If you find yourself opening your pantry to find an already sprouted onion as I did, do not to throw it away! Instead, try planting the sprouted onion to grow even more onions!
You heard that right! YES, you can grow onions from your sprouted grocery store onions! This is a fun way to learn about gardening and the life cycle of an onion. Also, it’s free!
So hold onto that onion and follow along to see how you can go about planting onions that have sprouted too!
What To Look For With Sprouted Onions
One of the easiest ways to identify if your onion has sprouted is to look at the top of your onion. You will notice you have green little spikes (or sprouts) developing from the top of your onion! At the bottom of your onion is the roots of the old onion, it will feel hard and calloused to the touch.
You may have one or several separate onion sprouts developing. Essentially, each sprout is an opportunity to grow an additional onion! YAY!
Additionally, check to make sure your onion hasn’t rotted, it would feel squishy to the touch if it was rotted.
Lastly, you may notice your sprouted onion already has new roots developing. These will be growing on top of the old onions roots. Do not worry if you don’t see any, once the sprouts are popped into water they should begin to develop roots soon!
- Count the sprouts: How many do you have?
- Check for rot: Does your onion feel squishy?
- Roots: Check to see if you have new roots already developing.
How To Grow Onions From Sprouted Bulbs
There are a few easy steps to take before you are well on your way to growing new onions!
- First, you need to peel the layers back on your onion to identify just how many sprouts you have. Also, this is a great time to identify if your onion is rotted. It will be very noticeable and a little squishy to touch. *Important note: Place your peeled parts of your old onion into your compost! They are past the point of eating, and what a great way to give it another life!*
- Next, peel until you notice a division line. The division line is where you see where each individual sprout has developed.
- After you have spotted where the sprouts separate, carefully take a knife cut the two apart.
- Additionally, you can clean up the bottom of the sprouts by carefully cutting off the remnants of the old onion (it will feel calloused and look a little brown). Careful not to cut off any new roots that have developed. The new roots will grow on top of the old roots.
- Do not worry if you cannot see any new roots! Pop the separate sprouts into a glass of water filled roughly a few inches to cover the bottom of the sprouts. Keep them in water for a week (rinse them once a week if they need to be in water longer) and you should begin to see new roots develop!
- Lastly, once you see healthy roots plant the sprouts in soil and cover at least 2/3 of the sprouts or until you see just the green parts sticking up.
- Make sure to keep the soil moist and in the sun! In 60-80 days you should now have a new onion!
See below how I separated my onion sprouts!
Here’s a great YouTube video by Epic Gardening to visually demonstrate the steps above!
What Happens After You’ve Planted Your Sprouts?
After you’ve divided your sprouts from your onion, you will want to plant them into either a pot or raised garden bed. Plant them just until you see green sticking out, or roughly 2/3rd of the way down. The new onion will begin to develop under the soil, and as it grows you will see the new bulb crown to the top of the soil.
Water them in well and keep the soil moist. Additionally, place them where they will receive sun and in 60-80 days watch your onion sprouts develop a whole new onion! Are you ready to give your sprouted onions a new life?!
Did you know you can also REGROW GREEN ONIONS in water? Check out this post to learn how to get free green onions!
Good luck and best wishes in your gardening journey!
-Kate