spring onions - when to pot on?

[willowstar]

hello

I started spring onion seeds off in small cells 11 days ago. They have germinated well but I haven't got a clue what to do with them! Most of them are looped over and are about an inch high, but some have shot up and are about 3 inches. They look really fragile. Any advice greatfully received

[goddess]

Dear willowstar,i have doe exactly same with g onions .they do look very fragile .i thought i will wait for another week before i take them to allotment as they look too little to be transplanted yet. this is my first year growing them so any advice is welcome.g

[pigletwillie]

I always (now) module sow spring onions, about 5-10 seeds per module and they stay in them until the roots fill the module completely. They are then planted out.

The onions push each other aside as they grow and you just harvest them as they get to a required size.

[Lesley Jay]

Piglet why do you module sow spring onions when they are such a simple and quick growing vegetable when sown direct into the ground?

[pigletwillie]

The idea LJ is that these will be planted into raised beds but the same is valid for traditional beds. I can get far better yields by planting out modules of seedlings, set distances apart and thus know how much is growing in what space. There are no gappy rows with the resulting wasted space and modules are so much easier to plan succession sowing with, and again you know that you have viable plants to plant out into any spaces that are available.

[Lesley Jay]

Thanks Piglet. That will be valuable information for alot of people.

[denise]

Thank you for sharing that info PW I will give that a go. Growing Spring onions is another first for me, it's good to give tested and tryed ways a go.

[lyndap]

iI've never had much sucess growing spring onions,so will give the module growing a try.

[Alice]

They're much tougher than they look Willowstar. The lot I planted at the end of last summer have been out all winter and growing on fine. Just do as Piglet says and plant the whole module. No need to thin. They push each other aside and make space for themselves. As they get bigger, pull them from here and there and eat the thinnings.

[serenity]

hi pw, i have read that you do this with carots as well and am giving this method a try this year. do you multi sow any other crops?

[pigletwillie]

Hi Serenity, do the carrots directly into the ground, there is a post in the technical board re them, the other veg I do is

beetroot,
onions
spring onions
radish
turnips

either into modules which are then transplanted when the roots fill the modules or 4" apart directly into beds with between 4"-8" between rows. I sow about half a dozen seeds per station bar the beetroot which are sown 2 per station as 1 "seed" is in fact a cluster of several seeds.

[shirlthegirl43]

You say when the roots fill the modules - does that mean when the roots are coming out the hole in the bottom? Sorry, learner grower!!!

[pigletwillie]

just about Shirl, if you pull the plantlets gently out of the module you will see plenty of root which holds the compost together. Ideally you will plant them out just before the roots start to come out of the bottom as then they run the risk of becoming module (pot) bound if left much longer.

I will try to sort out a picture.

[shirlthegirl43]

Thanks both for the advice and the patience - hope I get it right - first try at beetroot!!

[pigletwillie]

Any time Shirl, we all started somewhere knowledge wise, keep the questions coming as thats what the forums for.