You know when something is good enough because it repeats itself… Even when it is in the plural. Today’s topic is again onions and how to regrow onions?
While the first time it went about how you can do it yourself with just one onion, now let’s make it interesting. What if you want to regrow many onions? What about the so-called sets of onions, especially prepared ones to get even more onions?
As before, we can understand why some people do not like the flavor and smell of an onion. However, onions are one of the most used condiments in the kitchen. Sometimes, you can’t even notice is there (which is a funny thing to say to somebody that does not want onions in a certain food, but got them anyway and get impressed at the flavor without noticing there are onions there), and that is the magic of it.
How to regrow onions in soil?
There are two ways you may take to answer how to regrow onions. The first one is the kind you use for science projects (science!) which requires using water for regrowing the onions. However, let’s look into the other way, the “safer one”. How to regrow onions in soil?
First things first: You can regrow onions either way, but only growing them in the soil would give you the most of the scraps you were thinking of throwing away before. You can do this anywhere you have access to some ground, even in an apartment, as far as you have enough good lighting and temps.
You would need to use the bottom half of an onion to get it on water and you should do that for any amount of onions with this process. You also would need to soak them in water for at least 12 hours before planting them on soil for regrowing.
Like most plants, sunlight is a good thing for photosynthesis and the overall growth of the plant. For onions, having them close to a natural source of light is good but if you can’t have enough rays from the sun, a good LED growing lamp should do the trick.
Next up, planting. Using a container with good spacing, plant the onions using soil to cover them. You should give your onions enough water to live, without soaking them this time. And keep a close eye when the water in the soil goes away (in that case, just water them like recommended)
How to regrow onions in the water?
Now for the part when “science project” looks more likely than just regrowing for using it, Let’s see how to regrow onions? But specifically, what happens if you want to regrow the onion in the water? How to regrow onions in the water?
The best thing about this method is that everyone can do it, even kids can help with this and this can also be a nice science project to do with them. It is also super easy to do and does not take too much time from you, which is awesome. You can regrow an onion at a time or, maybe, several ones using bowls or any other containers filled with water.
To do so, you would need a container that allows said onions to sit on top, with their bottoms inside it, touching the water that you will be adding next. Fill your recipient with enough water to make the onion bottom submerge in the water. And then move that container to a place with good lighting, being sunlight, or the use of growing LED lights for plants.
And that is it. You would be seeing the roots starting to appear in a few days, from pieces of food scrap that you would normally throw away to the garbage.
How to regrow onion sets?
Reinforcing what we have talked about so far, you could go the extra mile by buying onion sets. What are those you may ask? Well, to put it simply: They are small sets of onions (duh) that are specially designed to be planted and grown. It is like having lots of seeds of onions, without the actual seeds, but doing the same thing as seeds. So then, how to regrow onion sets and how it differs from the “how to regrow onions” answer.
What you need to know about planting these sets of onions is to dig holes deep enough to accommodate them and cover them slightly with some fine soil. The spacing here is also important so, again, three to four inches apart between them is the recommended way to do so and about 14 inches from row to row.
You can use hay and it would be amazing for your little crop of onions. The hay is great for regulating air circulation and overall humidity, which is important. You do not want to eat bulbs of onions that are moldy because of way too much humidity on them.
The harvesting times can vary. Some species of onions would arrive at that period at around the three weeks mark, while others like the red onions can take as long as four months. This can be a good way and a determinant factor to decide before diving into this process.
Conclusion
Now that we know how to regrow onions, let’s make some clear conclusions for this interesting topic. It is all about recycling the food we used to just dispose of and use it again, without losing the quality and the flavor we are accustomed to. And recycling is always a good thing for our planet, right?
In both ways to planting and caring for onions regrowing, you should be sure to give them enough sunlight or other light source and not to drown them in water (well, at least for the ones on soil). In a short while, you would see that your onions are growing up roots and other green parts.
Finally, a set of onions can be grown in soil with good separation between them, some say around three to four inches and in rows that can extend up to 14 inches. Using hay may help a lot with hydration and air circulation too. In about three weeks, they would be ready for you to use.
