No Asian dish is complete without a sprinkle of spring onions. Although this veg isn’t that difficult to find in stores, wouldn’t it be better if you could grow it yourself?
Ashley Diedenhofen, a biologist and content creator from Science by Ashely, revealed a hack on her TikTok account that will give you fresh green onions whenever you want them.
As soon as I get my green onions I store [them] in water on the counter, says the biologist.
People usually store them in water after harvesting the first batch of greens, but you can get thicker and stronger onions if you store them in water immediately, claims Diedenhofen.
In the first couple of days, you’ll notice that some of the ends get wilty and yellow, warns Ashley. But don’t let that scare you as it’s completely normal.
The content creator advises cutting off and composting the yellow stems, keeping the water shallow and fresh for the onions to grow properly.
In the upcoming days, the ends will still get yellow a bit, but not as nearly as much as the first couple of days. Remove those ends as well until you’re left with an entirely green stem.
Cutting and not peeling green onions is key ‘cause you might notice this piece here looks like just so peelable, but keeping this on and keeping the water shallow is what prevents my green onions from getting slimy, says Diedenhof.
Two weeks later, the stems will get rather long and you can cut and use them at this point. Or you can experiment with them like Ashley did and see how long you can grow them.
Once they get too tall, you can chop off everything but the bottom two inches… and then you can plant those roots back in the soil and grow some more green onions, advises the biologist.
And if they get attacked by aphids or some other pest, you can cut them back to the roots and they’ll just keep on growing.
Over time they do get a bit thinner, but I just treat them like chives in that case, says Diedenhof.
Keep on planting the roots until they can’t grow anymore and you’ll never lack green onions again.
Even Ashley’s followers are grateful for the hack and offer some tips of their own on how to get unlimited green onions.
Thank you! I needed these tips, says one of her followers.
The other commented, I’ve been doing this for a while! It’s great!
While some admitted their mistakes and are just thankful for the advice Ashely shared. I did this once but didn’t change the water often enough and fungus gnats started in on them. 😅