{"id":3085,"date":"2020-04-19T01:31:54","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T01:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/?p=3085"},"modified":"2023-02-06T07:03:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T07:03:39","slug":"potato-onion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/19\/potato-onion\/","title":{"rendered":"Potato Onion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Allium cepa aggregatum<\/em> group<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong>: The potato onion is a type of perennial multiplier onion (like shallot) that is thought to have originated in Scandinavia. It has the same growth habits as the shallot and is cultivated in exactly the same ways. The major difference is that it produces much larger bulbs (up to 3\u02dd in diameter), so is actually more useful. It doesn\u2019t have any connection to the potato except that it is usually propagated vegetatively (which is about as slender a connection as you can get). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing\npotato onions is ideally suited to home growing, you simply plant a bulb and\nharvest a clump of bulbs. It is so simple as to be almost foolproof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nwas a popular crop plant in North America when people grew their own food and\nmany families handed it down, mother to daughter for generations (the very\ndefinition of an heirloom crop). It\u2019s use declined drastically when people\nstopped growing much of their own food, as it doesn\u2019t work so well as a\ncommercial crop. It is now almost forgotten, to the point where it is often difficult\nto find bulbs to plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crop value<\/strong>:\nThis is an outstanding perennial food crop (probably the best overlooked one)\nand really should be grown by everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ease of growing<\/strong>:\nIn many ways this is the easiest of all the onions to grow. It has the\nadvantage of vegetative propagation as in the shallot, but produces bigger\nbulbs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutritional content<\/strong>:\nLike the onion they are rich in vitamin C, potassium, calcium and a variety of beneficial\nphytochemicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate<\/strong>: They like the\nsame kind of climate as other onions, cool weather (50 – 70\u00b0F) for growth and\nslightly warmer 70 – 80\u00b0F (and dry) weather for bulbing and ripening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like\nonions they are day length sensitive, but I didn\u2019t realize this for a long time,\nbecause I always plant in fall, which gives them plenty of time to grow before\nday length triggers bulbing. Of course day length isn\u2019t such a big issue\nbecause they are perennial and in the ground for a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How they grow<\/strong>:\nThe bulb sends up several shoots and grows into a cluster of green plants.\nEventually the old bulb shrinks away and each shoot in the cluster forms a new\nbulb on the soil surface. Generally each plant will produce 3 – 5 bulbs, but\nsometimes there is as many as 12. As a rule\nof thumb you can expect to harvest at least five times what you plant, which\nshould give you some idea how much you need to plant (and save) to supply\nyourself with onions for the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have read that if you plant a large bulb it will make a cluster of many small ones, whereas if you plant a small bulb it will make one large one. I can\u2019t verify this though, because I haven\u2019t paid that close attention (I only have a short attention span). In practice I tend to just harvest them all, eat the biggest ones and replant the small ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Potato Onion<\/strong>  
Perennial
Hardiness zones: 3 – 10
Soil temp: 50 (60 – 65) 75\u00b0F
Seed viability: 1 – 4 years
Yield:1 – 4 lb sq ft
Growing temp: 50 (60 – 70) 75\u00b0F <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soil<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

pH 6.0 (6.5) 7.0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potato Onions, not surprisingly, prefer the same kind of\nsoil as onion, well-drained, rich, loose and moisture retentive. However they\nwill do fine in a less than ideal soil. It does need to be well-drained though,\nas they may rot over the winter if it is too wet. If your soil isn\u2019t very\nwell-drained, you should grow them in raised beds, or on ridges of soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soil preparation<\/strong>:\nIncorporate 2\u02dd of compost or aged manure into the top 6\u02dd of soil, to supply\nnutrients and aid in moisture retention. This is particularly important if your\nsoil is light and doesn\u2019t hold water well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may also want to\nadd colloidal phosphate to supply phosphorus and wood ashes or greensand for\npotassium. You could also use a standard fertilizer mix, though they don\u2019t need\na lot of nitrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nthe soil is very acidic add lime to raise the pH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When to plant<\/strong>:\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like\nother onions the potato onion is day length sensitive, so should be planted in\nfall or early spring. This gives it plenty of time to grow before the\nappropriate day length triggers bulbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall<\/strong>: In milder\nclimates the bulbs are often planted in fall, along with garlic and shallot, as\nthis gives them longer to grow and a bigger harvest (though this doesn\u2019t always\nhappen). Another advantage is that if you plant in fall, you don\u2019t have to\nstore the bulbs over the winter. In cold\nclimates fall planted bulbs might not survive a particularly cold winter, so\nthere is some risk. Fall planting also encourages bolting, whereas spring\nplanting doesn\u2019t. This is good if you want to save seed, bad if you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring<\/strong>: In colder\nclimates spring planting makes the most sense, especially if you don\u2019t want\nthem to bolt (which takes energy from the bulbs). You can plant as soon as the\nground can be worked in spring, which may be a month before the last frost (or\neven earlier in some cases). