How to Plant Onions at Home?
Today I’m sharing this very simple method for growing a small onion crop that doesn’t require many materials or much space. At the end, I’ll share a video with the entire process explained in detail.
Materials.
The materials are:
- A pot, preferably long and at least 15 cm deep.
- Onions of any size.
- Potting mix or well-draining soil.
- A knife.
How to grow onions in a pot.
Step 1: Cut off the base of the onions.
You should cut off the base of the onion to about 2 or 3 cm, regardless of the onion’s size. This cut-off contains the buds or shoot tips, which are essentially the material from which new onions will sprout.
Step 2: Plant the cuttings in the pot.
With the pot already filled with soil or substrate, we begin to place the cuttings, trying to make the most of the space, although at this point the distribution is not so important.
Remember that the pot should always have holes in the bottom for proper drainage; do not use solid materials at the bottom such as stones.
Next, cover the onions with about 3 or 4 cm of soil and water them. Then place them in a location with at least 7 or 8 hours of sunlight; the more hours of sunlight, the faster your onions will grow.
About 15 days later you will see most of the buds sprouting; you will notice that some have more buds, but most should have between 2 and 4 buds.
Remember to keep the soil or substrate moist throughout this process, avoiding waterlogging.
Step 3: Perform the reseeding of shoots.
About a month later, at most about 40 days, all the sprouts should be well developed and with stems of about 20 cm or more. In the following image you can see what your onions will look like.
At this point, we need to lift the seedlings out of the soil, separate them, and replant them. To do this, we water the soil to loosen it and use a knife to help.
You must separate the shoots, removing all traces of the old onion, which should already be decomposed. We will use the new shoots, which should be a greenish-white color. It is important to avoid pulling up the roots as much as possible.
The final step is to replant the developed shoots, spacing them about 7 or 8 cm away from other plants and the edge of the pot. The goal is to bury all the roots and about 4 cm of the base of the onion.
Remember to keep the soil moist; onions are very drought-tolerant, but they develop much faster in humid conditions.
Step 4: Harvest.
It takes about 3 to 4 months from transplanting to reach harvest time, though this can vary depending on the amount of sunlight received. The best indicator of harvest is the visible size of the onion itself.
To harvest the onions, simply pull on their tails; if necessary, you can use a knife to loosen the soil around them.
