3 Simple Ways to
Share What You Make

With Instructables you can share what you make with the world — and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.

PhotosPhotos

Share one or more photos of a project, recipe, or whatever you've made, quickly and easily.

Step by StepStep-By-Step

Share your step-by-step photos with text instructions of what you made so others can do it too!

VideoVideo

Share your how-to video. You'll need your embed code from a video site such as YouTube.

Grow Onions from Discarded Onion Bottoms

Step 4Finish

Finish
Once the onion bottom has developed a few leaves, remove from the pot.

Remove old onion scales.

Separate plants as needed by slicing between plants and leaving a portion of the roots attached.  You may have more than 1 plant develop from a single onion bottom.

Replant in a prepared growing bed.

Cut leaves down to 1/3 of the size to allow the bulb to develop.  This might seem harsh, but the onion will regrow those leaves with less stress.

Repeat the process.  Harvest as green onions or fully developed mature onions.
« Previous StepDownload PDFView All StepsNext Step »
13 comments
Apr 4, 2011. 10:29 PMpwillett1 says:
I have an onion that has sprouted in the vegetable bin, and the bulb is going squishy. Is there some way I can plant it in the garden at this point, or do I need to just root the bottom first. If so, do I just discard the sprouts coming out of the top of the bulb? If I cover the bottom with potting soil, how will I know when it has a good set of roots?
Feb 16, 2010. 12:41 PMnumian says:
I have never tried this with onions before but have done it with many fruits & vegetable that have seeds.  Produce is so expensive I just couldn't accept  not using the seeds.  Not that seeds are expensive I guess it's just principle. Some seeds I've tried to grow from store bought produce are listed below:
Yellow & red Peppers-Let them dry in a glass or ceramic bowl on a windowsill before planting.
Cantalope-easy to germinate, just plant the seeds as they are removed from the fruit, no need to clean.  Spead them out because it seemed every one sprouts! They need lots of room to grow
Potatoes-easy
cucumbers- Let them dry first need to climb easy to grow
Mango & avocado- More difficult-use the small round HAAS avacados not much luck with Mangos
Watermelon-Easy to grow except the "seedless" variety:-)

I save seeds also.  After they've dried keep in plactic ziplock snack bags. I put the date  and what they are and store them in a drawer.  Toss them out after 2 years, not worth the time, just save more!
Has anyone tried to grow pomegranite seeds?
Aug 16, 2010. 8:43 AMTotysheep says:
Yes! Where I come from pomegranate grows like weeds!!! Put the seeds in a pot and wait. Good luck and happy gardening! I always love it when people grow their own food!
Feb 17, 2010. 4:16 PMthepelton says:
Pomegranite seeds are designed, like tomato or kiwi, to go through the digestive system before becoming capable of being grown.  I think that you could simulate such a thing by soaking them in vinegar. 
Feb 18, 2010. 10:13 AMWILL62 says:
I take tomato seeds right out of the fruit and put in a strainer the( screen kind )and put under running water and with a swirling motion sand off the pulp with my fingers against the screen, then I dry on newspaper for a few days, no need to soak, fingers and screen are the "GUT" or simulated digestion works like a charm. I plant em every year no problemo.
Feb 17, 2010. 8:34 PMlianalw says:
 You can achieve the same affect of the digestive system by letting the fruit or vegetable to rot and ferment.  Then remove seeds, rinse and dry........we have been doing this for years.  Do remember though unless organic many fruits and vegetables are altered so as not to reproduce.......finances for the producers I imagine.  Good luck.
Oct 4, 2010. 5:46 PMDIY-Guy says:
"...unless organic, many fruits and vegetables are altered so as not to reproduce"
Reproduction of seed versus 'organic':
The use of organic growing technique has no direct relation to the viability of  hybrid, or non-hybrid seeds. Non-hybrid seeds are also known as heirloom seeds, open-pollinated, or heritage seeds. Hybrid seeds can be grown with organic methods and they will still not breed true. The use of organic growing methods, or not, has almost no effect upon fertility of the seed. Could there be non-organic produce in markets containing seeds which will reproduce? Certainly, just as organically grown hybridized produce could show up in a farmers market. But the chance of finding reproduceable heritage seed vegetables is much higher in the farmers markets with organic crops. It is a growing philosophy among small farmers.

