How To Plant Grocery Store Scallions - Can You Regrow Store Bought Scallions

Re-Growing Of Scallions In A Jar Of Water
(Image credit: Giovana Machado)

Clipping coupons is a great way to save money at your grocery store, but so is reusing parts of your produce. There are many leftover bits of produce that you can re-grow using just water, but growing grocery store green onions is one of the quickest. Learn how to plant grocery store scallions for a fast, ready supply always at hand without a trip to the grocer.

Can I Plant Grocery Store Green Onions? 

Almost all of us are trying to save money, especially on our food bills. Most of us are also trying to avoid waste. Growing your own produce from the throw-away bits is a winning teamup of the two goals. You may wonder, can I plant grocery store green onions? This is just one of the types of veggies that will produce fresh, usable produce in short order. Regrow store bought scallions and in about a week you will have usable green shoots. 

A few searches online may have led you to sites where they tout re-growing items like the bottoms of a celery or the tops of a carrot. While the carrot will take off and grow leaves, you will never get a useful root, although the cut base does produce little white feeder roots. The celery will, in time, get some leaves and funny little anemic-looking stalks, but they are nothing like a true celery stalk. One thing you can grow, which is much like its supermarket counterpart, is grocery store green onions. Learn how to plant grocery store scallions and reap the benefits of this fast-producing allium.

How to Grow Store Bought Scallions

It is easy to regrow store bought scallions. Once you have used up much of the green part of the onion, keep the white bulbous base with a bit of green still attached. This is the part that can be rooted and will produce new shoots. Place the remaining onion in a glass and fill it with just enough water to cover the white part of the onion. Place the glass in a sunny window and that’s it. There couldn't be simpler instructions on how to plant grocery store scallions. Change the water every few days to prevent rot and bacteria buildup. Then you just have to wait patiently. 

Using Re-grown Scallions

After just a couple of days, you should begin to see new green growth coming out. These slender shoots can be used immediately, but for the health of the plant, it is best to let a few build up before you start harvesting. That allows the plant to collect solar energy for growth. Once you have a few shoots, you can start to use them. Just allow one or two shoots to remain. This little green onion plant in water won't last forever unless you put it in soil. You can cut and harvest a few times before the onion is ready for the compost bin though. This easy-to-grow reuse of onions is a great way to save money and keep from having to race to the store when you need green onions. 

Bonnie L. Grant
Writer

Bonnie Grant is a professional landscaper with a Certification in Urban Gardening. She has been gardening and writing for 15 years. A former professional chef, she has a passion for edible landscaping.