The Allium Thread

[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 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.

[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??????

[zazen999]

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

[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?

[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.

[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]

Thanks Snadger - that settles it - buckets it is!

[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.

[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

[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.

[Snadger]

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

[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?

[Two_Sheds]

Put them in the ground when it warms up and dries out a bit: March

Onions don't get pencil thick like leeks: they swell at the base (the bit you eat) and just have leaves on the top

[chriscross1966]

Growing onions from seed doesn't seem to be popular on our site and whenever i mention it the old timers all shake their heads and so "no,no,no you don't want to be doing that"

Are they really difficult to grow from seed?

Have to say this winter has been the best ever for over wintering onions all 200 are doing really well.

They say that on my site but then I had Saga outings of 70-somethings coming to look at the Kelsaes last year..... and ask me what sets I'd used..... it was quite fun seeing their expressions when I pointed out that I hardly ever use sets for anything..... Spare Aisla Craigs make good spring onions BTW, and if you stick them in at about 1" spacing they make pretty good picklers too (as do Sturon, Rjinnsburger and Brunswick)

Wierdly my seed-sown OW onions aren't too great but thankfully I knew that in time to go plan "B" with a few sets too...but now the seed-sown ones don't look too bad..... they'll get a thinning and a transplanting maybe if needed at the start of March, a big slug of fertiliser after that and then I'll ahve to see how they do. First time on that plot for that sort of thing so anything achieved will be good.... will need the space later on for squashes, cukes and gherkins so there will need to be a staged harvest....

chrisc