Red Onion - electric

[cazp]

I planted some red onion sets at the end of november, about 2/3rds have green shoots and the others nothing at all - although they do not look like they are rotting away, so may well start to grow soon. I have never grown onions before so am curious to know - is it normal to see such variability in the growth?

[PAULW]

This could be down to the quality of the sets you bought if you have never grown onions before you would not necessarily know the difference between a good set and a bad one even those that have been growing onions for years can still have duffs. The year before last I had sets that didnt grow that season but found then starting to sprout the following year, its all part of the learning curve and part of what makes gardening interesting if it was simple it would be boring.

[Aberdeenplotter]

check them to see if they have thrown roots, a gentle tug will establish that. If they have roots, they should be ok.

[horticultural_hobbit]

I got them. Got green leafy things as well. Don't think they need much fuss over the winter, with
A spring feed. Were the slowest of the various alieums in the patch to take off, but got there.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Last time I grew Electric I seem to remember I didn't harvest till late May so they have a way to go yet.

Colin

[salome2001]

mine too... as mentioned above they seem stuck when I give them a tug so I assume there are roots under there even if nothing id happening on the top yet

[cazp]

Well a couple of months on only about half of my red onions are looking any good, quarter are looking weak, and the remainder have rotted. I pulled two up today that had clearly gone mouldy around the husks. I replaced the newly vacant gaps with some new red onion sets rather than have wasted space.

[Florence Fennel]

I said I wouldn't grow onions again because I've never had a decent crop in all the time I've been growing. I still planted the bloomin' things and again they don't seem to be doing much. Should I feed them and if so, when?

[rustylady]

I start my sets in modules so I can see which ones are going to grow and which ones aren't. Some are slower than others, and this way I can try and group them according to size when I plant them out. My overwintering ones on the lottie (Wilkinsons mixed) are looking good, and now the weather is warming up a bit I will give them a good weeding and a sprinkle of Growmore in the next week or so.

[Florence Fennel]

Thanks RL, I'll give them a bit of a feed at the weekend.

[Farmer_Gyles]

yes it's normal to have some that grow quickly and some that don't and some that simply rot away .... i buy just the normal packs of onion sets from garden centres etc .... there are always extras in the packs, so if i buy a pack of 50, i will normally get about 50 good ones that grow and about 7 or 8 duds ....

i start mine in 2.5in pots in the greenhouse .... when they have grown on to at least 6 inches, i plant them out .... they get a good headstart against the weeds

november is quite late to start them .... some people say end november is fine to start them, but i start mine in october .....

of the 150 i started in october (50 each of troy, electric, senshyu), 110 got planted out in november, 40 stayed in the greenhouse over the winter .... of the 110 planted, it looks like about 40 survived the winter, the rest being trampled by foxes or pulled up or simply just rotted away .... the 40 from the greenhouse have been planted out now ....

and i have about 300 more to start off and plant out this year ... the first 160 are in the 2.5in pots in the greenhouse .... about half have green stems, some up to 3in tall .... no signs of life from the others yet ....

[Kaiya]

I'm a novice grower but I did find last year that my summer red onion sets didn't do as well as my yellow ones - probably half as many grew. Over winter I only put Senshu Yellow in (and garlic and shallots - all started in modules in Oct and planted out in Nov, it was stupidly warm last year). All of my SY sets took in the modules, and I believe all but one survived the winter (about 46 sets?) although I did accidentally hoe one last weekend.

That said, I keep finding red onions from the summer batched that over-wintered themselves and are now growing. They are still set sized. I'm moving them to this year's alium bed as I find them. Are red onions known to be less reliable/slower to take than yellow?

[Farmer_Gyles]

Are red onions known to be less reliable/slower to take than yellow?

i find red/yellow are all about the same in terms of reliability etc
there is a difference between summer / winter onions - the winter onions won't store as long as the summer ones - summer ones won't survive the winter in the ground
winter onions just give you an earlier crop
simple as that

[VirginVegGrower]

I've just fed mine and they have put on a leap of green growth in a week. About now is feed time for my overwintering stuff.

[Piggle]

myshallots are doing the same things ..... some are sprouting some are just not bothering although I only put them in 21st Jan as it decided to freeze.