Agree with folks' sentiments that yours is perhaps the most information- and data-dense gardening/growing channels out there - and also so pleasant and chill to watch! I love your style. Keep up the phenomenal work!
As for the taste test... I've found that the smaller the full-grown onion, the intenser the taste. So some of these may have been bred for pungency rather than weight. The colorful onions have a secondary use as garnish because they are more attractive in salads and preserves.
Bruce, your results for storage will no doubt be interesting and informative: length of storage is an important factor (for me) when choosing a variety to grow. I'm regularly disappointed by the poor storage characteristics of most varieties of onions, especially red onions, and have recently been planting more onion-like shallots, like 'Zebrune,' which keep very well, almost into summer, providing a close to year-round supply. When cooking, I use onions as one of several base ingredients, rarely by themselves, so taste is not a crucial decider. Thanks for all your illuminating research!
Yeah, length of storage is a real important factor, I have some of each variety hung in my pantry now, and planning to leave most of them until they start to degrade. It will be really interesting to see what ones do well. I have heard that some of the shallots store for a really long time, but to almost get to the next summer is amazing!
Another great trial. I've grown the Craig and various types of the Tropea onions, and they're nice sweet onions for fresh use but I had no luck keeping them. As a general rule, the sulphur compounds that make onions spicy are also what inhibit bacterial and mold growth, so the hotter the onion the better it keeps. Here in the States we have an open pollinated variety Dakota Tears which is excellent and of course Stuttgarter onions are excellent keepers. I also grow lots of Walla Walla sweet onions which are a customer favorite, super sweet and mild, but they only keep for a few weeks because of that. Thanks for another great video.
Excited you picked Ailsa Craig. I did some research on OP varieties and this was the one I settled on. I've seen contradicting notes on it's storage so I would be keen to find out if you are going to store them how they did for you.
A very interesting trial! This past summer, we grew a number of different onions from seed, specifically chosen for storagability, then got sets as well. It was a terrible growing year overall. However, we had two elongated red onion varieties, Tropeana Lunga and Red of Florence, that still managed to do well. The Tropeana Lunga were particularly large. After harvesting, while I had them hanging to cure, they kept trying to grow! So we ate them, first. Both varieties were tasty and we really liked the elongated shape. Much easier to handle for chopping! The Red Baron variety we tried to grow was a bunching onion. They were a complete fail. 😞
Interesting that the one type continued to grow, that seems to be what happened with Long de Florence Simane we grew, where the plant didn't seem to want to go dormant.
@@REDGardens I noticed some differences between the Tropeana Lunga, and the very similar Red of Florence. The Red of Florence had thinner necks, and they died back at the end of the season, as would be expected. The Tropeana Lunga had very thick necks, and never died back. I actually left them out a lot longer than any other onions, and well past our average frost date. They probably would have done well left even longer, if that had been an option. Even after letting them cure laid out on a screen, then trimming the roots and leaves before hanging them to cure longer, those thick necks were very "juicy" and strong. I wonder if it would have been different if they had been allowed to stay out until they started to die back on their own before harvesting. I would definitely grow them again, though. They were quite tasty, were the biggest onions we got, and handled our terrible growing year better than anything else.
For your taste test you might consider rinsing sliced onions in water, a chef RUclipsr Josh Weissman, recommends it every-time he includes raw onion in a recipe
I've failed at growing onions from seed. After 3 yrs I finally got a decent harvest of yellow onions. I will definitely continue planting until I get a consistent yield. In my location we can plant in the fall and spring. The summers are above 38 C and this year it was near or at 40 C for over 100 days.
Thank you so much for creating these videos. They are so informative 👏. A lot of people ask me why I grow onions as the have been reasonably cheep to buy and maybe not noticeably a great different in taste. But for me I love having onions in the garden and I find that since growing we eat so much more. I have had issues with growing red onions and have also come to the conclusion that red barron works best for me. I have had mixed results with seeds and with planting a lot from early in the year do run out of space for seedlings, and for that reason only I also grow sets to get enough yo store through the winter. Thank you Bruce and Fiona 👍
🙂 It is a common question. Why grow something that is so cheap and available. Part of the reason for me is to get onions hat are better for different dishes or uses.
Thanks Bruce, my context for growing onions where I am is different, needing to limit myself to intermediate types, but I really appreciate your modeling of how to run trials, and the complexities of interpreting the results. Keep up the good work.
