few varieties: yellow, brown, white and red. I discovered that yellow potato onions store longer and have a stronger, pungent flavor, whereas shallots do not store as well and have a sweeter, mild flavor.
I decided on yellow potato onions.
Potato Onions
The only place I could find a supply of bulbs in the USA was the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. On 6/7/20 I purchased 145 yellow potato onion bulbs and planted them that fall along with 800 Walking Onions. The potato onions were sold by weight, not number of bulbs, because bulbs vary in size: small, medium and large. I purchased six pounds for $147 USD, so roughly $1 per bulb.
Summer of 2021, when I harvested the yellow potato onions and tried them, I made the decision to slowly cull my Walking Onion crop and only plant Potato Onions. My first truly sustainable year was 2023 when I harvested 2420 potato onion bulbs; 430 were replanted which left me with 1990 bulbs to eat. Yes, I use a lot of onions during any given year. And potato onions are so simple! Each "mother" bulb planted averages five "daughter" clones in a nest. From each nest, plant one of the five bulbs and eat the other four, repeating for eternity.
I plant all three sizes - small, medium and large. Although I have not yet measured and verified this, it has been my general experience that planting:
A large bulb will divide into numerous bulbs of varying sizes (usually a nest of 5-8+ clones).
A medium bulb will divide into two or three bulbs of varying sizes.
A small bulb will grow into one large bulb (and that large bulb will divide numerous times when planted the following season - see bullet point one).
My interest in potato onions piqued during 2022. Prior, onions were nothing more than food. I grew them to eat - period - so there is not much photo documentation other than general pics. I will do better in the future.