Hardiness of potato onions

[Jang]

I’ve acquired some named varieties of potato onions from a UK based eBay seller: Dakota Red, Green Mountain and Texas Star plus an unnamed red.

I’m assuming that they were harvested last autumn. They are in very good condition but it seems that leaving planting till spring, which is Kelly Winterton’s preferred method, isn’t a good idea as 18+ months storage is asking a lot of them.

So I’m wondering whether in my East Midland garden they will be reliably hardy if planted in October (or earlier?)
Another possibility I suppose would be to plant half in pots and overwinter in the greenhouse leaving the other half to the elements in the garden. Any thoughts?

[Galina]

I have always planted all shallots and potato onions in October or early November. Not spring. Did not get losses, but sometimes a birds will pull one or two out.

[Jang]

Thanks. I'll assume that if they were hardy for you, they should survive for me too.

I've just inspected them again and see that one of the Texas Star is sprouting a little so I think I'll put that into a pot for now. I imagine they all have somewhat different dormancy patterns.

[Zazen999]

Hi. I know this was a few weeks back but they are generally hardy, i used to plant in trays and keep in a greenhouse for the winter until I had enough to not worry about losing some, and then they all just grew all over the place including the ones I'd chucked in the compost.

[Jang]

Thanks. That’s definitely worth knowing.

A few weeks back but still the same situation.
Just one of five Texas Star sprouting; the others all still look sound. Don’t know what’ll happen to the sprouting one but think I’ll follow your practice and plant some in the ground in autumn and one or two in pots in the greenhouse as an insurance.