Remember, viability is related to fertility or the ability of sprout, and the concept of reproduceability is related to the idea of "breeding true" and getting the same characteristics in the following generations of plants.
Feb 18, 2010. 11:07 AMsteve10m says:
"are altered so as not to reproduce." - Quite not true.
Feb 18, 2010. 11:01 AMlunus says:
The inability for some produce to re-produce (haha, I made a funny) isn't completely intentional.  If any of you remember 7th grade biology, two different species /can/ reproduce, but that offspring cannot reproduce.  Hybrids, by definition are sterile (unless some other kind of sciencey magic has been played).

And of course, hybridization is done to marry desireable traits from seperate species such as toughness, quality and quantity of fruit, and other factors for ease of handling and quality of final product.  For example, machine farming of tomatoes was made possible by engineering a tougher tomato.
Feb 18, 2010. 1:44 PMManifoldSky says:
 To quote Steve10m, quite not true.

First, it is exceedingly rare that two different species will have any offspring at all. Second, the two individuals being mated in these cases of hybridization are not different species anyway, they are simply different varieties of the same species. Such hybrids are NOT sterile. Almost ALL store bought fruit will have viable seeds. The issue is not that hybrids can not have offspring. The issue is that hybrids can not reproduce, by which I mean they will not likely create offspring with the same traits as the parents. This is in contrast to heirloom varieties, where the traits are stable across generations.

Think in terms of people. Take two individuals whose families have been blonde for generations and let them have offspring. Those offspring will also be blonde. Contrast that to two blonde individuals whose families have varied hair colour. Their offspring will likely include numerous brown-haired children.

The same is true of hybrids. If two heirlooms are crossed so as to produce larger, more colourful, disease resistant fruit, there is no guarantee that the fruit of ITS offspring will have any of these traits.

 

And since it came up, the creation of "seedless" varieties involves the cross breeding of varieties which contain "self-incompatibility" genes, which prevent them from crossing with varieties different from themselves. Such plants, however, display a large degree of "parthenocarpy," the ability to generate fruit without fertilization. As such they have fruit, but no seeds, as the eggs never get fertilized by pollen.

Feb 18, 2010. 2:28 PMSparkyrob says:
(removed by author or community request)
Feb 18, 2010. 10:16 PMManifoldSky says:
 Sorry, but you are just flat out incorrect. On the first point, the existence of the mule (or the liger, the tion, or any of the other cross species hybrids) in NO way invalidates my statement. To wit:
"it is exceedingly rare that two different species will have any offspring at all."

What part of this statement are you claiming is the opposite of true? Are you claiming that cross species hybrids are common? You would be gravely mistaken.
More importantly, EVERY thing I said about the generation of seedless fruit is 100% accurate. Please detail exactly what you are claiming is "quite the opposite" of true.
If you are claiming that plant hybrids are sterile, I can GUARANTEE you that you are wrong. First, I grow plants from hybrid seed all the time; so do lots of people. Second, again, hybrid crosses are NOT from different species, they are varieties of the SAME species. Thus your horse/donkey/mule analogy is entirely off base.


FTR, my field of study is microbiology and neuroscience.
Mar 1, 2012. 10:47 PMbluehairkim says:
You are so brilliant! There is nothing I can possibly say to you that will come close to expressing my extreme admeration of you!!!
Mar 12, 2010. 12:26 PMSpaceman Spiff says:
If an onion grows in the forest, and a liger eats it, did it really grow?
Feb 19, 2010. 7:14 AMlianalw says:
 Wow you guys....if debating is what you are looking for maybe a different forum would be better.  The idea of this sounding board is to create a place for people to ask questions and share their alterations of the ideas not to be critical and debate every issue posted.  Possibly, it doesn't come up when you are writing your post but on mine there is a little box that reads;"We have a "be nice" comment policy. Please be positive and constructive with your comments or risk being banned from our site."  Just asking you to quit peeing in our cornflakes, please.


