How to Grow Spring Onion (Daun Bawang) from Seed and Roots
How to grow spring onion in Malaysia from seed or by regrowing market roots: pots, sowing, watering in rain, feeding, pests and cut-and-come-again harvest.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Days to harvest
- 60–80 days
- Updated
- 2026-11-04
Yes — spring onion (daun bawang) is one of the easiest and most useful crops for a Malaysian balcony. From seed, you can start cutting green onions about 60–80 days after sowing; regrown from the roots of market spring onions, you get a first cut in just 2–3 weeks. Both methods work, and many growers use both: seed for a strong, long-lasting clump, roots for a quick start. The one key tip: use fresh seed and well-drained mix — onion seed loses vigour fast, and onion roots rot in soggy soil during the rainy season.
Quick facts
| Item | Spring onion |
|---|---|
| Sun | Full sun to half-day sun; at least 4–6 hours |
| Sowing depth | About 0.5 cm |
| Germination | 7–14 days |
| Spacing | Clumps of 3–5 seedlings, 10–15 cm apart; or 2–3 cm apart in rows |
| Days to harvest | From seed about 60–80 days; regrown from roots about 2–3 weeks |
| Container | At least 15 cm deep; troughs and polybags work well |
| Support | None needed |
Choosing a spot and container
Spring onions grow happily in a long planter box, a recycled styrofoam box, polybags or even a window-ledge trough. They are slim, so you can fit many in a small space. Give them at least 4–6 hours of direct sun; with less light the leaves grow thin and floppy. A balcony with morning sun is ideal. Make sure the container drains well — this matters more than size.
Soil and potting mix
A light, crumbly, well-drained mix suits onions best:
- 2 parts potting mix
- 1 part compost
- 1 part burnt rice husk (sekam bakar), cocopeat or coarse sand
Avoid heavy clay soil that stays wet. Onions like slightly sweet, not sour, soil; if you garden in the ground on acidic soil, a little garden lime mixed in a few weeks before planting helps.
How to sow spring onion from seed
- Use fresh seed. Onion seed stays viable for a shorter time than most vegetables. Store opened packets in an airtight jar in a cool, dry place and use them soon.
- Fill a seedling tray or pot with fine, moist mix.
- Sow thinly. Scatter seeds about 1 cm apart, or sow 4–6 seeds per tray cell.
- Cover lightly with about 0.5 cm of fine mix and press gently.
- Keep moist and shaded from heavy rain. Seedlings appear in 7–14 days as thin, folded green hairs.
- Grow on. When seedlings are pencil-lead thick and about 10–15 cm tall (roughly 4–6 weeks), they are ready to transplant.
You can also sow directly in the final container in rows, then thin to 2–3 cm apart.
Spring Onion Seeds
Easy kitchen staple for balcony troughs — cut the leaves and they grow back again and again.
Transplanting seedlings
Transplant in the late afternoon. Gently tease seedlings apart and plant them in small clumps of 3–5, about 10–15 cm apart, at the same depth they were growing. Trim long, straggly roots to about 3 cm and the tops to 10 cm if they are floppy — this helps them settle. Water well and give light shade for 2–3 days.
Regrowing spring onion from roots
This is the quickest way to start and a good use of kitchen leftovers.
- Buy fresh spring onions with healthy white roots still attached.
- Cut the green part off for cooking, leaving 3–5 cm of the white base with the roots.
- Stand the bases in a small glass of water for a few days, changing the water daily, until new roots and a green tip appear.
- Plant them into potting mix, 5 cm apart, with the white base just covered.
- Start cutting the new green leaves after about 2–3 weeks.
Plants kept only in water grow weaker with each cut and lose flavour, so move them to soil early. Always change jar water daily so it does not smell or breed mosquitoes.
Watering in hot and rainy weather
- Keep the mix lightly moist but never soggy. Onions have shallow roots, so small pots may need water every morning in hot weather.
- Rainy season: this is when spring onions suffer most. Move pots under the eaves if possible, empty saucers and skip watering if the mix is still damp.
- A thin mulch of rice husk keeps the surface from crusting and reduces soil splash onto the leaves.
Feeding
Spring onions are grown for leaves, so they like steady nitrogen. Mix compost into the potting mix, then feed with a diluted liquid fertilizer every 10–14 days at the label rate. Feed again after each big harvest so the clump regrows. To get the dilution right:
Common pests and diseases in Malaysia
- Thrips. Silvery streaks and pale patches on the leaves, worse in hot, dry weather. Hose the leaves and spray neem oil in the evening every 5–7 days.
- Leaf miners. Winding pale trails inside the leaves. Remove affected leaves and dispose of them.
- Cutworms and caterpillars. Seedlings cut off at the base, or leaves chewed. Hand-pick at night and keep the area tidy.
- Leaf blight and purple blotch. Purple-brown spots with yellow edges, common in long rainy spells. Remove spotted leaves, keep plants spaced, water at the base in the morning and keep pots sheltered from constant rain.
- Rot at the base. Soft, smelly white bases mean waterlogging. Improve drainage and replant healthy pieces in fresh mix.
More natural fixes here:
Harvesting
There are two ways to harvest:
- Cut-and-come-again: cut the leaves 3–5 cm above the soil with clean scissors. New leaves grow back from the base, ready again in 2–3 weeks. A clump can be cut many times; feed after cutting.
- Pull whole plants: for the classic white-and-green stems, pull a few plants from each clump and leave the rest to keep growing.
Harvest in the morning when leaves are crisp. Over time a clump thickens and produces side shoots; divide crowded clumps every few months and replant the pieces.
If a flower head appears, snip it off unless you want seed — the leaves toughen once the plant flowers.
FAQ
Why didn't my spring onion seeds germinate? Most often the seed was old or had been stored in heat and humidity. Use fresh seed, sow shallow and keep it moist.
Can I grow spring onion on a shady balcony? It will grow with 3–4 hours of sun, but leaves will be thinner. Choose the brightest spot you have.
Should I regrow in water or soil? Start in water if you like, but move to soil after a few days. Plants in soil last much longer and taste better.
Is spring onion the same as leek or chives? No. Leeks are much larger, and Chinese chives (kucai) are flat-leaved and a different plant. All belong to the onion family.