Your content is the best well put together on varieties. I watch each different episode several times as they are so full of information. I just wish I was able to source the same seeds as you have here in the USA. Keep at it!
Wow! This gives me so much more to look for as I start my onions for the year here in a few weeks. So much more to growing successfully than I ever imagined. Thank you for this!
Great video once again. It is all so interesting. A real testament to the oh so many variables when it comes to vegetable production. You really never now what you are going to get from one season to the next. I agree with you, that you have to grow something over a few years to see how it performs. I over do it and will grow a variety for 5 years to see if it is worth it to keep as a staple variety. I have also found a difference from the early gardening years to now as far as what I want to eat from the garden. Diversity is delicious! 😊
Thanks! I plan to plant as many varieties next year, if not more, but I wonder how many I will reduce it to in a few years time? I think I am beginning to like the diversity, just like I don't grow just one tomato variety.
The Cipolle de Tropea look amazing and would definitely be the kind to attract me in the store. I'd be a bit worried that the big ones are a bit bland, as you sometimes have with big onions. Also shoutout to pickled onions (preferably red) which is a great way to store onions ready for use and I make a lot of.
Good on you Bruce - my multisown onions are underway now (nearly summer here). I grow Creamgold, an excellent yellow skinned keeping onion (the middle sized ones keep the best - the big ones the worst). They last all winter if cured properly. I love growing onions like this. Great video !
@@REDGardens Inside the house, high up in the pantry, in baskets. They need a bit of airflow and checking regularly in case any start to go soft on you. Save your best, firmest ones for storing..
Wow. Thank you for doing this. It is beyond interesting and i am keen to hear everything you're doing. Keep up updated on storage for the globos, please. Great video
Cooked onions are nice but raw onions are so delicious! What about using red for raw taste test and one or two white for raw as a comparison? Good luck with it! Thank you
I occasionally enjoy raw onions, but haven't been a big fan in general, especially with e types of onions we tend to be able to buy here in Ireland. I am looking forward to finding some of the varieties that I enjoy raw.
@@REDGardens Here in Canada, we can get some really sweet varieties grown in the USA. One of them is so good that you can eat it like an apple, lol. I hope you get at least one sweet variety! 😉
Thank you, great video! I'm going to try growing from seed next year too. :-) I'm really amazed by your onion yields BTW! We are lucky if we reach 1kg per square meter...
It would probably be good to pick half and half varieties that do well in dryer years and wetter years so that you end up with a good crop regardless of the weather conditions
Wow thank you. Haha the taste test may have to be done over time 😁😋. The globo look amazing on the whole, except for long term storage. Malcolm at allotments for fun and food swears by them. They look an absolute work of art when cut open. Really beautiful. Fabulous video! It was a great harvest anyway, I wonder how strong each is in taste and eye watering, but I don't expect an experiment on the latter 😉😅. Our climates are similar and I can't wait to try a few of those now. I have spring onions in the tunnel at the moment, and leeks but it is exceptionally mild here at the moment, probably 70 degrees today so all the doors will be open. Snow on the 3rd week in November, usually our first frost date in West Wales.
They are quite an amazing onion! I have passed around a selection of all the varieties to 4 other households, green onions in exchange for feedback on taste, storage, eye watering etc. Should be interesting what comes back. It is really warm over here as well, and very windy!
@@REDGardens it is great idea to find out what other people think too. I like snowball onions, they aren't particularly brilliant growers, although I only grew them last year, but I have never seen onions so bright-white. Thankfully the wind here has gone - looks like it is now with you. Can't wait for the flavour etc video.
I find these variety trials hugely impressive, but one thing that I often think is missing is an assessment of the flavour. For example, I have heard that the Globo variety may produce large and attractive looking bulbs, but the taste leaves much to be desired. I appreciate that taste is subjective, so I wonder if there is some way you can work this into your trials, perhaps giving samples of each variety to a panel of people in a blind taste assessment. Just a thought, keep up your great work on this topic
Yes, taste is a big factor, and also subjective, as you say. I have given a sample of all the varieties of onions to 4 other households, with instructions to send me feedback about flavour and other factors. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it.
Thanks for the great video! I also grow onions, but, unfortunately, very few good seeds are sold, and there is a lot of confusion in the varieties. Several varieties have not risen at all this year. Therefore, I try to grow my onions with seeds from bulbs bought in the store. In some years, slugs really spoil the harvest, unfortunately, you just have to wait for next summer.
