From: songbird@anthive.com   
      
   Wilson wrote:   
   ...   
   > I'm under the impression that onions generally flower in their 2nd year.   
      
     yes, it really depends upon how big the bulb gets the   
   first year.  last year about August i planted a lot of   
   seeds and most of one type of those seeds survived the   
   winter.  of all of those only one is flowering this year.   
   if i don't thin them out more will flower next year but   
   not all, it's a resource competition thing.  the bigger   
   ones will have enough energy to flower and the rest will   
   wait their chance to flower in the coming years.   
      
     bulbs will self space to the conditions.   
      
     i've had garlic in the same spot for over 15 years.   
   some of it will have scapes/flowers and others will   
   go dormant until the bulbs around them give them   
   enough space to come up again.  if i dig up a clump   
   there will be small bulbs, larger bulbs, singles and   
   dormants.   
      
      
   > Since I use sets that were grown last year by someone else, they generally   
   > will flower, but not all.   
      
     it is size dependent.  that is why there are   
   suggestions about what size of sets to buy.   
      
      
   > Like my garlics, I cut off the flowers to push more energy into the fruit   
   > rather than seeds.   
      
     for garlic the biggest difference is how big the   
   cloves are when you plant them and then your other   
   conditions.  i can get thumb sized cloves in my   
   garlic bulbs and still leave the scapes on to   
   fully develope and also have scape bulbules up   
   to a nickle and a bit larger in size.   
      
      
   > That said, I have a lot of success with stored seeds provided I don't hold   
   > onto them for a long time and try to keep them cool as in the fridge.   
   >   
   > This year, I bought some 'Bunching Onions' for scallions and read that if I   
   > leave them in the ground, they will probably winter over and come up on   
   > their own. Anxious to give that a try as I have left onions in over the   
   > winter in Zone 4, eastern Maine and they all came up. Oh, and the onions I   
   > use as sets are Stuttgart yellow onions. Rather flat then round and hold   
   > really well. Still have 5 leftover from last year and they haven't sprouted   
   yet.   
      
     yes, i've not seen onions killed that often if   
   they were first grown here to begin with.  planting   
   out a store bought onion and expecting it to survive   
   a winter here isn't likely to work well though in   
   comparison.   
      
     i'm sprouting some scallion onions here now and   
   planning on leaving at least half of them for the   
   winter to see how they do.  i hope well.  i like   
   having a diversity in onions here.  :)  the bees   
   love 'em.   
      
      
     songbird   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)