Alliums

1. Alliums • Alliums include onions, leeks, and garlic

2. Key topics • Onion • History • Characteristics • Types • Starting onions • Harvesting • Leek • Why grow? • Blanching • Garlic • Folklore • Softneck & hardneck • Harvest

3. Alliums • Most alliums are grown for their bulbs • What is a bulb? • Swollen ________ modified for storage attached to a short ___________ • Stem is a small basal plate • Why do alliums form bulbs?

4. Onion (Allium cepa, Cepa group) • History • Believed to have originated in _____ Asia • Consumed wild onions long before farming • Staple in _______ diet • Less perishable & easily transported • Considered sacred by ancient _________ Likely origin

5. Onion Pungency • Cell disruption (cutting) releases _________ compounds rich in ________ • Makes your eyes water • How can you prevent? • Wear goggles, chill onion, or cut under water • Do onions vary in pungency? • Less pungent when grown in soils low in _____ • Low _________ soils of Vidalia area of Georgia • _______ vary in pungency

6. Onions are biennial • Bulb formation responds to ______ days and ______ temperatures • Different than other biennial vegetables • Have short, ________ & long day types • Mature bulbs are formed late in the ____ full growing season • Seed stalk formed second year Onion seed stalks

7. Common onion group • Common or _______ onion • Includes _________ of bulb grown throughout the world • Majority grown from seed & produce _______ bulb • Highly variable

8. Common onion group • _________ onions • _______ single bulb • Mild, sweet flavor • Bulb shaped like a _____ sphere • Usually has a glossy _______ skin • Examples: Texas sweet onions; Vidalia onions

9. What are Vidalia onions? • Why are Vidalia onions sweet? • Can you grow and sell Vidalia onions?

10. Aggregatum group • Shallots • Bulb smaller • Typically propagated from ______ division • Have a more _______, garlicky flavor than other onions

11. Starting onions from seed • Takes a longer time period than the other methods • ______ control is very important • Onions seedlings not competitive against _______ • Seeds will only store for about a _______

12. Starting onions from transplants • Growing method that most often produces ______ onions for slicing • Slower to develop • Not commonly carried by many ______ ______

13. Starting onions from sets • Tiny ______ grown from seed planted ________ within rows • Simplest method for the home gardener • Sets should be about thediameter of a _______ • Set-grown onions may not keep as ________

14. Onions: Harvesting • Onions increase most rapidly in size toward the ______ of the growing season • In ______ the leaves begin to die back from the tips and _______ ______

15. Onions: Harvesting • After tops have died: • ______ bulbs • Spread bulbs on a dry surface and allow them to _________ • Once dry, remove all but an _____ of the tops • If not done can result in neck rot

16. Leeks (Allium porrum) • _____ emblem • Differences from onion and garlic • _______ in flavor • Do not form a bulb • Have a thick ______ stalk

17. Blanching leeks • When stems are as thick as a ______, place soil or mulch around the ________ portion • Why blanch leeks

18. Garlic (Allium sativum) • Associated with protecting against evil – _________ and vampires • Why? • Does contain useful compounds • Diallyl sulphides help promote circulation • _________ is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal that can help protect against colds and infections Allicin

19. Two distinct subspecies • ________ garlic • Type sold in stores • Hardneck garlic • Reputed to have a deeper, more _______-bodied flavor than softneck garlic • Produces _______ per acre than softneck

20. Hardneck garlic • Hardneck requires more land and labor • ______ ______ must be removed • Hardneck garlic does not _______ as well as softneck

21. Garlic: Harvesting • Plants begin to dry down (yellow) from the ______ leaf up and from the leaf tips _______, one leaf at a time • Harvest when about ____% of the leaves are still green