Pruning Onions

[Jay-ell]

I've read about topping and tailing onions but I use sets so guess it doesn't apply, but when transplanting leeks into a bigger pot I trim off the longer roots because it's easier to get them down the hole in the compost, so maybe that method would work with onion seedlings too.

Yes, people do top and tail seedling for transplant but the items I saw were about established plants in the ground and cutting the flags in half once they were 8-12 inches long.

[fishpond]

Is this why leek leaves are also trimmed(to provide more leaves, therefore bigger leek) and the roots are cut as they don't need as many??
Question is. Why would you need bigger onions and leeks for the table?

[Jay-ell]

Is this why leek leaves are also trimmed(to provide more leaves, therefore bigger leek) and the roots are cut as they don't need as many??
Question is. Why would you need bigger onions and leeks for the table?

George Anderson on Beechgrove Garden said that at the nurseries they trimmed the leeks to make them easier to handle when planting.

Answer: Who wants small onions? How many onions do you want to peel to make one dish?

[burnie]

When I lived in Leicestershire our village was a bit of a hotbed for veg competitions, as I remember, tying the tops in a knot was to harden and mature the onion once it finished growing. I am familiar with Leeks being pruned as stated, but never heard of doing it to Onions, though they were a clandestine bunch of old codgers lol.

[mysteryduck]

Did you do all the garlic or leave some to compare with?

Unfortunately I did them all, as I thought it was standard. But they’ve grown back really quick! Thinking about it, rather than blindly following instructions as I did, I’m probably going to leave them. They need leaves to provide energy right? And regrowing leaves is using that energy. So long as they don’t start going to seed I’ll keep my snips in my pocket

[Jay-ell]

Ducky, if they are hard neck garlic they'll send up a scape which is very tasty when harvested so that's nothing to worry about.

[mysteryduck]

The series “Rotten” on Netflix, episode 3, is about garlic. Apparently China produce 90% of the worlds garlic (I may have misremembered that). Anyway, the farmers were pulling the stems, but leaving the outer leaves, as apparently this makes the bulb larger...

[Jay-ell]

The series “Rotten” on Netflix, episode 3, is about garlic. Apparently China produce 90% of the worlds garlic (I may have misremembered that). Anyway, the farmers were pulling the stems, but leaving the outer leaves, as apparently this makes the bulb larger...

Are you sure that they weren't pulling the scapes (flower stems) which is a standard practice?

[mysteryduck]

Are you sure that they weren't pulling the scapes (flower stems) which is a standard practice?

Hmm.. maybe.. I thought they said stems. But that might be the same thing..? New to me anyway!

[ameno]

Hmm.. maybe.. I thought they said stems. But that might be the same thing..? New to me anyway!

You can't remove the stem from garlic without removing all of the leaves with it, so they must have meant the flower stems.