Bunching Onion Seeds - Red Beard

Minimum Seeds per Packet: 200

Packet Weight: 1g

Planting Season: Spring, Fall

Sowing Method: Direct Seed or Transplant

Seed Depth: 1/4"

Direct Seed Spacing: 1"

Soil Temperature: 50-85 ℉

Days to Sprout: 6-15

Mature Spacing: 3-6"

Sun Requirement: Full Sun, Part Shade

Frost Tolerance: Frost Tolerant

Days to Harvest: 40-50

When to Seed Bunching Onions

This hardy, low-maintenance crop can be seeded indoors eight to ten weeks before your last frost date. Alternatively, you can just direct seed them outdoors throughout the summer and into the early fall. They do best in cool temperatures, but a little afternoon shade in the summer can help them manage some summer heat as they grow. If transplanting in the spring, they can be planted outside two to four weeks before your last frost date. 

Where to Plant Bunching Onions

They’ll love a spot with plenty of sun and well-draining soil. Some compost or organic matter mixed into their planting location will help a lot. 

Growing Bunching Onions

The easiest way to plant bunching onions is by seeding them in clumps - whether starting indoors or outdoors. Place several seeds in a hole about ¼ inch deep. Space your clumps three to six inches apart. Most varieties are frost-tolerant, but none of them like long periods of below-freezing temperatures. Consider using some season extension measures to extend your harvest of fresh green onions into the winter.

Harvesting Bunching Onions

Bunching onions can be harvested at any size but most gardeners will wait until they are at least as thick as a pencil. Pull up whole plants or clumps, or clip the greens for cut and come again production.

Bunching onions (Allium fistulosum) are biennial, meaning they flower in their second year after overwintering. If you live in an area where the ground freezes, you will need to dig up the plants you want to save seed from and bring them inside somewhere with temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees F, then plant them back out once the ground thaws. If the ground doesn’t freeze where you live, just cover your bunching onions with row cover for the winter. They will send up flower stalks as the weather warms up in spring.

Onions are insect-pollinated, so your bunching onions need to be separated from other Allium fistulosum varieties by at least 800 feet in order to save pure seed. If you can’t be sure they are isolated by distance, you can place bags over the blossoms to prevent insects from reaching them, and hand pollinate by moving pollen from one flower to another with a paintbrush. Once the flower heads have turned brown, and black seeds are visible within, clip the heads and shake the seeds out into a container. Make sure the seeds are completely dry before storing in an airtight container in a dark, dry location. Onion seeds typically don’t remain viable more than 1-2 years, so use your seeds soon!