Planting Egyptian Walking Onions From Bulblets and Divisions

Egyptian Walking Onions are easy to grow in either your garden or container, and require minimal care once established. A perennial, they come back year after year!

They produce onion sets instead of seeds at the ends of their leaf stalks, which fall to the ground up to 3 feet away and root and become new plants!

Bulbils

Egyptian Walking Onions are proliferous plants, meaning that they produce offshoots instead of seeds. Each plant will produce clusters of these bulblets at its top known as topsets; once reaching maturity these offshoots bend over and touch the ground where they root to form new onion plants which continue the cycle over time.

When growing Egyptian Walking Onions from bulbils, make sure that deep containers allow for adequate root development and avoid getting lost among weeds. Plastic pots at least 6 inches in diameter provide ample room to plant 10 bulbs evenly in each one.

Once your Egyptian Walking Onions have had time to mature, harvest them as an excellent substitute for green onions in soups and stir-fries, salad garnishes or even raw as an edible sprout – perfect as a delicious alternative to scallions and chives! Plus they taste fantastic when pickled!

These unique onions will bring a bit of history and intrigue to any vegetable collection, thanks to their fascinating growth methods and propagation processes. Furthermore, their low maintenance requirements make them an attractive and manageable option for home gardeners.

Divisions

Egyptian Walking Onions, also referred to as tree onions, winter onions or perennial onions, get their unique name due to their distinctive growth habits. Instead of producing seeds directly, this unique variety grows by producing clusters of small onion bulblets at the ends of leaf stalks without producing seeds directly – “topsets”. Once too heavy for their stem, these “topsets” bend downward until touching ground where roots take hold and create new plants – giving the illusion that these “walk” across gardens, self-propagating.

As with most root vegetables, walking onions need soil with plenty of airflow that drains well and needs no amendment with compost or aged organic material to improve drainage and avoid bulb rot in soils that become too wet. Choose an area in direct sun or partial shade where this amendment can be made as necessary to provide adequate air circulation – this helps protect them against damage due to overly wet soil conditions.

Egyptian Walking Onions produce small greens during spring and fall months, followed by an increased harvest from late summer through winter. Egyptian Walking Onions make an excellent addition to any vegetable garden, especially those grown in containers where they can be protected from gophers and other soil pests that tend to target planted bulbs in the ground.

Growing walking onions in containers gives you complete control of soil conditions, watering needs and spacing – an ideal option for urban gardens with limited spaces or tight quarters. Walking onions are easy to care for and make an eye-catching display in pots or raised planters such as half barrels.

Soil

Egyptian Walking Onions make a fascinating and rewarding addition to any garden, providing gardeners with a low-maintenance way of harvesting onions year after year. Container gardening provides extra protection from gophers and other soil pests who might otherwise target onion clumps in the ground.

Egyptian Walking Onions differ from their traditional onion counterparts in that they produce bulbils instead of seeds. When mature, these bulbils bend downward until reaching the ground – hence their common name of walking onions! You can control their spread by harvesting top-sets in mid to late summer/autumn and replanting them where desired.

As with other root vegetables, walking onions require loose, fertile and well-draining soil with an ideal pH between 6.2 to 6.8, adding organic matter or compost can improve its quality further. A raised bed or half barrel container offers ideal growing conditions for these onions.

Harvested green shoots at the base of plants can be used in place of scallions and green onions to add mild onion flavors to soups, stews, roasts and salads. Furthermore, pickling will transform them into great substitutes for chives; and the small bulbs that form at their top can even be cooked and eaten as an alternative way of enjoying these versatile veggies.

Water

Egyptian Walking Onions are perennial alliums that spread by dropping top-setting bulbils from their stalks, producing onion-like bulbs with milder flavors that cluster at the tops of each stalk and create an eye-catching branching, tree-like appearance in gardens and containers. Easy to grow, they make great additions to both landscapes and containers alike!

Egyptian Walking Onions will produce new sets each year, so it’s essential to divide each clump after 2-3 years to prevent overcrowding and prevent overgrowth. Use a garden fork to carefully separate each clump without harming its bulbs before replanting in fresh soil.

Egyptian Walking Onions should ideally be planted in fall to allow them time to establish roots before winter arrives. Although spring planting may also work, getting all clumps rooted can prove tricky as the ground freezes too soon.

At this stage, it’s also recommended to fertilize each clump with a mild organic product to promote growth without over-fertilizing, which can cause smaller bulbs. Our All-Purpose Fertilizers contain just the right combination of ingredients to keep onion plants thriving.

Egyptian Walking Onions produce green onions at their base that can be eaten raw in salads or cooked as an alternative to scallions or green onions in cooked dishes, while their tiny bulblets on each stalk make great pickled or fried snacks.