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Posted by lightwindy111 (U14067911) on Sunday, 27th June 2010
hi, just a quickie. this is my first year growing onions from sets. at least four of them have developed white tips which taper to a point. are they flower buds? and if so, what course of action do i need to take? your help would be greatly appreciated thankyou.
Yes, they probably are flower buds. You could eat the small onion bulb now, it won't be any good as a normal onion for storing over the winter. This happens sometimes. It could be the weather, or some varieties of onion sets are more prone to flowering than others. Someone else will probably know more.
thankyou very much for your reply
Some of mine have flowered. I picked a couple yesterday and had them in a salad, they are fine to eat now.
Very probably. It might be worth looking for 'heat treated' sets next year, as these are far less likely to 'bolt' and produce flowers.
Lack of water can also cause this, even with heat-treated sets, so try and keep the remainder well watered (easier said than done around here - very little rain in South Leicestershire this year.)
HTH -- Bob
thankyou for your reply. i will definitely try the heat treated sets next year and pay more attention to watering in future.
A couple of mine have also started to flower, and I have kept them very well watered. Will be lifting them tomorrow.
Hi, I had the same problem with my Japanese onions, grown over the winter. I blamed this on the awful weather.
However, I broke the flower heads off (bent them over) and the onions did swell a little more but not as much as usual.
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