when are onions from seed big enough to plant?

[ckfe]

i planted some onion seeds just over a week ago.. they've sprouted roughly half an inch long now, maybe a bit more.. how soon should i move them outside? and also i'm using one of those propogators with small cells.. think i got a bit carried away with the seeds, there's about 4 of them in each one.. how do i separate them??

[jacob marley]

You can move them out side any time provided they are not to warm where they are if they are take them away from the heat and move them out later .
As for transplanting wait until the growing shoot turns back upon itself about 2 inch's and transplant then.
What i do with some is to leave them in the cells and when they about 4 inch's high i transplant them without seperating them and let them grow close together and they do not get to big that way....jacob

[ckfe]

glad i asked, i was going to transplant them as soon as i saw shoots!
the cells are only about 1" square..is it still ok that there's 4 onions worth in one of them? won't they end up totally titchy?

[zazen999]

glad i asked, i was going to transplant them as soon as i saw shoots!
the cells are only about 1" square..is it still ok that there's 4 onions worth in one of them? won't they end up totally titchy?

No, they push each other apart and you can harvest them at different times leaving the others to grow on.

I also leave mine until they basically have filled the module with roots.

But, get them outdoors now; or they will topple over by growing too fast.

[ckfe]

is it ok to put them out in the rain uncovered? it's lashing it down here.. also, i've half filled the propogater with the onion seeds but the other half are peppers that haven't got any shoots yet, think they prob take a bit longer.. will it affect the pepper seeds that haven't got shoots if i put the whole lot outside?

[ckfe]

i'm planning on putting the onions in the morrisons flower buckets, how many should i put in each one?

[esrikandan]

You can let the onions get fairly big before worrying about moving them. Mine were in cells for ages before I moved them (single) into 3" pots. I think the guide is to wait until you see roots poking out the bottom of the cells.

Also, I have discovered to my peril about mixing different (unrelated) plants in the same cell tray as they are all ready to pot on/transplant at different times and getting one type of plant out of the cells without disturbing the others is a challenge!

[esrikandan]

i'm planning on putting the onions in the morrisons flower buckets, how many should i put in each one?

I put 4 sets into a bucket last year - probably could have put five in (one in the middle) - and got onions about 2.5" in diameter.