The Allium Thread

[Rocketron]

I sowed onions on 2.1.10 in a heated propogator. Today I potted on. When should I plant into the ground? Are they like leeks, in that you wait until they're pencil thick?

Again, is anyone able to advise me,please?

[Snadger]

You can plant shallot sets out a lot earlier than onion sets. Rightly or wrongly mine are already planted outdoors!

[selfraising]

I have started all these off in pots and have already planted up onion sets. I have put these in my mini greenhouse. The garlic I just leave outside as they need at least 10 cold days to shock them into throwing up shoots.

[nerdgas]

Starting shallots, onions sets and garlic in containers

Hi,

Had a quick lookie see on the search facility and couldn't find anything that specifically answered this question.

Ideally I'd like to start getting the above in the ground at the lottie now but would prefer the ground to dry out just a little more just to make absolutely sure they don't rot.

Am I correct to assume that I could just start these off in my cold frame in the garden in trays and modules and then plant out once the ground has dried out a bit more?

Is there anything I need to be wary of by following this approach?

Thanks in advance guys.

Ade

[zazen999]

I agree; as soon as you get onions put them into compost to get them started off - they can go shoulder to shoulder in a seed tray if that's all the space you have - and plant them out after the frost date for your area in their final positions.

[quark1]

Thanks Snadger - that settles it - buckets it is!

[Snadger]

....................Just a further question to the 'experts' - can I put say 5-7 (maybe more?) in a flower bucket (shallow-type) to grow on - variety Santero? Any help here would be great - thanks.

Hope so as I have done just that with some japanese onions in the autumn!

[quark1]

Handling Onion Sets once bought

I have never done onions from sets before and I'm sure the 'older hands' will be very well aware of what I'm about to write about!

For fellow novices - may I recommend that you place in trays asap. I did the counting thing to see how many I got - yeah silly I know - but just wanted to see how lucky I'd been in numbers.

By counting them out in 2's I was also able to identify several which would have caused a problem had they just been tipped into the tray whilst awaiting the right time to plant out.

There were a couple which were too soft and another one or two which had signs of some mould/mildew spots. These have been discarded to give the rest a fighting chance. I'm sure there will be advice of this kind on any cultural notes which arrive - but thought a heads-up might help if you've bought them on the cheap or are sharing a bag or two with a chum and have so specific guidelines.

Just a further question to the 'experts' - can I put say 5-7 (maybe more?) in a flower bucket (shallow-type) to grow on - variety Santero? Any help here would be great - thanks.

[marathon]

It's the roots pushing them up - pull them up, dig a hole and pop them back in again.

will do -whilst your online, I'm off to the garden centre to buy my onion seeds can you suggest a variety, alsion craig easy to grow from seeds?

[zazen999]

It's the roots pushing them up - pull them up, dig a hole and pop them back in again.

[marathon]

saw a couple of shoots today, i guess 3 out of 60 is a start am i ok to push them back into the soil as they keep pushing up or is it birds pulling them out??????

[gan heather]

I think air is getting in underneath the polytunnel (where the pegs go into the ground there's a gap), but maybe it's not enough? Until the days get a bit longer and I can go to the allotment after work, I can only spend Sundays there. This means I'm limited to whatever weather Sunday decides to give me (warm like last Sunday or freezing like today) to open the sides of the polytunnel up a bit for some air.

[zazen999]

Sounds like damping off; have you got air flow through your polytunnel? I open my greenhouse door on warmer days to let air through.

[gan heather]

I had moved my onion (ailsa craig) seedlings out into the polytunnel over the past two weeks. I went to visit them today and they were looking so sad! The smaller seedlings (those still at the crook stage) looked ok, but the taller ones were all falling over and looking pale. Have I killed them? I thought onions were supposed to go outside after germination, so what's gone wrong?

[Snadger]

Sowed the other half of the packet of Golden Bear onions today.