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring\nplanted bulbs usually mature a little later than those planted in fall. If you\nhave enough bulbs you could plant at both times, to spread out the harvest and\nprovide a little extra insurance against loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spacing<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beds<\/strong>: Space the\nplants 6 – 8\u02dd apart in wide beds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rows<\/strong>: Space the\nplants 3 – 4\u02dd apart in the rows, with 18 – 24\u02dd between the rows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting<\/strong>: Plant as you\nwould a shallot, so the bulb is just covered with soil (some people plant\ndeeper in fall for better protection from the cold).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Growing from seed<\/strong>:\nThe potato onion can be started from seed quite easily. The difficult part is\nfinding seed to plant, as they don\u2019t often produce it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndisadvantage of vegetative propagation is that over the years bulbs can get\ninfected with virus diseases, which can result in small (though perfectly\nusable) bulbs. When plants are grown from seed they can produce big, beautiful\nvirus free bulbs, 3 – 4\u02dd in diameter, in their first year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plants\ngrown from seed will also show a lot more genetic variation because they aren\u2019t\nall clones of the same plant. There may be differences in color, size, shape\nand bulbing habit. You can simply choose bulbs of those you like best for\nreplanting the following year and propagate them vegetatively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Care<\/strong>: These are surprisingly tough plants. I have had small\nplants appear to die in hot dry conditions, only to reappear and produce bulbs\nthe following summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watering<\/strong>: Water the plants regularly while they are growing\nrapidly. Stop watering when the bulb forms and the leaves start to turn yellow,\nso the neck can dry out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mulching<\/strong>: In cold\nclimates overwintering bulbs will benefit from the protection of a thick mulch.\nThis should be removed after all hard frosts are past, so the soil can warm up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Problems<\/strong>: The only major\ndifficulty I have found with potato onion is finding material to plant. It is a\nlot easier to grow than it is to find. This is unfortunate because if more\npeople could try it, then it would be much more popular. This would make it\nmore available, so even more people could try it. Fortunately it is gradually\nbecoming easier to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insurance<\/strong>:\nThe problem with growing a perennial plant such as this is if something goes\nwrong you can lose everything. One year all of my stored potato onion bulbs\nwere eaten by wood rats, fortunately I had overlooked a few bulbs in the ground\nand was able to carry on with these. The best way to avoid this is by\nencouraging everyone you know to grow it too. This provides invaluable\ninsurance against loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nform of insurance is to plant some of your bulbs in fall and some in spring.\nThen if your fall bulbs meet an unanticipated fate, you haven\u2019t lost\neverything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seed saving<\/strong>:\nMany people say it is hard to get potato onions to flower and produce seed, but\nI haven\u2019t found this to be a problem. In fact my fall planted bulbs produce\nseed so readily I have had to start spring planting too (if a bulb produces\nseed it will use most of its energy for that.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvest<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When<\/strong>: This is a\nfairly short season crop and a spring planting can be harvested in late summer,\nwhen the leaves start to die back.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How<\/strong>: The mature bulbs sit\non the ground and can often be simply picked up. If the soil is hard you may\nhave to loosen it with a fork first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curing<\/strong>: After harvest\nyou need to keep the bulbs in a dry place to cure (just as you would other\nonions). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storage<\/strong>: Store your\nbest bulbs in a cool, dark, rodent-proof place (this is especially important\nfor any bulbs you will use for replanting). Potato onions store exceptionally\nwell and will often stay good for up to 12 months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\ncourse you need to set aside a portion of your crop for replanting the\nfollowing year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varieties<\/strong>:\nA few varieties do exist, but think yourself lucky if you can find any potato\nonions at all. Even if you find somewhere to get the bulbs, you may have\nanother problem in that they are only usually available at the end of the\ngrowing season (around October) and often sell out quickly. If you find\nsomewhere that sells them it is a good idea to order early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyou grow them from seed you will find quite a bit of variation in each plant\nand can create your own varieties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kitchen use<\/strong>: You can use the bulbs and green leaves as you would\nthose of onions. The bulbs will be different sizes so you can choose the size\nyou need for whatever dish you are cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npotato onion is nice when fried with potatoes (which is another very slender\nconnection between the two).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allium cepa aggregatum group Introduction: The potato onion is a type of perennial multiplier onion (like shallot) that is thought to have originated in Scandinavia. It has the same growth … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perennial-vegetables","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/potato-onion.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3085"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3144,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions\/3144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}