Which? onion sets?

[veggiechicken]

Latest Which? report - trialled 18 varieties of onion set, 14 brown, 1 white & 3 red. Most were untreated sets and were planted mid March.
Best buys were Autumn Gold, Centurion and Forum (brown) and Garnet, Hyred and Red Baron (red). The white Snowball was not recommended.
Just thought you'd be interested!!

[SarzWix]

I've grown 'Garnet' before, not bad for a red - they didn't all bolt

[WendyC]

I've tried Snowball before and would agree that I wouldn't recommend it. Just couldn't get it to grow!

[veggiechicken]

"Garnet" 30 heat treated sets, planted early to mid April ready to harvest in early August - yield 4.4kg (the highest of the reds). 80% of bulbs were more than 6cm in diameter.. Not as dark red as Hyred."

"Snowball - a white onion, it was the lowest yielding of all the onions - gave small, poor quality and unattractive bulbs!

[ladylottie]

Latest Which? report - trialled 18 varieties of onion set, 14 brown, 1 white & 3 red. Most were untreated sets and were planted mid March.
Best buys were Autumn Gold, Centurion and Forum (brown) and Garnet, Hyred and Red Baron (red). The white Snowball was not recommended.
Just thought you'd be interested!!

Just out of interest, were Sturon and Stuttgarter included in the brown onion tests please? I might just give some of those mentioned in the trial a go this year. (I never do well with onions on my plot) Shallots are ok, but not onions.

[veggiechicken]

Sturon & Stur BC20. Both these varieties gave reasonable yields of good quality bulbs but not as good as our best Buys.
Stuttgarter Giant & Stuttgarter Stansfield. Both gave reasonable yields of flattened bulbs.
Also recommended (though not Best Buys) were Hercules, Jet Set, Rumba & Setoon in the brown onion trials.

[ladylottie]

Sturon & Stur BC20. Both these varieties gave reasonable yields of good quality bulbs but not as good as our best Buys.
Stuttgarter Giant & Stuttgarter Stansfield. Both gave reasonable yields of flattened bulbs.
Also recommended (though not Best Buys) were Hercules, Jet Set, Rumba & Setoon in the brown onion trials.

Thanks for the info VC - I'll definitely look out for some of these this year (never heard of some of them!).

[veggiechicken]

Of the 3 Best buys brown onions, the yields were between 6.3 & 6.9kg for 30 sets. Autumn Gold & Forum are sold by Marshalls, Centurion and Forum also sold by Dobies & Suttons, Centurion also sold by DT Brown, Mr Fothergill, Organic Gardening & Taylors Bulbs.
Happy onioning!

[ladylottie]

Thanks again VC - I've just ordered Centurion and Hyred Onion sets from Dobies with free p&p

They have free delivery on all seeds, onion sets, shallots & garlic if you order before 15th Feb 2012.

[BarleySugar]

Sadly I'd ordered my onions with my shallots, I picked Hyred for the reds, which is in the top choices, but the other one I chose was Santero, which I hadn't heard of before. I'll just keep fingers crossed. Both are heat treated, so won't be with me until April.

[veggiechicken]

"Santero - Late to mature and a low yield of small pale bulbs. We weren't able to confirm this varieties resistance to downy mildew in this trial"
I'm sure you can do better than Which with this one!

[Potstubsdustbins]

I tried the Hyred last year and found it wanting against Red Baron. This year I am going back to RB for my reds and trying Stanfield which is an improved Stuttgarter type.

Colin

[veggiechicken]

Stanfield not tested by Which so I am unable to upset you with disastrous news! Sorry!!!

[SarzWix]

Grew Santero last year; did better than Hercules, although it was later. But I think it benefited from being later, as we had an early drought and so it had time to take advantage of the rain that came along later

[veggiechicken]

In LiTL I bought a bag of onion sets for £1.99 and have today potted up 56 llittle ones into modules with lots left over for planting direct. Unfortunately they are "Snowball" and, if I'd only remembered what I wrote last year I would have seen that the Which verdict was:
"Snowball - a white onion, it was the lowest yielding of all the onions - gave small, poor quality and unattractive bulbs!
Just a warning if you should be carried away by little white sets
How did you all get on with your chosen sets last year?