Interesting results from seed, thanks for sharing. I've always grown from sets in Spring too, but this year I planted some last month for overwintering too, I'm tempted to try producing my own sets next year, but considering your results from seed I wonder if it's worth the effort instead of letting the seeds go all the way.
There are two types of Tropea onions: Tropea rossa lunga (a long variety) and Tropea rossa tonda (a round shaped variety). Both originate from the small town Tropea in Italy and I know some Italian chefs that only want to use Tropea oninon because of their mild and very good taste. And Rose de Keruel is one of two varieties used to produce the international well known and very high priced Rose de Roscoff in France. So Oignon de Roscoff ist not a name for a variety, but a AOC-label of the Roscoff region in the department of Finistère. Both of these varieties., Topea and Roscoff, are internationally very well known for their excellent and mild taste. So for me it would be important to include this parameter into the evaluation. Thank your for your great work and all the very interesting and very informative videos!
Hi bruce! got the patreon working now, doing my bit! This is incredible work especially when im also irish, no other place can i find such good research and entertainment! just wondering where you source your seeds, ive been looking online but its hard to find many at the same supplier. Cant wait to try these varieties next year, many thanks 🙏 especially for the tomatoes, you have some great varieties! ❤
Awesome, thank you for becoming a Patron! I have been betting my seeds from seedaholic.ie and a few other small places here in Ireland, as well as Moles Seeds in UK (but I have to get a friend to bring them over, as they can't export to EU) and Bingenheimer in Germany.
In my past I have planted many sets and always had more than i wanted go to seed, switched over to plants (seeds), and now have less than 1% that go to seed. Only var that I have grown that you listed is ailsa craig, I have found it to be very poor in storage, but a good tasteing one. I think in all onions there is a balance in fertility that is part of the storage factor, too thick of a neck leads to poor storage overall. pushing a onion past its best size makes the storage worse.
I have heard that from quite a few people, who says the amount of bolting plants dropped quite a bit with seeds. Thanks for sharing your experience with Ailsa Craig.
Trying to be scientific with plants is so fkn hard. We grow 12 hectares of raspberries every year, exact same variety, split into 12 blocks of varying sizes. We plant them in a staggered fashion with the goal to be harvesting raspberries for 11 months of the year. They are all in tunnels and all hydroponic, so largely controlled environment and controlled diet. You would not even believe the level of variance we get due to a cold week or a wet week or a particularly hot week. Then there is water pressure, pest pressure, nutrient variance, power failures... I enjoy these types of analysis videos that you do and I'm sure it helps you make some informed decisions about what you're willing to grow in the future, but you could grow those same varieties every year until the end of time and the variation would be astonishing. At the end of the day, taste is always king. Take care bud.
I can imagine the level of variance can be huge, something that I am realising more and more. For me, I think the process of growing varieties like this is to better understand the differences, to a point, and to make a reasonably appropriate decision, not to find the 'best' variety or method.
I typically grow 3 varieties, one red, one yellow, one white. This year, I tried a few more to see what does better in our area (New England, across the pond from you). Our climate is much less wet, most years. This year, an exceptionally dry drought for june/july, and into 1st week of august. All of my soil was the same mix of 1/3 my compost, 1/3 peat, 1/3 new bagged garden soil. I started seeds in February inside, over seeding and transplanted end of April. The Utah Yellow did really well, in terms of yield and average size. Ruby Red (long day red onion) did MUCH better than the Red Burgundy variety. Bigger overall yield, bigger avg onions. Pompeii White ended up outproducing the White Sweet Spanish overall yield, even with the Pompeii giving me MUCH smaller avg size. I will definitely sow Red Ruby, Pompeii White and Utah Yellow. In addition, I grew Red Beard Bunching, Tokyo Long white Bunching Onion. BOTH will get resown come February. I grow both of these for dehydrating and storing. I typically overseed, and also over plant early, and then as my growing season comes along, I harvest the smallest, in between the onions growing, for using fresh. I harvested for final season, sometime in late Oct.
That is interesting, thanks for sharing your experience. I don't know any of those varieties, so many different varieties in different parts of the world! I like your idea of overseeing and then harvesting some small, I should try that.
