Onions going to seed in may???

[justwannano1]

I have never had much luck growing onions here in SE Iowa. I think its just me so I keep trying different things.
This year I saved the onions from last fall and transplanted this spring. Everything was going well except now, in early may, they are begnning to form a seed head.
So what do I do now? They have been in the ground about a month.
I'm thinking I need to cut off the head or do I just let them go to seed and create an onion patch and call that the best I can do.
Help please
thanks
have a good day
just

[Newt]

Hi Just,

I too find onions difficult to grow, but in my case I don't have a spot that gets at least 12 hours of sun.

Did you plant the small onions or offsets or the fully grown onion? What type of onions are these?

Newt

[justwannano1]

They are red and yellow slicing onions.
Sorry I don't remember their name.
I just took the bulbs from last fall and put them in a bucket which I kept in the basement over winter.
I planted them about a month ago.
Some started to turn green in the basement and some took awhile in the garden.
Nearly all have the start of a flower.
These probably don't get a full 12 hours of sun but its most of the day.Maybe I ought to move them to the other side of the garden.
Have a good day
just

[Newt]

Just, I think the fluctuation of temps from storing them over the winter has made them bolt. This site has good growing info about onions, but this part should interest you.
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publica.../oniongro.html

Flowering -- Abnormal For Onions; Normal For Garlic Most folks want to grow onion bulbs NOT onion flowers! What causes bulb onions to send up flower stalks? Flowering of onions can be caused by several things but usually the most prevalent is temperature fluctuation. An onion is classed as a biennial which means it normally takes 2 years to go from seed to seed. Temperature is the controlling or triggering factor in this process. If an onion plant is exposed to alternating cold and warm temperatures resulting in the onion plant going dormant, resuming growth, going dormant and then resuming growth again, the onion bulbs prematurely flower or bolt. The onion is deceived into believing it has completed two growth cycles or years of growth in its biennial life cycle so it finalizes the cycle by blooming. Flowering can be controlled by planting the right variety at the right time. Use only transplants that are pencil-sized or smaller in diameter when planting in early spring or always plant seed, NEVER transplants, in early fall in Texas Zones III - V (USDA Zones 8 and 9).




What To Do About Flowering?
What can one do if flower stalks appear? Should the flower stalks be removed from the onion plants? Suit yourself but once the onion plant has bolted, or sent up a flower stalk, there is nothing you can do to eliminate this problem. The onion bulbs will be edible but smaller. Use these onions as soon as possible because the green flower stalk which emerges through the center of the bulb will make storage almost impossible. Seedstalk formation (bolting) of garlic is not induced by exposure to fluctuating temperatures, as is the case with onions, which means that a wide range of fall planting dates is permissible for this crop. Seedstalk formation is also not damaging to garlic since the cloves are arranged around the seedstalk and will be removed from the dried seedstalk. Conversely, the edible onion bulb is penetrated by the seedstalk which is hard when the bulb is harvested, but prematurely decays causing loss of the entire bulb in storage. When the tops become yellowish and partly dry, garlic is ready for harvest.

Newt