Stupid (Novices) Question About Onions

[hamsterhead]

Good Afternoon

Is it better to grow onions from seed or onion sets? If its the latter, (here's the stupid question) does each onion from the set produce one onion or does it produce more than one. I'm guessing its one for one

[Nicos]

I'm guessing its one for one

Spot on!!!

I grow from sets as I always seem to kill off my onion seedlings

[hamsterhead]

Thanks Nicos. I'm always a bit apprehensive when things appear to be simple

[binley100]

I've tried both this year and had a varied selection of sizes from both sets ( just yellow) and seeds (yellow and red) When I lifted them a couple of the ones from seed went straight in the incinerator as they were soft at the bottom but all the rest are drying well.

[northepaul]

I tried both, TBH I found that for the effort of growing seedlings, transplanting etc I got very small onions, whereas sets are much easier, although you dont have the amount of varieties.

[Snadger]

I grow both and prefer the sets for Japanese autumn onions but seed for spring sown types. I find seeds need to be sown very early to give decent results.
I always worry about sets bringing in the dreaded white rot spores whereas plants grown from seed should be free of it if grown in sterilised compost.
I grow lots of onions........some are lost to white rot.......some run to seed......some never attain a decent size........but now and again, either from sets or seeds I have a batch which gives a decent crop!

[BeatTheSeasons]

Hi hamsterhead

There is no such thing as a stupid question

I am going to grow shallots for the first time this year (overwinter them into next year I mean).

Apparently shallots divide up like garlic so you get more than 1 for 1.

[hamsterhead]

Thanks for all your replies. I did grow some red onions seeds earlier in the year but lost the packet so got impatient when to harvest. Pulled them up a couple of weeks ago, having sown them at the end of May, and although they were the size of spring onions they tasted delicious. Now that I know how long it takes for them to mature I shall certainly sow more and also have a go at onion sets as well.

[Cobalt]

Best of luck with that, I grew onions from sets this year and they did reasonably. They all grew and whilst they weren't as big as I'd hoped, they did however seem a lot more flavoursome than the typical shop-bought ones. Again it's subjective I suppose, but I shall definitely be growing onions again next year and I'll probably try my hand at a couple of different types.

BeatTheSeasons - Indeed shallots do grow in bulb-like formations. I grew some bog-standard shallots from sets this year and had great results, I was really pleased. I planted around a dozen and would say I got on average 5 or 6 from each. In some ways I'm annoyed I didn't plant loads more, but as it's my first year growing I thought I'd try a lot of bits and pieces and see how it went so I only had a couple of rows spare in my raised bed.

The best thing was I didn't need to do much with them at all - Kept them watered when it was dry, dug in some feed now and again and opened the soil at the top to let them expand and they repaid me well. Next year, I plan on doing an entire bed's worth of onions and shallots as I tend to use a lot of both in cooking.

[Shadylane]

Thanks for all your replies. I did grow some red onions seeds earlier in the year but lost the packet so got impatient when to harvest. Pulled them up a couple of weeks ago, having sown them at the end of May, and although they were the size of spring onions they tasted delicious. Now that I know how long it takes for them to mature I shall certainly sow more and also have a go at onion sets as well.

You can always tell when they're ready cos the tops flop over. You can obviously pull em when you like but there's still a chance that they could grow a wee bit more. Most of mine have flopped now but there's still a few more going.

I'm going to try sowing my seeds in December this year. Hopefully they'll be a bit bigger that way. I've also got some in modules now which I'm putting in the placcie greenhouse in September to see if they overwinter. Got some proper overwintering (Japanese seeds) ones also to put outside. I reckon I could get quite addicted to growing onions

[goodmow]

My onions and garlic have both lost there tops a little while ago now,should i pull them all up now rather than leave them considering the summer is getting toward the end,and if i pull them now how long will they last and how should i keep them?