Where to Buy Potato Onion Starts

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This page is intended as a source page for acquiring potato onion starts.  I will try to update as I get more information.  If you know of any source not listed, please contact me.  I don’t necessarily vouch for the sources in regards to either service or authenticity, I’m just listing claimed sources, so buyer beware.  I don’t have any financial interest in any of these sources, except of course any that I have for sale.

Potato Onions can be fall planted in milder areas with no especial care.  They can also be fall planted in cold areas if they are hilled up with soil to cover, but the soil must be pulled away from the plants in the spring so that just the roots are buried and the bulb is sitting at ground level where it will be less prone to rot.  Optionally, store until spring and plant then.  Some may be lost to decay in storage, but they keep remarkably well in general.  I planted some in September this year which had been held over from the previous summer’s crop, so they were over a year old.  All of that time they were stored under bad conditions including hanging in an often very hot trailer all summer long.  Still, they do spoil and it isn’t uncommon to lose a number of them right after harvest and then a few here and there through the winter, so for spring planting you’d be better to order in the spring if possible.  I’m not sure who, if anyone, ships them in the spring, but maybe I will start doing that.  Regardless of all that, you will probably have to order early, because the demand seems to far exceed the supply the past couple years.  That’s good of course, because more people are growing them and hopefully sharing them.

*I have Potato Onions for sale on ebay through my account Paleotechnics.   Demand still far exceeds supply every year, but I grew more this year.

*Seed saver’s exchange:  Requires a membership to order starts and seeds from other members.  The retail catalog does not have Potato Onions.  various varieties are offered by members, though it is hard to say how many are actually different from each other until you grow them.

*Kelly Winterton:   Unique new varieties that Kelly has grown from seed.  All larger than the standard varieties and seem very promising.  Very limited quantities. Contact Kelly at kellys gar den at gm ail dot com

*Heirloomonions.com:  These guys appear to be shooting for one stop shopping when it comes to multiplier onions, although, like all other sources so far, availability is still an issue.

*Fedco/moose tubers: carries potato onions.  Fedco is my favorite seed company when all things are considered, so check out the seed section as well.  http://www.fedcoseeds.com/moose.htm

*Southernexposure:  These guys have had them a long time and are probably partly responsible for keeping potato onions alive. http://www.southernexposure.com

*Maine Potato Lady : Sometimes has Potato Onions for sale.  https://www.mainepotatolady.com

*http://www.Ebay.com:   There are usually some Potato Onion starts for sale on ebay besides mine.  I’ve seen some that look like red shallots, so who knows what you’ll get.  buyer beware.  I ordered some from Canada off ebay that looked different and smaller than the yellow potato onion we grow down here, but I can’t be sure because all of the bulbs failed to grow, though they seemed healthy enough.  Maybe they had jet lag.  (note, a person I’m in communication with had the same canadian yellow potato onions completely fail to root.)

*Territorial Seed Company:  If this link doesn’t work, try googling “territorial seed potato onions” .  They are difficult to find on the site because they are listed as a seasonal product and only sold in the fall.

*Garden Medicinals:

RELATED POSTS:  Mr Winterton’s Remarkable Potato Onions, POTATO ONIONS!, The Historic Potato Onion

Mr. Wintertons Remarkable Potato Onion!

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This past Spring Kelly Winterton of Utah, an amateur gardener turned onion breeder, generously sent me 8 bulbs of his new Potato Onion the Green Mountain Multiplier.  This newly introduced variety was grown by Mr. Winterton from seeds of the Yellow Potato Onion.  Potato Onions don’t go to seed very often, but some years back his did go to seed and he was adventurous enough to plant the seeds to see what would happen; what happened was new larger Potato Onions in several different colors.  The Green Mountain was the first to be shared out to other people.  Most of the others are still under selection and propagation with one new White variety being offered this year.

