when do I start hardening off onion seedlings?

[nobbyspatch]

Hi.

In deepest, cold Buckinghamshire with a conservatory full of seedling from a sowing blitz a month ago.

Just tried hardening off my 'bedfordshire champion' onion seedlings (sowed in Jan) and have lost them all (doh!). I have loads of spring onions and would like to know when they could be moved to a cloche?

thx

[bazzaboy]

I don't think anyone's too keen to suggest a solution NP in case you then lose another lot.... I've got some from an even earlier sowing pre-Christmas but with the current fierce freezes at night I'm keeping them in - various places, conservatory, kitchen, sitting room, NOT allowed in the bedroom - but a darn nuisance wherever as I want the space for Spring seeds. Other tougher stuff is at least in a cold greenhouse, the only thing I've left outside is a little live (was live!) Christmas tree which I assume enjoys a bit of secret skiing at night. Harsh frosts and more forecast for a few more days yet, even more snow, but won't last for ever so patience and protection a virtue just now.....

[binley100]

My onions are in a mini gh inside the gh and I think they are sulking . Well they're certainly on a go slow but nowhere else to keep them as other stuff has the prime spots.....

[zazen999]

Mine have been in the unheated greenhouse for weeks; but the ones I'm sowing tomorrow will stay indoors until it warms up a bit. You have to play it by ear and it's been so cold this last week, that now's not really the time for hardening off.

[Chocolate8me]

I'm so impatient, I want to start sowing the seeds I have but this very cold weather is on till the end of Feb apparently (

I'm off work for a week at the start of March though so fingers crossed, spring will be on it's way )

Keep your spring onions somewhere suitable for the weather conditions & start again with your onions in a few weeks.

[BarleySugar]

I wouldn't move anything from where you've got them at the moment if possible. My spring and bulb onion seedlings have been out in the unheated greenhouse since they germinated and look OK, together with some broad beans and some sweet peas. I'm not planting anything else at the moment except more chilli varieties, but I know I've got space allocated indoors for them.

[Ananke]

Mine are about 3in now and seem to be almost lying on the soil. I have them on the bathroom window ledge and I don't know what to do with them either. I usually use sets so seedlings are fairly new to me.

[Two_Sheds]

Hardening off is to prepare them for the great outdoors. It takes 7-10 days (ish).

Therefore, only start a fortnight before you want to put them outside permanently.

Me, I had a bad feeling about this winter, so I haven't sown anything yet. Nada.

[Ananke]

Yeah TS, it's looking like the worst is yet to come.

[zazen999]

Mine are about 3in now and seem to be almost lying on the soil. I have them on the bathroom window ledge and I don't know what to do with them either. I usually use sets so seedlings are fairly new to me.

Take them off the window ledge?

[Aberdeenplotter]

Mine have been in the unheated greenhouse for weeks; but the ones I'm sowing tomorrow will stay indoors until it warms up a bit. You have to play it by ear and it's been so cold this last week, that now's not really the time for hardening off.

I have this image of Zaz with her head cocked on the doorstep and her ear being used as a temperature sensor.

Seriously though, hardening off needs to be a gradual process. You have found to your cost what can happen if you rush it. As the weather improves, give more and more ventilation over a number of days and gradually reduce the temperature the onions are sitting in. You should get to a stage where you can set them outside during the day and then bring them in at night and if circumstances allow, you should then manage to get them outside completely. Good luck

[binley100]

You don't need to plant them out till April so plenty of time ........

[Ananke]

Take them off the window ledge?

I think i'll need to Zaz, they don't look happy. I've no roof on the greenhouse yet so i'll maybe take them to my Mum's and put them in her blowaway.

They are really floppy, might be worth sowing some more just to be on the safe side.