onions and cabbages

[evanscoxi]

Hi i have to know some info on onions, i have tried before to grow them from sets at my other house and had no luck, as they went to seed, do i have to just let them swell on there own and not touch them at all or do i have to cut tops off to stopp them going to seed. i also put nets up for my cabbages but i could see the butterflies hovering and i think they must of dropped eggs whilst hovering, please help, derris didnt work either

[Snadger]

Hi i have to know some info on onions, i have tried before to grow them from sets at my other house and had no luck, as they went to seed, do i have to just let them swell on there own and not touch them at all or do i have to cut tops off to stopp them going to seed. i also put nets up for my cabbages but i could see the butterflies hovering and i think they must of dropped eggs whilst hovering, please help, derris didnt work either

Hello evanscoxi and welcome to the vine!

The main reason onion sets bolt / go to seed is because they are planted too early in cold soil!
In the North East, April is soon enough to plant them! You could wait until the garden centres have onion plantlets in as well. Plant them and let them get on with it!
I find watering the cabbages with a salt water spray with a bit of washing up liquid in it usually makes the caterpillers drop off the leaves, but other than that it's a case of squishing them when you spot em!

[rustylady]

Onions bolt when growing conditions are not right. Either too cold, too hot, too wet or too dry! Pain, isn't it? You can use the bulbs if you cut off the seed head, but they don't store well.

As for cabbage caterpillars they are a nightmare! No the butterflies don't just drop eggs - they actually get in under the nets and lay their eggs in clusters on the underside of the leaves - look like lots of little yellow dots. If you check daily you can scrape the eggs off before the caterpillars hatch. It's a lot less messy than waiting for them to hatch and then squashing the caterpillars