bunching or potato onions where to get them

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I would like to know aboue where to get potato onion sets recently I visited an elderly neighbor he insisted that I see his garden. I noticed onions in bunches of 8-12 I asked him and he said they were potato onions. You plant 1 bulb in the fall and it produces a large bunch the ones you don't eat you leave in the ground till the tops are dry, dig, separate and replant each one of the bunch in the fall and cover with straw for the winter and then more bunches! He couldn't remember where he got them because he had been replanting the same ones for over fifteen years I can't find any bulbs like this in the few catalogues that I get. If any one knows where I can get some please let me know Thanks, Dave

-- julie (nelson3@bright.net), May 20, 2001

Answers

These almost sound like shallots. When you plant one you get a whole bunch. You can keep planting them year after year. They are part of the onion family, but only get to be about the size of green onions.

If these are not shallots - I am also interested in the potato onions.

Thanks.

-- Tom S. (trdsshepard@yahoo.com), May 20, 2001.


Potato onions and shallots are different though both make a "nest" of onions on top of the ground. With potato onions, if you plant a small one, you get a large one; if you plant a large one, you get a cluster of small ones which you plant in the fall for next year's crop of large onions. To keep replenishing your stock, you must plant both sizes each year.

The only place I know that supplies them has moved to a new location and may not carry them anymore, but perhaps they can help you locate some. They are:

Irish Eyes--Garden City Seeds P.O. Box 307 Thorp, Washington 98946

Phone: 1-509-964-7000

Web site: www.irish-eyes.com

E-mail: potatoes@irish-eyes.com

-- Eleanor Shulman (ekshulman@webtv.net), May 20, 2001.


Territorial has Yellow Multipiler onions in their catalog. They have a web site, www.territorialseed.com, I've had good results from their seeds.

-- becky w (dandelion_01@hotmail.com), May 20, 2001.

I got mine at Southern Exposure Seeds several years ago but don't know if they still carry them. They have done just fine for us enough to eat, to replant and to share with friends. Good tasting and convenient because you don't have to have part of a regular onion if you just want a little bit of onion in a dish.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), May 21, 2001.

I have Potato Onions ordered from Garden Medicinals and Culinaries P.O.Box320,Earlysville,Va.22936 Phone:804-964-9113 Fax:804-973-8717 E-mail : herbs@gardenmedicinals.com. They have yellow and red potato onions in their catalog. I have ordered from them and gotten very good service.They only ship the potato omions in the fall,since I have never grown them I am looking forward to getting mine this fall. Good Luck,Carla

-- carla sloan (twosloans@texoma.net), May 21, 2001.


Baker Creek Seeds, www.rareseeds.com has two types of bunching onions. They are a good place for heirloom seeds.

==>paul

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), May 22, 2001.


We can just ask for multiplying onions at our feed store. Once planted they will multiply very quickly. Trick is to pick and plant as you go. When you dig onions to use, leave a good amount of root and some bulbs, to go back into the hole. You can have onions year round this way. Mulched with hay ours easily get through our winters, course winter is only a couple of weeks long here. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), May 22, 2001.

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