@@REDGardens I know you normally are trying to get good numbers on the harvest, avg size, etc, but for me, I don't need to do the large scale experiments. I like using the food I grow all season, so harvesting some small ones, as I grow, throughout the season is perfect, and it's the same as thinning when you overseed, you're just grabbing tiny onions and USING them to cook!
Maybe have potato salad twice a week over the winter and add a quarter of each onion type, very finely chopped, to each salad. It's a fairly painless was to taste lots of raw onion varieties. - - No doubt you will live to be an ultrra runner into your ninties - taking hills in a single bound, with all that onion vim! Thanks for the intelligence and neutrality you bring.
I'm interested in the strength of flavour, and longest storing. I've kept seed sown shallots (Matador) for over 15 months, and they were the size of a small /medium onions
Thanks. With this Simple garden, I use sheet composting (composting on the soil) for one year with squash, followed the next year by a crop of potatoes with some extra concentrated amendments (usually chicken manure pellets), and then the third year is onions and carrots without any extra fertility.
Over here in Ireland/europe there isn't any distinguishing between short and long day onions, as far as I can tell. And to be honest I don't really know the difference, so can't really give you an answer.
@@REDGardens Ok thanks I guess I’m just going to have to do a variety planting test of my own to see what grows best. I will let you know my results next year.
There is a buzz about bunching onions in the house-stead community as they reproduce on their own. These varieties need to over winter in the ground.Harvesting and resowing techniques may vary with each type . The french shallot is one of them and by the look of some of the inside of what you cut open it would seem that the Cipolle di Tropea maybe one of them as it wants to divide. Taste testing onions sound rough. I know my stomach wouldn't be able to handle it. Some varieties are OK raw as they are mild and sweet , such as the red or white skin ones.
The most informational gardening channel out there! Thank you for all the effort you put into these videos.
Wow, thank you!
I agree, great information always look forward to new videos.
Hello from Australia
@@haydene492 Thanks!
Agree with folks' sentiments that yours is perhaps the most information- and data-dense gardening/growing channels out there - and also so pleasant and chill to watch! I love your style. Keep up the phenomenal work!
Thank you so much for the comment!
As for the taste test... I've found that the smaller the full-grown onion, the intenser the taste. So some of these may have been bred for pungency rather than weight.
The colorful onions have a secondary use as garnish because they are more attractive in salads and preserves.
That is interesting about the pungency, something I am interested in comparing.
Bruce, your results for storage will no doubt be interesting and informative: length of storage is an important factor (for me) when choosing a variety to grow. I'm regularly disappointed by the poor storage characteristics of most varieties of onions, especially red onions, and have recently been planting more onion-like shallots, like 'Zebrune,' which keep very well, almost into summer, providing a close to year-round supply. When cooking, I use onions as one of several base ingredients, rarely by themselves, so taste is not a crucial decider. Thanks for all your illuminating research!
Yeah, length of storage is a real important factor, I have some of each variety hung in my pantry now, and planning to leave most of them until they start to degrade. It will be really interesting to see what ones do well. I have heard that some of the shallots store for a really long time, but to almost get to the next summer is amazing!
Great to hear that you’ll test the storage longevity of each variety
Great harvest...
Explore it’s storage compactly, with a few from each.
I have three form each variety hanging in my pantry already, going to wait until they start to decay or sprout.
Great Trial😊
🙂
Another great trial. I've grown the Craig and various types of the Tropea onions, and they're nice sweet onions for fresh use but I had no luck keeping them. As a general rule, the sulphur compounds that make onions spicy are also what inhibit bacterial and mold growth, so the hotter the onion the better it keeps. Here in the States we have an open pollinated variety Dakota Tears which is excellent and of course Stuttgarter onions are excellent keepers. I also grow lots of Walla Walla sweet onions which are a customer favorite, super sweet and mild, but they only keep for a few weeks because of that. Thanks for another great video.
Good to know about the Tropea type not storing! And I hadn't thought of the pungency being part of preventing rot, but it makes sense. Thanks!
Thanks Bruce, I've been having a rough week and this video is a great pick-me-up. I never get tired of your variety trials!
Awesome!
Excited you picked Ailsa Craig. I did some research on OP varieties and this was the one I settled on. I've seen contradicting notes on it's storage so I would be keen to find out if you are going to store them how they did for you.
Ailsa Craig does seem to be a useful one, and it will be really interesting to see how long it stores for.
