Question Walking onions/tree onions query?

[Jafc79]

I apologise for my first post being a query, I know its not polite, but I am stuck.

I am growing onions for the first time and decided to go with tree onions, given my climate is sub tropical. I ordered my plants online and they arrived and look happy and very much alive. But they have this tall collar or 'trunk' of dead brown skin around each of the leaves ( and on one plant its growing around 2 of the leaves together) running from the base of the bulb up the trunk, its quite long about 3-4 inches in length.

Is this normal for tree onions and they will just break thru it when they are ready or it is just dead skin and should I remove it so it does not hinder their growth.

I am at work otherwise I would include a photo to show.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Ah, not to worry - that's exactly what this forum is for!

To me it sounds pretty normal for an onion, but I've never grown tree onions before so I'm not entirely sure.
@JP 1983 do you perhaps have some more insights?

If you do have pictures at a later point, sharing them could sometimes help us diagnose it

 

[Jafc79]

Mandy,

Thankyou for the support and the member referal. I just got home and found the wind had peeled back some of the brown trunk sink to reveal healthy, (it somewhat lighter in colour) green leaf skin underneath. So I got brave (as all gardeners must be) and removed all of the skin, the plants do not seem unduely worried and the skin came off rather easily. I wonder if perhaps they were grown from a previous season and let to grow tall before being potted up. Either way we will see what happens and I will update as they grow on.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Anytime 🤗

Good to hear it looks healthy underneath. My closest reference would be spring onion, as they can develop a papery skin too. I generally leave it on those as it doesn't harm the plant whatsoever, and sometimes seems to protect the stem from external damages.

 

[JP 1983]

Never even heard of a "tree onion". Seems like the issue solved itself, though.