Potato onion harvest and breeding

I started seeds of Andy’s Green Mountain Multiplier Onion as breeding material derived from Kelly Winterton’s perennial potato onions,

After a few setbacks, I've got 7 bulbs with a few small and this giant one.

I am hoping to get some of them to clone and a few to produce more seed next season. They were fine to overwinter in the ground here in zone 4b.

I'm eager to try and start some potato onions. I'm still rather green to growing alliums so starting from seed so far has not been a great success for me. I can grow onions from sets so far, maybe next year I will have some better luck.

Did you have any observations/tips for how you grew these onions? Anything to look out for?

Please see this site dedicated to potato onions, and containing progress notes on breeding:
https://plantal.net/

I grew Andy's Green Mountain Multiplier Onions from seed this year. I purchased the seed here.
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/andys-green-mountain-multiplier-onion

My expectations were far exceeded. I can't wait to see what happens next year. I produced enough to plant a few this fall. Some of the same in spring and see how well many of them store over winter.

This is my total crop below taken this morning.

Sonny Root wrote:I grew Andy's Green Mountain Multiplier Onions from seed this year. I purchased the seed here.
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/andys-green-mountain-multiplier-onion

My expectations were far exceeded. I can't wait to see what happens next year. I produced enough to plant a few this fall. Some of the same in spring and see how well many of them store over winter.

This is my total crop below taken this morning.

Nice haul and cool variation! As far as I know, if you overwinter in the ground they are much more likely to flower and produce seed. I've stored and planted back out in the spring too, then they tend to not flower and just divide.

Russell Apotheker wrote:Nice haul and cool variation! As far as I know, if you overwinter in the ground they are much more likely to flower and produce seed. I've stored and planted back out in the spring too, then they tend to not flower and just divide.

I can hardly wait to find out next year. What surprised me the most is everything I read about growing them from seed said I would end up with one large one that will multiply next year. I only ended up with 3 singles, lots of doubles and triples and even a quintuple!

I bought some (bad quality) seed of potato onions this year and ended up with about 6-7 plants. I planted them out in spring, but since my soul is still very poor they did not grow very well. Some of them have bulbed up, other remain straight and some have split in other onions. They are all around 1-2 cm thick, either as bulb or more like a leek.

My question for people with more experience: this winter i can harvest them and dry them and plant again in spring, or leave them in the ground during in the winter. Leaving them in the ground will probably cause them to bolt, but im not interested in seed at the moment because the state of the onions. I prefer to harvest and dry them to plant again (in better soil) to see if i can grow better onions from these onions. My worry however is whether my onions will survive drying and replanting, since they are so small and underdeveloped.

Anybody has any experience with drying and replanting smaller, not well formed, onions?

I've cellared and replated 2 cm bulbs, but they were totally and clearly bulbs, not tender shoots. In your position, I'd mulch them, leave them, and cross my fingers.

Yeah I'd leave them, mulch them well and see what happens. Digging up and trying to store 2cm bulbs sounds like more trouble than it's worth, they'd be tiny enough to desiccate before spring anyway. At least in the ground they've got a chance.

Thanks for the reply. Mulch and leaving them it is, we do not have very wet or cold winters so they will probably survive. Lets see whether they bolt or grow bigger, either way I will have another change to grow them.