A very interesting trial!
This past summer, we grew a number of different onions from seed, specifically chosen for storagability, then got sets as well. It was a terrible growing year overall. However, we had two elongated red onion varieties, Tropeana Lunga and Red of Florence, that still managed to do well. The Tropeana Lunga were particularly large. After harvesting, while I had them hanging to cure, they kept trying to grow! So we ate them, first. Both varieties were tasty and we really liked the elongated shape. Much easier to handle for chopping!
The Red Baron variety we tried to grow was a bunching onion. They were a complete fail. 😞
Interesting that the one type continued to grow, that seems to be what happened with Long de Florence Simane we grew, where the plant didn't seem to want to go dormant.
@@REDGardens I noticed some differences between the Tropeana Lunga, and the very similar Red of Florence. The Red of Florence had thinner necks, and they died back at the end of the season, as would be expected. The Tropeana Lunga had very thick necks, and never died back. I actually left them out a lot longer than any other onions, and well past our average frost date. They probably would have done well left even longer, if that had been an option. Even after letting them cure laid out on a screen, then trimming the roots and leaves before hanging them to cure longer, those thick necks were very "juicy" and strong. I wonder if it would have been different if they had been allowed to stay out until they started to die back on their own before harvesting. I would definitely grow them again, though. They were quite tasty, were the biggest onions we got, and handled our terrible growing year better than anything else.
For your taste test you might consider rinsing sliced onions in water, a chef RUclipsr Josh Weissman, recommends it every-time he includes raw onion in a recipe
That is interesting. I guess it gets rid of some of the pungency.
@@REDGardens yeah he says it’s what restaurants do whenever they serve raw onions as a topping. It reduces the pungency and brings out the sweetness
He explains the technique at 4:18 in this video: ruclips.net/video/Asu5cw4USng/видео.html
I look forward to future videos on this topic!!❤
🙂
It's awsome how you just mention the right word to avoid the angery nerd and let me know that you know what you are talking about. Much love!
Are you angery?
Haha, what is that one word?
very valuable results ! appreciate your effort in documenting this.
Thank you!
I've failed at growing onions from seed. After 3 yrs I finally got a decent harvest of yellow onions. I will definitely continue planting until I get a consistent yield.
In my location we can plant in the fall and spring. The summers are above 38 C and this year it was near or at 40 C for over 100 days.
That is hot! So very different from Ireland. Hope you get a good yield next year.
Thank you so much for creating these videos. They are so informative 👏. A lot of people ask me why I grow onions as the have been reasonably cheep to buy and maybe not noticeably a great different in taste. But for me I love having onions in the garden and I find that since growing we eat so much more. I have had issues with growing red onions and have also come to the conclusion that red barron works best for me. I have had mixed results with seeds and with planting a lot from early in the year do run out of space for seedlings, and for that reason only I also grow sets to get enough yo store through the winter. Thank you Bruce and Fiona 👍
🙂 It is a common question. Why grow something that is so cheap and available. Part of the reason for me is to get onions hat are better for different dishes or uses.
Thanks Bruce, my context for growing onions where I am is different, needing to limit myself to intermediate types, but I really appreciate your modeling of how to run trials, and the complexities of interpreting the results. Keep up the good work.
Thanks
Excellent onion video. Will use this for reference again I'm sure.
🙂
So many trials this year! Thanks for all the great info!
Yeah, a lot of trials this year, and a few more to make videos about!
@@REDGardens Can't wait!
Your content is the best well put together on varieties. I watch each different episode several times as they are so full of information.
I just wish I was able to source the same seeds as you have here in the USA.
Keep at it!
Wow! This gives me so much more to look for as I start my onions for the year here in a few weeks. So much more to growing successfully than I ever imagined. Thank you for this!
🙂
Just got into onions and will be doing by seed next year
🙂
Great video once again. It is all so interesting. A real testament to the oh so many variables when it comes to vegetable production. You really never now what you are going to get from one season to the next. I agree with you, that you have to grow something over a few years to see how it performs. I over do it and will grow a variety for 5 years to see if it is worth it to keep as a staple variety. I have also found a difference from the early gardening years to now as far as what I want to eat from the garden. Diversity is delicious! 😊
Thanks! I plan to plant as many varieties next year, if not more, but I wonder how many I will reduce it to in a few years time? I think I am beginning to like the diversity, just like I don't grow just one tomato variety.