Mar 1, 2012. 11:02 PMbluehairkim says:
You are so brilliant! There is nothing I can possibly say to you that will come close to expressing my extreme admeration of you!!!
Mar 2, 2012. 12:32 AMManifoldSky says:
I admere you too.
Aug 29, 2011. 10:12 PMManifoldSky says:
As no one is doing that….
Feb 19, 2010. 12:52 PMthepelton says:
Personally, I would never do such a thing.  Bizarre images running through my head.  I suspect that if you grew an onion from the seeds or base of a hybrid, they would come out either as exact clones of the parent, or of one of the grandparents.
Aug 29, 2011. 7:39 PMRobotponys says:
But-! im going to restrain myself from joining the debate :) nice instructable! I'm going to try (and probly fail) growing some onions!
Feb 18, 2010. 11:45 AMIG-88 says:
 So basically what you are saying is that "hybrid" store bought fruit will grow and make more fruit but just not llike the "parent" plant, correct? 
Feb 18, 2010. 9:49 AMsoundmotor says:
Thanks for the great tip!

The non-germinating varieties would be hybrids, correct?
Feb 18, 2010. 11:06 AMsteve10m says:
They would probably just be seeds from fruits pluck'd too early from the vine, or perhaps stored too long before planting. Seeds from hybrid-produced fruits frequently give rise to a varied population of individuals. It's great fun to see the diversity, and roughly half of the plants will be much like the parents in terms of the crop they produce.
Feb 16, 2010. 2:14 PMabhishek727 says:
A few years back my father was transferred to a small town and we rented a nice home there. It had a small patch of open land but was infested w/ red ants. Just for fun I planted a mango seed-ate the mango, put the seed in a mug to clean it a bit and then dug a small hole and put the seed in it. I watered it every day-before going to school or tuitions. 
And it grew to be a nice handsome tree. A couple of months ago we visited the town and the tree was still going strong. That said, if you eat a good mango-pulpy and sweet and decide to sow the seed to get the more of the same good tasting mangoes you might get a little surprise. It is not always necessary that a sweet mango's seed would lead to a tree which would produce similar tasting fruits. 
For that you have to grow a cutting. 
Basic genetics at its best. Can't expect the kids to be just like parents.
Feb 19, 2010. 8:56 AMhazey999 says:
Also true of wild apples, crabapples. When you plant an apple seed, there is no telling what kind of fruit you will get. You may just discover a great new apple!
Feb 19, 2010. 10:56 AMjerryantic says:
During the American Revolution, when scions (cuttings) of named apple trees became unavailable from England, most farmers began growing, apple trees from seed. Unlike many other fruit trees whose seeds produce the same fruit as the parent, the seeds of the apple never produce the same fruit as the parent. Many of the new apples were inferior and were not cultivated, but some were novel and tasty, like "Winter Banana" an apple with a banana flavor and Chenango Strawberry, an apple with a strawberry taste". They were multiplied by grafting scions from the parent tree to a root stock and some of these trees can still be purchased from specialty growers. I grew about eight different trees, but after awhile, before most were mature enough to bear fruit, I became disillusioned, since with the humidity levels in the Hudson Valley, where I live, it was necessary to do a lot of anti-fungal spraying, which was too toxic to suit me. All the trees except one eventually succumbed.
Mar 9, 2010. 4:28 AMahmad2117 says:
very nice, but can i eat the onions

Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

All Steps Viewing
View all steps of an Instructable on the same page when you're a Pro Member.

Upgrade to Pro today!
182
Followers
46
Author:AngryRedhead(Not-So-Angry Redhead)
Find more DIY projects and gardening information on my site!