Marksman Salad Onion is a fast-maturing bunching onion that reaches harvest in just 41 days, making it one of the quickest onions to bring from seed to table. This upright, pencil-thin variety thrives across hardiness zones 3-10, so whether you're gardening in cold climates or warm ones, you can count on reliable production. Its slim profile and rapid growth cycle make it a favorite for fresh salads and garnishes, where its tender texture and mild bite shine brightest.
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High
3-10
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Moderate
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At 41 days to harvest, Marksman delivers bunching onions faster than most gardeners expect, letting you plant succession crops throughout the season for continuous harvests. The pencil-thin stems grow upright and uniform, making them easy to thin, space, and eventually pull at exactly the right stage. With frost-hardy constitution and the ability to germinate in cool soil (50 degrees Fahrenheit), this variety adapts beautifully to spring sowings in cold climates and continues producing well into fall.
Marksman excels as a fresh salad onion and garnish, where its tender, slim form and mild flavor work without overwhelming delicate dishes. Harvest at pencil size or larger and use raw in salads, as a fresh topping for soups, or chopped into composed dishes where a gentle onion note is desired rather than assertive bite.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Sow seeds indoors in a 4-6 inch pot, placing up to 10-12 seeds per container. Keep soil temperature between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit for reliable germination. If seedling tops exceed 5 inches before transplant time, trim them back to 3 inches to encourage stockier growth and easier handling at planting out.
When seedlings are ready, carefully separate them and place each in a shallow trench spaced 2 inches apart, with rows 12 inches wide. Backfill the trench gently around each seedling and water thoroughly to settle soil and eliminate air pockets.
Direct sow seeds in place, thinning seedlings as they reach 4-5 inches tall to the strongest plant at 2-inch spacing.
Harvest Marksman when stems reach pencil size or larger, typically around 41 days from seeding. Wash harvested onions and trim the roots close to the base. For the longest production window, pick younger stems regularly to encourage continued growth, or allow stems to mature fully before pulling. Harvest in dry weather whenever possible; onions cut in wet conditions cure poorly and are prone to rot.
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