# A little more plant help, please. Onion related- I think. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269 "2007-02-14T21:57:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/1 "2007-02-14T21:57:52Z")
This is really a two-parter, but I’ll attempt to be brief. Originally in my pretty little terracotta pot I had: a little cactus (one of the ones with the little red thing grafted on top), an aloe, and what was marked at the store as an onion. The cactus quickly grew squishy, regardless of how often or little I watered it. Before long, the aloe met a similar fate. I’m a plant murderer. Anywho, the onion (hereinafter referred to as “Mr. Onion.” Yes, we name our plants. We can’t have pets in our apartment, so we make due) has been thriving nicely in the big pot. Mr. Onion used to have shoots growing out of the top, but those fell off long, long ago. Now it’s a half covered bulb (that’s how the package said to bury it, but I’m wondering if it ought to go deeper?), with this weird green. . . vine thing growing out of it. What the hell is that vine thing? Will Mr. Onion ever do anything exciting or will he forever be a little bulb with a weird green thing growing out of him? My second question involves something that is going to make me look like a very bad person. Roommate and I were cleaning out the fridge one day. In the back of the fridge we found a plastic back with what was once an yellow onion in it. The onion was half mushiefied (real word) and had like 3 inch green shoots coming out of the top. I figured what the hell and buried the onion in the pot with Mr. Onion. New onion has been dubbed Percy. Anyway, Percy and Mr. Onion have flourished nicely, with Percy doubling in size. My question is: what’s going on with Percy? Is he going to make edible onions? Should I move it into a bigger pot? Outside maybe? Here are some pictures. [The family portrait.](http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d4/diosabellissima/Plants/PercyMrOnion.jpg) [Random 1.](http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d4/diosabellissima/Plants/AngelsStuff1187.jpg) [Random 2.](http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d4/diosabellissima/Plants/AngelsStuff1190.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/2 "2007-02-14T23:30:25Z")
I suggest you get one of [these](http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Alliaceae/Tulbaghia_violacea.html) and make it a threesome. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/3 "2007-02-15T00:15:47Z")
Percy seems happy enough, but Mr. Onion doesn’t look so good, unless he’s ready to harvest. At some point, an onion plant will launch one or more flower stalks. It’s a bit stiffer than the leaves, and it will make a spherical purple flower. In the case of a solitary indoor onion, the flower is a waste of plant energy, so nip it off as soon as the flower looks bedraggled. When the leaves turn brown and fall over, the onion is ready to harvest. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/4 "2007-02-15T00:19:04Z")
Wait wait- harvest? So we can eat Mr. Onion? I thought he was just some sort of onion-like bulb that did nothing? I mean, his big leaves fell off long ago, but that green shoot thing has been growing longer and longer every day. It’s all so confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/5 "2007-02-15T00:21:54Z")
I’d say that vine thing sprouting from Mr. Onion is probably his bulb-baby. If you dug him up, you’d likely the Onionette clinging near his roots. Mr. Onion may sprout again this Spring or he may feel his life in complete, having reproduced. It’s hard to know without knowing exactly what species he is. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/6 "2007-02-15T00:25:49Z")
So should I leave Mr. Onion be? Or should I find the baby and move it over? Or just let nature take its course? And I will leave Percy be, but am I to understand that- even grown indoors- he will make a new, delicious onion? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/7 "2007-02-15T04:29:59Z")
It could be [Boweia](http://www.gardening.eu/plants/Succulent-Plants/Boweia-volubilis/2779/), or false sea onion. (The HTML on that page is a little messed up, but mostly rendered) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/8 "2007-02-15T04:33:25Z")
Oh, and there seems to be some controversy over whether the bulb of Boweia is poisonous, so I wouldn’t go slicing it into any stew. And it would be, according to my googling, either false sea onion, true sea onion or climbing onion. Or all three. This is why botanists use binomial nomenclature… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/9 "2007-02-15T04:34:31Z")
Another [nice website](http://pas.k12.mi.us/~lovells/flower/bowiea.htm), though less technical. Good pics, though. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-more-plant-help-please-onion-related-i-think/392269/10 "2007-02-15T12:08:10Z")
It’s not an eatting onion, that’s for sure. The little stringy thing is a leaf on a bulblet underground. The plant must start bulblets, by the roots, like many bulb plants do.