Onion Plants
  Lancelot Leeks
  Fertilizers
  Harvest Aids
  Growing Aids
  Jumbo Onions

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The Onion Patch

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Dixondale Farms—Specializing in high-quality onion plants since 1913. We Know Onions!



Thanks for a great season!

Our 2009 crop is completely sold out. Please check back at the end of the year to see our offering for the 2010 season. In the meantime, we'd love to see how your onion plants turned out. Send us your photos!

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Selecting Onion Plant Varieties

The size of the onion bulb is dependent upon the number and size of the green leaves or tops at the time of bulbing. For each leaf, there will be a ring of onion. The larger the leaf, the larger the ring will be when the carbohydrates from the leaves are transferred to the rings of the bulb. The triggering of this transfer or bulbing is dependent upon daylength and temperature and not the size or age of the plants. When selecting your onion varieties, remember that the further north you are, the more hours of daylight you have during the summer. So, keep in mind these guidelines:

Long Day onions do extremely well in the northern states that have between 14 to 16 hours of day-length during the summer. We have the varieties broken down between sweet, storage, and specialty long day varieties for you. If you plant them in the south, they produce a lot of tops, but never make bulbs. These varieties are excellent keepers. Make sure the necks are completely dry before trimming to ensure a long storage period.

Intermediate Day onions are the most widely adaptable since they require 12-14 hours of sunlight before beginning the bulbing process. Unless you live in far south Florida or south Texas, you should have enough daytime hours to make nice-sized bulbs. All intermediate day varieties are exceptionally sweet, but the Candy stores better than others. When planted at the proper time, all varieties mature in approximately 100 days.

Short Day onions start the bulbing process when day length reaches 10-12 hours. Since they are planted in the south during the winter or early spring months, they take approximately 110 days to mature. When planted in northern states in late spring, they mature in just 75 days, but produce smaller bulbs. The earlier you plant them, the larger they get.