Should I water my onions often?

[Two_Sheds]

I don't water anything very much (seedlings and new transplants, yes) - but once in the ground & established they're on their own.

[Lottieval]

Nothing will want watering with us today, unless it's under cover, we're back to winter again, rain, gales and seagulls flying backwards.

[Snadger]

If you START watering on a regular basis you will need to KEEP ON watering on a regular basis as their roots will be very shallow and span outward rather than downward!

[HayleyB]

I don't think anyone will be watering anything for a long time after today and the next week

[Snadger]

I don't think anyone will be watering anything for a long time after today and the next week

Gloriuos sunshine here Hayley!

[HayleyB]

Cheers Snadge, it aint raining yet but it's in the air if you know what I mean, forecast is foul.........

[burnie]

interesting...was there any difference in flavour/strength between the well watered ones and not well watered?

a farmer grew a field of them a few years ago near me and never watered them, i dont think they transpire too much.

There wasn't any flavour difference that I noticed,but the watered ones were at least 25% bigger.
I'm fairly new to Scotland,so I tend to follow the local professionals with regards as to what grows and what needs watering,so far they've not let me down.As I've said,my soil is light and sandy so water soon drains away and today is a gloriously warm and sunny day.

[sewer rat]

I plant 25kg of onion sets each year and the only water they receive is what falls from the sky. A bit of moisture soon after planting is good as it helps the root sytem to establish, but after that, as Snadger states, the roots will travel down in search of moisture and there shouldn't be any problems with growth, except in exceptionally long dry spells, such as last May - we had no rain for 6 weeks - this did set the onions back a bit and although they did okay, they weren't as good as the previous years crop which had quite a bit of rain immediately after planting.

[susiewoosie]

Mine only get watered because they're in pots

[Two_Sheds]

We're having a drought at the moment .. no rain for 2 weeks - the ground is like concrete.

Still not watering my onions though


* under the surface, a few inches down, it's quite moist enough. The roots will find their way down to the moisture.

[King Carrot]

I plant 25kg of onion sets each year and the only water they receive is what falls from the sky. A bit of moisture soon after planting is good as it helps the root sytem to establish, but after that, as Snadger states, the roots will travel down in search of moisture and there shouldn't be any problems with growth, except in exceptionally long dry spells, such as last May - we had no rain for 6 weeks - this did set the onions back a bit and although they did okay, they weren't as good as the previous years crop which had quite a bit of rain immediately after planting.

just as a mater of interest what sort of spacing do you plant them at?

[cwipnip]

a bloke on our allotment doesn't do what he calls arterficial watering, he doesnt water anything not undercover

[scott mathieson]

been chucking it down for over a week my newly taken over allotment is soaking wet, the only thing going really well so far were onions shallots and garlic and leeks the thinner shoots of them all except the shallots are going brown worried they're drowning