24/07/2025
The first time I learned about onions; how it's grown and harvested for market and seeds production was in Jos.
It was there I learnt something about onion many farmers don’t talk about much-and that’s the life cycle of onions.
Now, let me take you through it in a way that will make it stick with you for good. Let this be an organic feeling 😂
Some time ago in 2021, I got curious after some months working with an onion farmer close to where I was taking my industrial training.
I noticed that onions grown from seeds hardly produced seeds of their own.
But when he planted plant cut bulbs, they gave us flowers and seeds.
This was strange but after his explanation and my "fall back to literature" what he said and the things I saw made so much sense.
So here is the point, onions are not like maize or pepper. They’re biennial. That means they grow in two stages over two growing seasons.
In the first season, when you plant onions from seed, the plant uses all its energy to grow its roots and bulb. That’s what it’s meant to do.
It has no interest in flowering yet. It’s not ready to make seeds. So now you all know that onion is a perfect example of a biennial crop.
But here’s where it gets interesting...
If you take that matured bulb from the first season, cut it, and replant it, the onion thinks:
“I’ve already stored energy. It’s time to complete my life cycle.” shin wanger je o? 😆
What does it do next?
It sends out a flower stalk, blooms, and gives you seeds.
That’s how onions work.
It is like the plant has a memory. No be only human beings de remember. Shin wanger je oo?
Planting from seed is like raising a baby. It’s not yet ready for reproduction.
But planting from a bulb is like calling back an adult, it knows what to do next.
So if your goal is to harvest onions to sell, you want big bulbs, grow from seeds
But if your goal is to produce your own seed, don’t expect that from your seed grown onions in their first season.
You have to let them finish their bulb stage, and then replant the bulb to get the flowers and seed.
This is how simple it is to get seeds but most people overlook it. 😂
And if you leave the bulb grown from seeds to grow till it flowers and produce seeds you will wait till Jesus comes and it won't produce seeds.
That’s because onions need something called VERNALIZATION, it's a kind of cold shock, it tells the onion it’s time to bloom. Bulbs that went through a full season have this better than new seeds.
So when next you wonder why your onions won’t give you seeds, remember, it's not weather or variety of the onion, it's the lifespan.
This is basic biology and I am here to share with you organically.
Okay, go and grow your onions for seeds now.
Don't forget to register for our 2nd cohort and learn more.
P.S: some of my cut onion for seed production in an improvised green house.
