I know we always see those reels and short videos of "how to regrow grocery veggies", but how many times can we actually harvest from one plant alone? Especially for non-gardeners who will just try to regrow them in a bottle of water near or outside the kitchen window.
by redblackshirt
13 Comments
For green onions just water in a cup, they’ll last a few months continually putting out more green onions, but getting weaker and weaker the entire time. Soil or nutrients would probably solve that but I’m not looking to have an indoor onion farm. Just too cheap to throw the lil numbs away 😁
If you plant those green onions in good soil outside, they could last for years. In a glass of water inside with no additional nutrients, probably not very long.
Onions are the only one I’ve had luck with- keep the water fresh & snip when they’re too tall. I’ve had luck with regrowing potato but outside & tops of root veg like carrot but they won’t grow a new carrot unless jt seeds
For bulb onions, the plant will continue to grow off of the cut root end, but now it’s ‘confused’. It will usually go to seed and not produce another bulb. You can keep cutting off green leaf tops indefinitely (before the seed stem forms).
As for green tops, I’ve had some going in a raised bed in my greenhouse for years now. I keep them watered and fertilized.
With that set up you’d get a few uses. Some people add liquid fertilizer for more. You’d have a bit better growth if you keep a bit more of the stem too though.
As an ag pro keep it up I’m proud of you .
0?
They get quite gross non-flavorful very quickly. If you want to reuse them, put them in a very small pot (or a red solo cup) with soil. They will regrow and continue to maintain their flavor.
I planted some store bought green onions in my garden last fall, they grew fine and I topped em a few times for meals but left the white/roots alone in the soil.
Winter came … onions died off… went out to fertilize getting ready for spring: those dang onions are back to life AND two of them formed like actual bulbs on the bottom, so like: a real onion size/shape. All from cheap grocery store green onions
Idk about indoor but I planted green onion ends outside last year and got 7 harvests out of them. We will see soon if they come back this year
Well, if you put them in soil and maintain fertility, it depends. Some green onion types are still going after 3 years. Some push out a flower and that’s it. Basil, herbs, etc as long as you can maintain them
I’ve done that exact thing and find I can get two more bouts of growth out of it before it’s not worth it. The leaves will be hollower and weaker than they were originally. After the second clipping I toss them in the compost. Meanwhile I have started bunching onions from seed, those will be planted in grow bags and containers where they have good soil nutrients and actual sunshine. I expect I’ll get several haircuts out of each.
Depends on the plant! I’ve had green onions growing in a random pot for probably over a year at this point. They are weaker / not as big but i also do not put much effort into them at all. I tuck them into my beds, around the corners and such. They do well.
I also regrew a leek in a similar fashion. I just stuck the bottom bit into dirt and water when I remember to. It’s taken longer to grow but I don’t really do anything special for it. I will keep note on how many times I cut N come again.
I find lettuce in particular to not be worth regrowing at all. They start fast as seeds and its better to cut n come again with them that way.
Majority of fruit from seed takes years to grow, so I dont recommend that. Technically strawberries grow faster but they still won’t produce the first season.