Being A Kid And Being An Onion — What Do They Have In Common?

To both kids and onions, daylight matters. 

Being a kid and playing outside till dark was a scene that replayed itself every sunny summer day. Riding bikes, playing ball, running back and forth. 

We used to stay outside till the last possible minute, especially on the longest days of summer. So often Mom had to call us in.

Occasionally her limit was a specific time. Usually, it was just based on daylight. If it was still light outside, you had more time. Once it started getting dark, that was it. So of course, we wanted daylight hours to keep stretching.  

Didn’t we yearn for long days?

We really cared about daylight. Just from regularly playing outside, we realized some days have longer daylight. And yes, even summer days, as long as they all are, have varying amounts of daylight. A real-life science lesson learned through experience. And need. 

We had plans, and we needed daylight to carry them out. We wanted as many daylight hours as we could get. No matter what we wanted, of course, there was an end point to the lengthening daylight.

Playing outside brought a life lesson, too. The short daylight days that were before and would come again helped us appreciate those longer daylight days.

Onions care about daylight, too.

For onions, daylight concerns are intrinsic to their growth pattern. 

Long-day onions, which are best for my area, need 14+ hours of daylight. Bulb growth is eventually signaled to begin by the right amount of daylight. Hopefully there’s already a good amount of leaf growth by then, since leaf growth helps determine bulb size. Leaf development, bulb size, and hours of daylight are all connected. 

Years ago, I made the mistake of planting short-day onions, which are not appropriate for U.S. states this far north. I soon found out the mistake I made, but it still took me years to try bulbing onions again. I was so disappointed that those first ones didn’t bulb. But, why has it taken me this long?

I‘m trying onions again.

I am growing bulbing onions for the first time since my error in onion type. Now, with the correct knowledge about day-length types, this year’s onions stand a chance of doing well.

After the earlier disappointment, it’s so exciting to see that they are starting to bulb. I’m looking forward to seeing how the onions do what they need to do with the amount of daylight they have.