strong onions

[fishhead]

For the first time I got some decent sized yellow onions this past summer.

The necks on some are extra large on some, almost like green onions and at first they were slimy. I let the tops dry so they aren't slimy but they are tough and very strong. Even after cooking in a hot dish they are still tough and almost overpower everything else.

Can I expect that to get better if I dehydrate them?

Will I be forced out of my house by the fumes if I dehydrate them?

[mommagoose_99]

What variety did you plant? Were they sets or plants? I have found that sets make a much hotter onion than do plants grown from seed. After growing my own plants for a number of years, I got lazy and tried plants from Dixondale in Texas. You can choose the best onion for your daylight situation and you will have a lot more success in getting nice big sweet onions. Onions are daylength sensative. You and I are in the same day length zone, could I make a couple of suggestions. For a nice long storing sweet onion try Candy or Big Daddy. Nice long storing red onion either Red Zeppalin or Mars. I tried Sterling which is a very mild sweet white onion, they are very nice but don't store that well. There are dozens of other good big onions available. If you are going to grow them from seed yourself, you will have to order the seed soon. I always started my plants at the end of January.
Linda

[Windy_jem]

Do NOT dehydrate them in the house...you'll gag on the smell, eyes will water and everything will smell like onions for MONTHS!
Now ask me how I know this? LOL

[Paquebot]

Fat necks and later strong smell means that they are on the verge of spoiling. When preparing onions for storage, those with thick necks should always be sorted out for using first. Their chemical makeup changes faster than those with thin necks. The toughness in this case is the result of the growing plant having begun to transfer stored energy back into the stalk in preparation to forming a seed head.

Martin

[sammyd]

we move the dehydrator out to the non attached garage when doing onions.

[fishhead]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm thinking that the thick necks may be the result of too much nitrogen in the soil. I used a flock of chickens to reclaim the garden the year before and they really fertilized the soil. My carrot tops were nearly to my waist and most had multiple roots even though my garden is sand. The onion tops were about 3' too.

I'm not sure what variety of onion they are other than they are yellow.

Next summer I'll be in southern PA so I'll have to start all over.

[T-Bone 369]

Our onions here were stronger than normal this year - the theory is that with the cool/wet weather the degree days needed for the sugars to form than normally make them sweet just were inadequate. We grow Candys, Mars and Superstars for market and usually the are not strong. Another thing to think about that effects the strength of onions is sulfur - the more sulfur in the soil the stronger the onions get.

[fishhead]

We did have a bunch of cool weather, hot weather, drought and rain this season. Not a very good summer.

I'm not sure about the sulfur unless the chicken feed had a lot that went through the chickens.