Have you ever seen this traditional perennial onion that has almost been completely lost due to industrial and intensive growing practices? For home gardeners the potato onion could be exactly what you are looking for, and you won’t ever have to buy seeds again!
With a huge thanks to Andrew Chapman: https://www.thoseplantpeople.com/
#potatoonion #gardening #gardeningideas
28 Comments
Good morning from Ontario Canada 🇨🇦!
Are they also susceptable to Allium leaf miners?
Do they also work in the tropics ?
Peter Cundell was a presenter on Gardening Australia. Originally from Yorkshire, he worked his vege patch in Tasmania. He grew potato onions 😊
I've grown them for many years. They are also called Multiplier Onions. As Sam says, they are a little more work to peel and use in the kitchen, but they have a good taste, and I've always had enough to replant every year.
Wow, that is interesting! When they gonna be available from Dyfi Plants?? Love the thought of them pickled.
It's so nice to hear Huw having a chuckle with other people! I really enjoyed this style of video.
Good morning from Minnesota
I was just looking for these today! Can’t find them for the life of me in the UK!
Ha ha. They look like gone over spring onions.
Will definitely be trying these 😃
Have had a lot of issues with seed grown onions bolting, started growing walking onions a couple of years ago and they’ve been great! Love another perennial
I enjoy the cooking advice following a "crop recommendation". It's good info and gives the video…layers.
I'll see myself out.
Greetings from Upstate New York! I just found an Oregon based family company that sells seeds for potato onions, and have ordered some to try next season. Huw, thanks for introducing me to a new variety!
Mamaw grew these in South Texas! "Bunching onions" was what I learned to call them.
Wow!! Happy to see this. Our local big hardware/gardening chain in Australia had bags of seed potato onions and shallots (really cheap) – I planted them and they're doing well so far – "cold" part of the year is best for growing onions where I live. Just love the idea of bother-free bunching onions, so will be keeping most of the first lot to replant for sure. A lot of people in the online permaculture group I belong to planted them as well, so in Western Australia they could end up becoming quite common!
I received some bunching onions a few years ago from a friend. Have grown them every year since from those original ones. They have survived outdoors with a little straw covering them in the winter. Our winters can be quite cold (3 winters in last 8, temps were below -30°f). I've had very little success with regular onions, but these always come through.
Nice, I’d like to try them one day in the future 😊🇦🇺
Very Interesting. thanks
Good morning from Findlay Ohio in the US! These remind me of the I'itoi (say…e e toy) onions I grow. Shockingly, they are a desert plant but grow here in my cold and snowy climate! Same with the Egyptian Walking onions. I love growing perennial plants that are edible. I can't wait to grow them also. Thanks everyone 👏
I can't wait to try these! Thanks so much!!
I planted some purple onions last year and left them in the ground because they were too small. This year many of them grew bigger and multiplied like these bunching onions. Only they are oblong. I want to try it again, and as see how long i can keep them going.
I grow a very rare varietie of potato onions from Germany and got true seeds from them. So now i will produce a few of my own varieties.
They look like what we call Multiplier onions here in North America. What makes them different?
One downside to potato onions is that they accumulate viruses, and over time the yields will reduce until nothing like it was at the start. It is possible to "reset" the onion to virus free in a lab, but that's not exactly accessible to most people. Worth keeping in mind.
In Poland, we also refer to them as "family onions," and we consider them perennial varieties of onions. I do not dig them out for winter. They stay in the soil all the time. They have tinned chives only in spring. I harvest them in summer when chives die down and leave only 2/4 bulbs for next year.
Thank you, good to know. I will remember this and give them a try.
Blessings ,Susie🙏🏽😊🇬🇧🧅
I like the size of these potato onions. The two varieties that I have tried got to small for my liking, shallot sized. Not worth all the peeling.
They told me that you should plant the smallest one and they will grow big onions next year. The big ones result in several small ones the next year.
I prefer growing shallots to potato onions. Works the same way with autumn planting and multiply during the growing season. But the taste is more exclusive. Worth the peeling.
For the yellow onion taste I recommend the Egyptian walking onions instead. They are perennial, bigger bulbs, multiply and have a comical character.
But if there ever were to come a larger bulb potato onion on the market I would be very interested to try them.
I really love the autumn planting of onions. One thing less to fuss with in the seedling room in the spring.
Growing zon us 5, Stockholm, Sweden.
Are these the same as Egyptian onions? If so, my family has used them for generations. Also known as multiplier onions. My grandma gave my mom some, my mom to me, and me to my daughters. I'm in central Wisconsin, where we have brutal winters. Windchills get down to 20-40 degrees BELOW zero Farenheit, and the onions always come back. Like rhubarb, I never have to worry about them.