Kelly has said that every new variety he is growing from the seeds of the Yellow Potato Onion have been larger than the parent.  He thinks the greater size of the new onions may be due to freedom from virus that the Yellow Potato Onion has picked up over it’s very long career.  Since Potato Onions are grown from divisions instead of seed, it seems plausible that they could accumulate virus.  Plants grown out from seed apparently do not carry on viral infections of the parents, so growing from seed would be a way to potentially “cleanse” the Potato Onion occasionally.   The other method I know of is to heat the plants until the virus dies, sort of a fever.  I’m not sure if the fever technique would work for an onion, but it is used on fruit trees.  The viral theory seems plausible, but whatever the case, the onions are truly large for potato onions.

When I received the bulbs in spring, they were very firm and did not look like they had suffered in storage over winter in the least.  I grew them out as usual without any overly special coddling.  The largest specimens are over three inches in diameter, and there are quite a few pretty large ones.  The Smallest one is one and one eighth inches.  Coincidentally, I also have the largest Yellow Potato Onions I’ve ever grown this year, but out of a pretty big crop, none are quite as large as the Green Mountains.  My larger than usual Yellow Potato Onions are due for the most part to my deliberate planting out of the smallest onions from last year’s crop which makes for fewer, but larger onions.

The Historic Potato Onion: A compilation of early references

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I compiled a bunch of references while researching Potato Onions which are posted below.  It is also available as a The Historic Potato Onion- A compilation of early references, which also has links.  First though, I have some notes on my impressions and observations on reading through these references.  Note that there are many different planting dates and methods of cultivation.  That is to be expected, I suppose, given the widely varying geographies that the authors are referring to.  See also my previous detailed blog post on Potato Onions,  for more details about the onions and their culture, which is probably a better place to start your Potato Onion adventure if you are new to them.

Apparently planting smaller Onions makes fewer, but larger Onions than if larger Onions are planted.  I believe what is usually being referred to here is as follows.   The Potato Onion has a number of “eyes” growing inside of each Onion.  I believe each of these “eyes” probably forms a new  bulb each of which also has more “eyes”.  The larger Onions have more eyes and therefore produce more bulbs when planted although of smaller size due to competition within the plant itself.  The smaller Onions having fewer eyes produce fewer Onions but larger ones due to decreased competition for soil resources.  There are also however references which say that one small Onion will grow into just one large Onion.  I don’t think I have ever seen this happen with the yellow potato Onion variety that I have, so I suspect that it is either incorrect or that there is a variety which does behave this way.  It is also possible that I just have not planted small enough sets to observe the one-small-into-one-large phenomenon or, further, that I have observed it and simply forgot.  I will be observing the results of growing different sizes of bulbs more closely this year.  The idea, as some authors mention, is to grow the right proportion of large and small bulbs to assure larger ones for eating while yet retaining enough small bulbs for good seed.  Potato Onions often have internal division where the walls of skin between the “cloves” or main “eyes” have dried off.  Some mention is made of dividing them along these lines for planting.  I have done so, but not in a very observant manner.

POTATO ONIONS!

I would like to introduce you to a swell onion that makes its own starts, stores like a rock and tastes great!

(Related post:  Potato onion research.)

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Years ago when sharing a garden with my mother, she ordered some small onion sets called potato onions.  From that small beginning we’ve been growing them ever since and have given away dozens of starter bulbs.  The potato onion somewhat resembles a shallot in growth habit.  They tend to be a little bit smaller than shallots and somewhat more rounded.  The bulbs are delicious caramelized, cooked whole in stews and roasts, grilled in their skins on the barbecue and about anywhere you would use a regular storage type onion.  I like potato onions.

I’m really into onions right now.  I’m starting to dream about growing more different varieties and I’m even filling the spring gap between the last leeks and the first scallions with a few store bought onion bulbs. For many years though I pretty well subsisted on only three types of onions from the garden- the leek, scallions and potato onions.  The leeks provide much of the winter fare in the onion department, the scallions are the first in the spring after the leeks have gone to seed and the potato onions keep through the winter and into the summer for use whenever a non-green onion is needed or when the leeks and scallions aren’t available.  Its been a pretty good system.  Regardless of what other Onions I might try growing, I don’t think that potato onions will ever be left out of my garden.