Wild onions or wild chives?

[Silentrunning]

I have recently moved to North Carolina and this fall I am noticing clumps of what looks to be chives growing in my lawn. I dug a clump and it had a dozen or so perfect tiny onion bulbs in the root system. The smell was much stronger than any chives I have encountered. Does anyone know if these can be separated and will they grow into normal size onions?

 

[marlingardener]

Silent, could they possibly be "ramps"? Ramps usually appear in the spring, but this year's weather has been so strange that a fall appearance is possible, I guess. Here is a link with a picture of ramps, and an explanation.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/24/what-are-ramps_n_7128438.html

 

[Chuck]

Ramps and wild onions/chives are different things. Ramps have a different leaf than do onions, a larger flatter leaf. Wild onion leaves are almost the same as the green onions you buy in the store. Wild onions also have an odor sort of like a cross between an onion and a garlic. They will never grow into a normal size onion bulb.
This is the wrong time of year for them to show up and as @marlingardener[ said spring is the time for them to normally show up.

http://livetheoldway.com/wild-onion-wild-garlic-pictorial-identification-guide/

 

[Beverly]

A photo would help but it sounds like what is commonly called Ramps/Wild Onions/Wild Leeks (Allium tricoccum). They are edible and delicious, although you don't know what nasty pesticides your lawn might have been treated with. They are all the rage with gourmet chefs. Will not grow into large onions.

 

[Silentrunning]

Silent, could they possibly be "ramps"? Ramps usually appear in the spring, but this year's weather has been so strange that a fall appearance is possible, I guess. Here is a link with a picture of ramps, and an explanation.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/24/what-are-ramps_n_7128438.html

Marlin, not ramps. From the picture the top is more leaflike than what I found. The bulb is more elongated too. The bulb on mine are almost perfectly round and the top is tubular like a scallion. Thanks for the post though. Now I want to find some ramps.

 

[Silentrunning]

Beverly, here is a picture. I have found about 40 patches so far. My only pest control is chickens and ducks.

 

[Chuck]

Beverly, here is a picture. I have found about 40 patches so far. My only pest control is chickens and ducks.

Yep, wild onions. Have you had cooler or wetter weather than normal? They shouldn't be there this time of year.

 

[Silentrunning]

Chuck, actually it has been brutally dry here in upper North Carolina. We had less than half our average rainfall for August and September. These onions could have been growing all summer but I mow at least once a week and might have been chopping them down. Now that the grass has slowed way down I haven't mowed in a couple of weeks. The onions definitely grow fast.

 

[Chuck]

Chuck, actually it has been brutally dry here in upper North Carolina. We had less than half our average rainfall for August and September. These onions could have been growing all summer but I mow at least once a week and might have been chopping them down. Now that the grass has slowed way down I haven't mowed in a couple of weeks. The onions definitely grow fast.

Onions are day length sensitive. Your wild onions should have flowered and gone to seed by now instead of still growing. Perhaps your mowing has had something to do with it. Anyway, if they haven't gone to seed and you want them out of your lawn now is the time to transplant them into a more desirable place. They're great as chives and sliced up in salads. The one's I have only grow in a drainage ditch no matter where I place them but I keep them around because they are better in homemade BBQ sauce than real onions.

 

[alp]

Can you eat them?

 

[Silentrunning]

Can you eat them?

I ate one about the size of a pearl onion. The green top were mild while the bulb was quite pungent. I would rate it as very good. I will try them in stir fry since I have a near endless supply.