HI from kent

I came across your site whilst searching for info on multiplier onions and saw some posts on the subject.
My name is John and I started this collection because I was looking for a bunching onion that my mother used to grow. I kept coming across everything but what I was looking for and said to myself Ill try that so purchased it.
I have now put together a collection of multiplier onions and have about eighteen different varieties including potato onions,
The reason I answered one of the posts on the site was that there is a lot of misinformation about what is and is not a potato onion. I have purchased from various locations around the world onions described as potato onions.
My favourite for the title has been posted on your website but appears only to be found in America.
One that I have purchased as a potato onion on receiving it I believe it to be an ordinary onion set but I will keep avery hopeful eye on it.
I do not think that people are selling shallots ETC deliberatly as I believe that all mannner of people have been sold these bulbs by people who honestly believe that what they have are potato onions.
From the articles I have read There is an onion saved from extinction in America by a man called Keneth Klotz who came across them whilst on a photo assignment in Virginia in America. He started to sell them from Kalmia farms again in Virgina. This farm now no longer exists but one of the three varieties that he collected does still exist and I have three bulbs of this onion. I have an article that he wrote in 1982 in conjunction with jeffrey Mc Cormack who Originaly set up the seed savers exchange in America if I am correct.
My problem is that I have traced other onions all called potato onions and all similar in size and the way they reproduce, which are like onions described by William Woys Weaver as potato onions that are closer in size to shallots. As there is so litle information available it is very difficult to say who is correct and which of the onions is the true potato onion as some of the early articles can be made to fit either.
I hope I have not bored people too much on this subject but suggest be wary of what you buy if you are looking for potato onions as a lot of people are really growing shallots not what they think they are buying.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

So whats the definition of a Potato Onion then?

 

I am growing five varieties of potato onion and they are in the same group as a shallot with the onion that I have described as saved by Ken Klotz with very definate large onion shaped leaves that are much flater. This onion has a two year cycle where you plant a small bulb which grows into a large bulb which can be saved or eaten. The saved bulbs can be planted and will divide into twelve or more small bulbs plus a few large ones which can also be eaten or saved for planting. It is best to plant a mixture of both to keep the cycle going.

The other one is grown similar to shallots where the bulbs divide every year and you save a few bulbs to plant for the next year.
All of my bulbs are in their first year so I do not know yet if the latter are just variations of shallots, but from one variety there appears a definate difference in the leaves and formation of the bulbs.
I would like to think that I have the answer to what is the true potato onion but I think that the one in America found by Ken Klotz is the most likely candidate which Is why I have searched on other countries websites to try tofind them. Maybe all of them could be called potato onions as it appears there were more than one two or even three varieties. I would be interested if anyone has articles from gardening magazines or books from the 1800s which could help as they were once the main onion grown before the seed onion

 

thank you for your welcome message

 

welcome abord

 

High John,
Welcome to Gardeners Corner.A lovely bunch of people, very helpful and keen to swap knowledge .Quite a different thread you are leading us all into here.
You and I are quite close neighbours. I would wave but its pouring hard at the moment so I 'ain't popping out right now.

 

Welcome to GC John....

 

Hello John, another Maidstonian

 

Thank you all for your kind welcome posts.
I hope that I have not bored you all but these pesky onions have become a bit of an obssesion with me and I have now taken on an allotment to grow them all. The sad thing is that I did not think about planting any to eat as I am increasing all the varieties at the moment.
I have however started to grow other vegetables as well to fill up the empty spaces in the allotment.
The really odd thing is that I found the onion that my mother grew and it is the only onion that I have lost and it should have been one of the most hardy.

 

Hiya John, welcome to the forum

Maybe you could start a thread in the 'edible' section regarding these onions? Maybe post a few pics?

Cheers...Freddy

 

I pray that you are never cursed with the Onion White Rot fungus John squared

 

I believe that Multiplier onions are more resistant to many onion diseases and the onion fly. I do have a few anxious thoughts as I know the dreaded white rot is present on some allotments and as I have no knowledge from the previous owner of my plot, mine may possibly be one that could be affected. I will just have to wait and see.