I came across a large red onion in a shop today and I would like to try getting some seed from it, so to do that when should I plant it,
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Growing an onion for seed
Collapse
X
-
Growing an onion for seed
it may be a struggle to reach the top, but once your over the hill your problems start.
Member of the Nutters Club but I think I am just there to make up the numbersTags: None
-
As it was bought in a farm shop I would think it would be grown from a set but don't know what variety, it was more the size that attracted meit may be a struggle to reach the top, but once your over the hill your problems start.
Member of the Nutters Club but I think I am just there to make up the numbers
Comment
-
If you stand it on a saucer on the window ledge, now, with some damp tissue underneath it'll probably start growing roots. Then you can pot it up for it to carry on growing through the winter, somewhere sheltered - greenhouse/coldframe?
It will throw up a flowerhead next year and you'll get seed to use in 2020. Good luck.
If it's an f1 the seed might not be exactly the same as the farmer grew...
Comment
-
If you only bought 1, it would be worth going back and buying one or 2 more. Lawence D Hills suggests bulbs weighing at least 1/2 a pound and planting them, up to their necks, between the end of November and end of January with Christmas being the favourite. They should be staked from 2' high to prevent wind damage. He recons you could cut off the main stalk in October and hang to dry till December.
It could be though that the size of the onion was more due to the way it was cared for by the grower than the particular variety. May be you could ask the seller if they know what variety it is?
Comment
-
https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...seed_5773.html
A Question asked by Snadger from 2007 - see old thread link above.
Can't find out if you need 2 onions to pollinate.
Comment
-
You can plant it now but it may be better to wait a month or so yet. Plant in to a fairly large pot - 4 or 5 litres containing a strong compost mix. I use a fifty fifty mix of general purpose compost and John Innes 3. I also add some vermiculite to keep the compost open and free draining and also some slow release granules as your onion will be growing for quite a long time. The onion just needs to be pushed firmly down in to the compost and then kept in a frost free place in good light. When things warm up in springtime, it can be taken outside and grown in the open air. It should throw a seed head(maybe more than one) around May/June . It will become fairly obvious when seed has set and at this time, I usually bring the pot indoors again as rain can make the seed head soggy and the seeds can rot.
This procedure is carried out annually as a matter of course by those who grow onions for exhibition as they put their best exhibits back down to seed to preserve their own strain of onion.Last edited by Aberdeenplotter; 20-11-2018, 08:31 PM.
Comment
-
Thanks for the replies, as the onion was bought in England it's a bit too far to be going back to buy more, and I don't think OH would be very happy traveling a long distance just to pay for onions she wouldn't be eating, and I know it could be an f1 but when I saw the onion I thought it would be interesting to give it a try and see what it producesit may be a struggle to reach the top, but once your over the hill your problems start.
Member of the Nutters Club but I think I am just there to make up the numbers
Comment
-
Originally posted by rary View PostThanks for the replies, as the onion was bought in England it's a bit too far to be going back to buy more, and I don't think OH would be very happy traveling a long distance just to pay for onions she wouldn't be eating, and I know it could be an f1 but when I saw the onion I thought it would be interesting to give it a try and see what it produces
The one bit of advice I would give if you intend to try to grow from pips is before planting, give the pips a soak in a solution of 50cc's of Domestos in a gallon of water for an hour or so which will kill any pathogens likely to cause mould growth.
A final comment, growing from sets will not produce identical onions. My comment about growing just like onion sets was relating to method of growing, not about the end result.Last edited by Aberdeenplotter; 21-11-2018, 04:40 PM.
Comment
Latest Topics
Collapse
Recent Blog Posts
Collapse
Comment