An Extremely Simple Biology Lesson : Growing Green Onions from the Grocery Store

We bought green onions from the grocery store recently, and after eating their stalks, I absentmindedly placed the root of one into a small pot of water.

This little act created quite a string of conversations in our homeschooling house, so I thought I’d photograph the little plants and share them with you, though it’s such a simple idea, you likely don’t need a tutorial on it!

Since I had placed the green onion roots into a glass jar, their roots were visible. And since I had added them on different days (as I used the tops), they grew at different rates. The kids and I discussed plant life, root systems, wee ecosystems…it’s a mini-biology lesson, for the price of … free!

Growing Green Onions from the Grocery Store

Step One: 

Buy green onions from the grocery store,  making sure they have roots attached.

Step Two: Enjoy those onion tops! Cut them as you normally would, use the tops, and keep the roots for this project.

Step Three: Place the roots into a glass of water or straight into a pot of soil. I’ve done both methods, and putting the roots into soil gives faster results, honestly. But sometimes you can’t get to a pot of soil, like when you’re cooking with green onions in the evening. Don’t go out into the dark to find a pot of soil – just plop those roots into water; they’ll be fine for a while. The taller one here is about 5 days old.

For learning purposes, growing the onions in water allows you to see and study the roots. Here are our onions at various stages: immediately after being cut, one day after being cut, and 4-5 days after being cut:

The same trio, transplanted from water to soil:

Here they are, about two weeks later, maybe three (the trio above is in the clay pot on the right).  I am now able to cut the green onion tops and use them in cooking, without removing the roots at all.  They’re quite happy in dappled sunlight next to my rather jubilant mint!