Incredibly useful and informative! Thanks so much!
🙂
The Cipolle de Tropea look amazing and would definitely be the kind to attract me in the store. I'd be a bit worried that the big ones are a bit bland, as you sometimes have with big onions.
Also shoutout to pickled onions (preferably red) which is a great way to store onions ready for use and I make a lot of.
Yeah, they do look great, and I wonder if that variety soul be better if smaller. I used to pickle tiny onions, but haven't done it in years.
I could not love this channel more! you have taught me so much, thank you!!
😊
Good on you Bruce - my multisown onions are underway now (nearly summer here). I grow Creamgold, an excellent yellow skinned keeping onion (the middle sized ones keep the best - the big ones the worst). They last all winter if cured properly. I love growing onions like this. Great video !
Thanks. I had heard the larger onions don't keep so well. Where do you store them?
@@REDGardens Inside the house, high up in the pantry, in baskets. They need a bit of airflow and checking regularly in case any start to go soft on you. Save your best, firmest ones for storing..
@@alisonburgess345 Sounds good. They do need to be checked regularly, as I hate finding the ripping or oozing onions too late!
Amazing level of detail like nowhere else. Thank you
🙂
Wow. Thank you for doing this. It is beyond interesting and i am keen to hear everything you're doing. Keep up updated on storage for the globos, please. Great video
🙂👍
My favorites are Alisa Craig and Globo :)
I think they might be my favourites too.
I'll be interested to see a follow up about taste and storage longevity. Also how your winter crop does.
I am looking forward to that too.
Cooked onions are nice but raw onions are so delicious! What about using red for raw taste test and one or two white for raw as a comparison? Good luck with it! Thank you
I occasionally enjoy raw onions, but haven't been a big fan in general, especially with e types of onions we tend to be able to buy here in Ireland. I am looking forward to finding some of the varieties that I enjoy raw.
@@REDGardens Here in Canada, we can get some really sweet varieties grown in the USA. One of them is so good that you can eat it like an apple, lol. I hope you get at least one sweet variety! 😉
@@angelad.8944 Yeah, that would be great. I have tasted some of the one onions in Canada, but nothing close here in Ireland.
Thank you, great video! I'm going to try growing from seed next year too. :-) I'm really amazed by your onion yields BTW! We are lucky if we reach 1kg per square meter...
Thanks! Hope you have a great yield next year.
amazing results
😁
Good one as usual. I do sets and starters here in Japan.
🙂
Thanks for an interesting and informative video.
🙂
It would probably be good to pick half and half varieties that do well in dryer years and wetter years so that you end up with a good crop regardless of the weather conditions
Yeah, it makes sense to select a few different ones.
Keep up the great work 👍
🙂
Wow thank you. Haha the taste test may have to be done over time 😁😋. The globo look amazing on the whole, except for long term storage. Malcolm at allotments for fun and food swears by them. They look an absolute work of art when cut open. Really beautiful. Fabulous video! It was a great harvest anyway, I wonder how strong each is in taste and eye watering, but I don't expect an experiment on the latter 😉😅. Our climates are similar and I can't wait to try a few of those now. I have spring onions in the tunnel at the moment, and leeks but it is exceptionally mild here at the moment, probably 70 degrees today so all the doors will be open. Snow on the 3rd week in November, usually our first frost date in West Wales.
They are quite an amazing onion! I have passed around a selection of all the varieties to 4 other households, green onions in exchange for feedback on taste, storage, eye watering etc. Should be interesting what comes back. It is really warm over here as well, and very windy!
@@REDGardens it is great idea to find out what other people think too. I like snowball onions, they aren't particularly brilliant growers, although I only grew them last year, but I have never seen onions so bright-white. Thankfully the wind here has gone - looks like it is now with you. Can't wait for the flavour etc video.
I find these variety trials hugely impressive, but one thing that I often think is missing is an assessment of the flavour. For example, I have heard that the Globo variety may produce large and attractive looking bulbs, but the taste leaves much to be desired. I appreciate that taste is subjective, so I wonder if there is some way you can work this into your trials, perhaps giving samples of each variety to a panel of people in a blind taste assessment. Just a thought, keep up your great work on this topic
Yes, taste is a big factor, and also subjective, as you say. I have given a sample of all the varieties of onions to 4 other households, with instructions to send me feedback about flavour and other factors. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it.
