Onion help please

Hi,

I planted onion sets in my allotment last Autumn and they are looking very good BUT there is a flower forming on them!! Is this okay or are they ready to harvest? The foliage hasn't died down at all yet.

Confused.com

 

Hi Stingo. You need to remove the flower as this is the onions way of producing seed. This saps energy but will also result in having hollow centres. I would say this needs to be done ASAP.

Cheers...freddy.

 

I agree, remove the seed head, but once the flower starts to form the bulb will always have a strange centre.
If they are large enough I'd start using them, as I doubt they will get any bigger.

 

Why did you plant them in the Autumn? They should be planted in the Spring. What's happened is that they started to grow in the Autumn and now they think it's the second season when they run to seed.

 

I was assuming they were autumn planting sets.

 

Thanks all, yes they were Autumn planting sets.
Think I will use them now as pete suggests.