Exhibition onions

[Matt94]

So is anyone growing any exhibition onions this year, im only askin as ive got some started and wondered if anyones got any tips on growing them? i have done some research by looking at exhibition veg growers blogs, but id still like to know if anyone else is growing them so i can compare the progress of growth!

thanks
matt

[Aberdeenplotter]

Matt, I'm a show grower and a member of the National Vegetable Society. I'd highly recommend that you join as well. You can already buy a DVD produced by the NVS as a non member and I'm sure there are details on the website The National Vegetable Society, advancing the culture, study and improvement of vegetables. but as a member, you will have access to talks at local level about growing for showing as well as for the kitchen. You will also be able to join the local group (we call them District Associations or DA's) where the Camaraderie and banter is great and even the top growers are happy to give advice and share secrets etc.

[Matt94]

now thats food for thought, i'll look into that, thanks. im currently watching a blog of a guy that has grown exhibition varieties over the years and catalogued his results, its facinating for me to watch other peoples veg grow, so i dont know what i'll be like when i put mine outside.

[bazzaboy]

So is anyone growing any exhibition onions this year...

I do but only for the local show. Bit of a joke inasmuch as local chairman of gardeners, allotments, annual show, everything, is a professional horticulturalist who the rest of us try to beat, usually unsuccessfully.... He successfully competes on a much wider framework and it's all very genuinely friendly in the village, in fact locally he's probably one of my best mates.... BUT I still want to beat his onions, dammit! I've already got some underway Exhibition Ailsae and Robinson's Improved (grass stage under a light) and some others (Marco, more Ailsae and some Reds) rather languishing but they'll survive.

Good to see AP's comments on here, very useful, coz not a lot of info flows around the topic. Growing for Showing generally (was/has been) regarded as a bit of an odd activity for old blokes but certainly locally that's now out of date as many allotments now run by young mums who turn up on Show Day with kids and entries and it's really good fun.... definitely one of the best days of the year in the village. Pumpkins are favourite with the kids of course coz BIG....! but they know their courgettes and carrots too! I really recommend it to everyone, it's a challenge.

[bazzaboy]

Matt, I'm a show grower and a member of the National Vegetable Society. I'd highly recommend that you join as well. You can already buy a DVD produced by the NVS as a non member and I'm sure there are details on the website The National Vegetable Society, advancing the culture, study and improvement of vegetables. but as a member, you will have access to talks at local level about growing for showing as well as for the kitchen. You will also be able to join the local group (we call them District Associations or DA's) where the Camaraderie and banter is great and even the top growers are happy to give advice and share secrets etc.

AP, I might join but am surprised it's £17 per year for individuals and £19 for couples and Societies (our Society has about 100 individuals...)... Presumably that price structure is meant to discourage individuals joining? Why is that? I might ask the local Society if they'd be interested.

[Matt94]

unfortunately there are only two giant onion growers (at the most) at my local show and they have been doing it for a long time, so id like to see how mine would compare to theirs at this years local show

[bazzaboy]

unfortunately there are only two giant onion growers (at the most) at my local show and they have been doing it for a long time, so id like to see how mine would compare to theirs at this years local show

Our local show doesn't do "giant" exhibits at all so I've never tried but there may well be local shows that do. After that I think you may have to move up several grades to something like (in our area of S Yorks, N Notts) the Harrogate Flower Shows and they are bigtime and very competitive. e.g. see Onions 2011 at:
Harrogate Flower Show - Heaviest Onion Competition
Very instructive to visit these Shows, I think the next Harrowgate Show will be Spring Flowers, end of April.
If you haven't already seen it there's an article about heaviest onions at:
Growing Large Exhibition Onions | Exhibition Seeds – In Depth Growblog written by Keith Foster
Gets very serious! Good luck with developing some contenders, I'm sure you'll pick up loads of tips and dos and don'ts as you proceed.

[Matt94]

wow i knew they got big but nearly 18lb - thats one big onion hahaha

[Aberdeenplotter]

AP, I might join but am surprised it's £17 per year for individuals and £19 for couples and Societies (our Society has about 100 individuals...)... Presumably that price structure is meant to discourage individuals joining? Why is that? I might ask the local Society if they'd be interested.

Bazza, when it comes to affiliated societies, only one member of such is entitled to enter an NVS members show so it's not as if all your 100 would be able to enter. We have a panel of trained judges of which I am one, prepared to make ourselves available to judge other shows probably including your own. We have a really good quarterly magazine - Simply Veg - printed at great expense issued to all members (clubs get a single mag). that's what takes up most of the sub.


the cheapness of the spouse subscription reflects only one magazine going to that couple ( and that's a bind cos my better half always grabs it before I see it) and only one entry per class in any nvs show can be made by that couple. If you need any more info give me a shout.

I don't push folks to enter. Personally, I think the subscription is on the steep side but I don't make these decisions.

[Aberdeenplotter]

wow i knew they got big but nearly 18lb - thats one big onion hahaha

It's a lot of onion rings matt . The guy who grew that big un, - Peter Glazebrook, had been trying to break the record for years. He did a presentation for the NVS Scottish Branch annual seminar in November and took the onion with him. I'm growing some of his seed this year.

[Matt94]

thats great, you'll have to lets us know how big yours are in august (or when you pull them). I didnt realise there where so many varieties - the only one i know of are robinsons, kelsea and ailsea with the latter being the hardest to find.

[bazzaboy]

I might ask the local Society if they'd be interested.

My (friendly) onion rival and Chair of the Society has just called in for a coffee.... I think he likes to check out what I'm up to and that I haven't developed some secret formula using old tea bags and ground toe nails of vestal virgins (for example). I wish. Turns out he's already a member - I should have guessed that - but will in addition now join the Society. He recommended it though no near meetings (he didn't know the Sheffield set-up). The 18lb onion man is quite near (Newark), evidently in a Derbyshire "DA" so that might be the one to join, Matt.

[bazzaboy]

Bazza, when it comes to affiliated societies, only one member of such is entitled to enter an NVS members show so it's not as if all your 100 would be able to enter. We have a panel of trained judges of which I am one, prepared to make ourselves available to judge other shows probably including your own. We have a really good quarterly magazine - Simply Veg - printed at great expense issued to all members (clubs get a single mag). that's what takes up most of the sub.


the cheapness of the spouse subscription reflects only one magazine going to that couple ( and that's a bind cos my better half always grabs it before I see it) and only one entry per class in any nvs show can be made by that couple. If you need any more info give me a shout.

I don't push folks to enter. Personally, I think the subscription is on the steep side but I don't make these decisions.

OK, that's a good explanation, thank you AP. I'll give it a try as an individual this year to see how I get on and let the Society join as well - no harm in the Mag getting passed around, might encourage some others.... Certainly very useful to know where other shows are happening (not nec to enter but simply to visit) and the occasional talk. Many thanks.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Bazza,

there is also a members forum on the NVS website. Not nearly as good as this forum (this one has a huge spread of topics) but it is used by expert growers who are happy to give advice to any one who seeks it.

[Aberdeenplotter]

thats great, you'll have to lets us know how big yours are in august (or when you pull them). I didnt realise there where so many varieties - the only one i know of are robinsons, kelsea and ailsea with the latter being the hardest to find.

Most of the show varieties are based on seeds reselected from Kelsae. Ailsae is a cross between kelsae and ailsa craig. I am also growing ailsae and reseed my own onions every year but you can buy new from Exhibition Seeds. The owner of that outfit has a booklet on growing big onions which is quite useful. He also has Ailsae in his seed catalogue.