Thanks for the great video! I also grow onions, but, unfortunately, very few good seeds are sold, and there is a lot of confusion in the varieties. Several varieties have not risen at all this year. Therefore, I try to grow my onions with seeds from bulbs bought in the store. In some years, slugs really spoil the harvest, unfortunately, you just have to wait for next summer.
Getting good seed for good varieties seems to be an issue for a lot of people.
Super useful info! Thank you so much!
🙂
Interesting results from seed, thanks for sharing. I've always grown from sets in Spring too, but this year I planted some last month for overwintering too, I'm tempted to try producing my own sets next year, but considering your results from seed I wonder if it's worth the effort instead of letting the seeds go all the way.
I was pleasantly surprised how well they did, and I wish I had grown sets as well to compare.
There are two types of Tropea onions: Tropea rossa lunga (a long variety) and Tropea rossa tonda (a round shaped variety). Both originate from the small town Tropea in Italy and I know some Italian chefs that only want to use Tropea oninon because of their mild and very good taste. And Rose de Keruel is one of two varieties used to produce the international well known and very high priced Rose de Roscoff in France. So Oignon de Roscoff ist not a name for a variety, but a AOC-label of the Roscoff region in the department of Finistère. Both of these varieties., Topea and Roscoff, are internationally very well known for their excellent and mild taste. So for me it would be important to include this parameter into the evaluation. Thank your for your great work and all the very interesting and very informative videos!
Wow, that is interesting! Always great to learn so much when I release videos like this.
@@REDGardens I'm sure, not nearly as much as I learn from your videos! Thank you again for all this very interesting content.
Good job!
🙂
Hi bruce! got the patreon working now, doing my bit! This is incredible work especially when im also irish, no other place can i find such good research and entertainment! just wondering where you source your seeds, ive been looking online but its hard to find many at the same supplier. Cant wait to try these varieties next year, many thanks 🙏 especially for the tomatoes, you have some great varieties! ❤
Awesome, thank you for becoming a Patron! I have been betting my seeds from seedaholic.ie and a few other small places here in Ireland, as well as Moles Seeds in UK (but I have to get a friend to bring them over, as they can't export to EU) and Bingenheimer in Germany.
@@REDGardens thanks 🙏 Im in Donegal so handy to get it shipped to the north 👍
You will have a strong immune system with all that onion
Yep!
@@REDGardens if you eat all those onions social distancing will happen automatically. You won’t need an immune system.
I've grown ailsa craig several times and it generally performs well, it's not great for storage though.
Good to know, thanks.
I bet they would make a great grilled cheese and onion sandwich , even most so with the local sour dough bread in your area.
Some of them would!
In your last onion vid what size plastic grow bag did you use please
I think it was 7 or 10 litres
Perhaps the red onions are more susceptible to watering variations, similar to how tomatoes will burst in boom/bust cycles of water?
That would be interesting to find out.
In my past I have planted many sets and always had more than i wanted go to seed, switched over to plants (seeds), and now have less than 1% that go to seed. Only var that I have grown that you listed is ailsa craig, I have found it to be very poor in storage, but a good tasteing one. I think in all onions there is a balance in fertility that is part of the storage factor, too thick of a neck leads to poor storage overall. pushing a onion past its best size makes the storage worse.
I have heard that from quite a few people, who says the amount of bolting plants dropped quite a bit with seeds. Thanks for sharing your experience with Ailsa Craig.
Trying to be scientific with plants is so fkn hard. We grow 12 hectares of raspberries every year, exact same variety, split into 12 blocks of varying sizes. We plant them in a staggered fashion with the goal to be harvesting raspberries for 11 months of the year. They are all in tunnels and all hydroponic, so largely controlled environment and controlled diet. You would not even believe the level of variance we get due to a cold week or a wet week or a particularly hot week. Then there is water pressure, pest pressure, nutrient variance, power failures...
I enjoy these types of analysis videos that you do and I'm sure it helps you make some informed decisions about what you're willing to grow in the future, but you could grow those same varieties every year until the end of time and the variation would be astonishing. At the end of the day, taste is always king. Take care bud.
I can imagine the level of variance can be huge, something that I am realising more and more. For me, I think the process of growing varieties like this is to better understand the differences, to a point, and to make a reasonably appropriate decision, not to find the 'best' variety or method.
