Have you ever reached into your pantry for an onion only to discover that it has been in there so long it sprouted? (Please tell me I’m not the only one this has happened to…😬) Perplexed, I went to chunk it in the trash, but decided first to take a picture of the “forgotten onion” and post it to Instagram stories. After I took the picture I decided it was too beautiful not to observe with the kids for a few days.
So, we left it on the counter, touched it, watched it, and talked about how the nutrients and moisture in the onion bulb were letting it sprout and grow without soil. It was a great conversation starter for several days until one day the beautiful green sprouts started to dry up and wilt.
Once again I thought about chunking it until my brilliant daughter said, “I think it needs water.” to which I replied, “Why yes, yes it does.”
And that’s when we started to learn hydroponics and how to grow an onion in water.
Hydroponics is growing plants in water or humid air without soil.
What you need: an onion, a clear shallow dish, rocks, water
How you do it: Place your onion roots down in a shallow dish of water and rocks. The onion doesn’t need a sprout for it to start sending out roots in the water. Also, change out the water every few days.
Here is the progression of the root growth. It really was quite amazing to watch with the kids.
Day 1 in water
Day 4 in water
Day 15 in water
Day 22 in water
So in the end, that forgotten onion I saved became our beautiful houseplant for several weeks during Christmas. I loved listening to the kids talk about it with friends and family that came to visit. We cut up the sprouts and ate them in our salad and for taco toppings. We even talked about how we could make it into a future science fair project when we talked about the challenges of growing food in space!
Thank goodness I took the time to take that picture. Now who knows, we may just have a future astronaut-botanist thinking about how to hydroponically grow food on Mars…. 😉
Awesome 🙌🏼🙌🏼