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Potato onion seeds

Jen Fulkerson

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Location: N. California

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I tried potato onions a few years ago. We haven't actually eaten them yet. I could only afford a very small amount, so I wanted to grow them to get more at first. Maybe this year we can start eating them.
To hedge my bets I planted I them in a few places. One place I forgot about when it came to harvest. So they stayed in the ground. Now a few of them look like they will bloom. I didn't think most potato onion produced seeds. Just wondering if I should wait it out and try to collect the seeds, or cut it off? I'm not needing them, so no worried about it depleting the onion bulb.
Thanks

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Mercy Pergande

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posted 2 years ago

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I am so curious about this plant- have never heard of this. Do you have a more detailed name for it? Is the bloom like an allium scape?

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Dorothy Pohorelow

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Location: Southeast corner of Wyoming

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posted 2 years ago

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Leave them be. They are not seeds but rather bubils that can be planted to expand your patch OR for sharing with others. It really is fascinating watching them develop.

In the south when the wind gets to 75 mph they give it a name and call it a hurricane. Here we call it a mite windy...

Jan White

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Location: BC Interior, Zone 6-7

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The potato onions I bought from experimental farm network all (all the ones that survived the heat dome, anyway) flowered and produced seed the next year. They were so tiny I just left them in the ground over winter to see what would happen. A couple had tiny pathetic seedheads with only a few flowers and the rest had normal, full heads.

Jen Fulkerson

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Location: N. California

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Mercy they are actually called potato onion. They are considered a perenniall onion. (Thought I question that, because most people don't leave it in the ground.). Instead of developing one large onion they make several small onions per plant.
There's a few good Post on permies all about Potato onions.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

Jen Fulkerson

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Posts: 1892

Location: N. California

901

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Dorothy and Jan thank you

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

Christopher Weeks

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Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods

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Last year, none of my potato onions flowered. The year before was a bumper crop of seeds. The year before that I got almost none. And the year before that was my first planting of them. My reading of other people's experience suggests that some years just produce a ton of seeds and you might not get any for the following five years. I'd let them grow and harvest the seeds so you can have more. They'll spread through tuber-nest formation, of course, but seeds do it way faster. I haven't seen potato onions produce bulbils yet, though I do save bulbils from garlic.

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Anne Miller

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For folks wanting to know more about potato onions this thread is very informative:

https://permies.com/t/138977/perennial-vegetables/Potato-onions-easy-grow-perennial

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
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Jen Fulkerson

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Posts: 1892

Location: N. California

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You were right they are bulblets. So cool. I love this onion

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“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

Christopher Weeks

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Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods

2392

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The pictures in this thread look pretty different than my potato onions look. I wonder if we have different species, and if so, which are really potato onions. Or maybe it's the very different growing conditions.

Amy Maria

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Location: Southern NH, zone 5a(ish)

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Interesting - those bulbils look exactly like my walking onions!

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Jan White

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Location: BC Interior, Zone 6-7

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Hmm. My potato onions never got bulbils, either.

I've got one growing on its own that's been in the ground for two years now. It hasn't divided so far. Then I've got a little patch, also two years in the ground, that I should probably break up and replant to give them some space. They're tiny cause they're growing mostly in an old cedar log I partially dug up when I was putting that garden bed in. I can't believe I keep anything alive, sometimes 😂

Maybe some walking onions murdered your potato onions to steal your love ☹️

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Jen Fulkerson

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Posts: 1892

Location: N. California

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I think I'm on year 3, maybe 4, but I think 3. They were kind of expensive so I got just a few. I haven't eaten any yet. I've just been growing, harvest and replant. I guess they could have sent me walking onions instead of potato onion?
Only a couple of the onions that have been divided, and replanted are producing bulblets. All of the onions that I left in the ground are producing bulblets.
I will post some pictures.

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“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

Jan White

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Well, you've had yours longer than I've had mine. So far I haven't harvested any, either. I just left them in the ground cause they were so tiny I figured they'd just dry out over the winter if I tried to save them to replant in the spring. So mine might not be a good example of normal 😁

It would be pretty cool if they produced seed and bulbils!

Jen Fulkerson

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Location: N. California

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It starts out looking like a seed head like you see on a carrot for example, but it ends up producing bulblets. So far I haven't gotten any seeds. Just didn't know because it looks like a seed flower to begin with. I will try to get a picture.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

Jen Fulkerson

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Posts: 1892

Location: N. California

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These are the ones I have harvested and replanted. I left them in because they are blooming and I wanted to see what they would do.

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“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

Mitch Shelding

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Location: Wisconsin USA Zone 5A

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Hi All! I ordered 100 Green Mountain Potato Onion seeds last year. During fall I planted 50 directly in ground and none came up this spring, so this past April I spread the other 50 on a damp paper towel and put them in a zip bag. 10 germinated and I transplanted to pots. Five survived, and the photo is them today. One is strong, another so-so, and three are stagnant.

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My Potato Onion Experiences/Pics: https://www.potatoonionguy.com

Jen Fulkerson

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Posts: 1892

Location: N. California

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Mitch Im not sure, but I think I started out with 3 potato onions. I just kept harvesting and replanting. You will be surprised how fast they multiply. Maybe poor germination is one of the reasons it's not a common onion?
This is the first year we have eaten any. I didn't say anything to my family. I had the onions drying on the table under the walnut tree. They had eaten about half before I realized it. I still have plenty, but I'm glad I noticed when I did. Otherwise I would be starting over.
Good luck

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

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