I typically grow 3 varieties, one red, one yellow, one white. This year, I tried a few more to see what does better in our area (New England, across the pond from you). Our climate is much less wet, most years. This year, an exceptionally dry drought for june/july, and into 1st week of august. All of my soil was the same mix of 1/3 my compost, 1/3 peat, 1/3 new bagged garden soil. I started seeds in February inside, over seeding and transplanted end of April.
The Utah Yellow did really well, in terms of yield and average size.
Ruby Red (long day red onion) did MUCH better than the Red Burgundy variety. Bigger overall yield, bigger avg onions.
Pompeii White ended up outproducing the White Sweet Spanish overall yield, even with the Pompeii giving me MUCH smaller avg size.
I will definitely sow Red Ruby, Pompeii White and Utah Yellow.
In addition, I grew Red Beard Bunching, Tokyo Long white Bunching Onion. BOTH will get resown come February. I grow both of these for dehydrating and storing.
I typically overseed, and also over plant early, and then as my growing season comes along, I harvest the smallest, in between the onions growing, for using fresh. I harvested for final season, sometime in late Oct.
That is interesting, thanks for sharing your experience. I don't know any of those varieties, so many different varieties in different parts of the world! I like your idea of overseeing and then harvesting some small, I should try that.
@@REDGardens I know you normally are trying to get good numbers on the harvest, avg size, etc,
but for me, I don't need to do the large scale experiments. I like using the food I grow all season, so harvesting some small ones, as I grow, throughout the season is perfect, and it's the same as thinning when you overseed, you're just grabbing tiny onions and USING them to cook!
@@gregbluefinstudios4658 Makes sense.
Maybe have potato salad twice a week over the winter and add a quarter of each onion type, very finely chopped, to each salad. It's a fairly painless was to taste lots of raw onion varieties.
- - No doubt you will live to be an ultrra runner into your ninties - taking hills in a single bound, with all that onion vim! Thanks for the intelligence and neutrality you bring.
🙂 Yeah, a lot of potato salad!
It sounds like you need some recipes to test all those onion varieties.
And some time to cook many versions!
@@REDGardens good point. Wish we were neighbors. I could do the testing. Cooking=Happiness❤️
@@ahabthecrab I have passed around samples of all the varieties to 4 neighbours, in exchange for feedback! Should be interesting.
Best taste test idea I can come up with for onions is to pickle them all separately.
Interesting!
I'm interested in the strength of flavour, and longest storing. I've kept seed sown shallots (Matador) for over 15 months, and they were the size of a small /medium onions
I have heard that shallots can last really long, but I haven't much experience growing them.
Amazing video. Would love to have the fertility schedule and information.
Thanks. With this Simple garden, I use sheet composting (composting on the soil) for one year with squash, followed the next year by a crop of potatoes with some extra concentrated amendments (usually chicken manure pellets), and then the third year is onions and carrots without any extra fertility.
After watching your video could I get some advice on what might be the best Long Day Red Onion to try and grow next year
Over here in Ireland/europe there isn't any distinguishing between short and long day onions, as far as I can tell. And to be honest I don't really know the difference, so can't really give you an answer.
@@REDGardens Ok thanks I guess I’m just going to have to do a variety planting test of my own to see what grows best. I will let you know my results next year.
🙂👍@@jeffwindrim975
There is a buzz about bunching onions in the house-stead community as they reproduce on their own. These varieties need to over winter in the ground.Harvesting and resowing techniques may vary with each type . The french shallot is one of them and by the look of some of the inside of what you cut open it would seem that the Cipolle di Tropea maybe one of them as it wants to divide.
Taste testing onions sound rough. I know my stomach wouldn't be able to handle it.
Some varieties are OK raw as they are mild and sweet , such as the red or white skin ones.
Sounds like something I need to try growing.
👍😊👌
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Tempted to volunteer for the taste test…
🙂
But how do they taste?!
Some are quite harsh and others seem a lot sweeter.
Taste test ? ;)
Raw, and baked, and sautéed ...
Eat those raw onions! Do it for science!!🧅
Haha!
have grown some onion too this year, they got flower, but i have not seen seeds ...... am i blind or they just tricked me with a lab variety ?
I didn't get seeds from the leeks either, not sure why.
Please don't eat raw onions. At least cook them first.
Sometimes they are nice raw!
why?
Great Trial😊
thanks!