Growing onions from seed

[rob the roller]

Does anyone have any tips on growing onions from seed? I try every year with mixed success. Last year finally got a respectable result, but not brilliant. They seem fine once they get started. It is the sowing that appears to be the problem. Most of the seedlings are incredibly thin, more like hairs than young plants. I can't seem to get the strong fine upright pencil like seedlings they offer in the garden centre. All responsed gratefully received.

Rob

[Matt94]

i know what you mean this is my first year of growing onions from seed (kelsea exhibition) and i think the thickness and shape of the onions is down to when you transplant them - ive been told that you have to transplant them just before the seed pod breaks the surface. ive just done this with some of mine so hopefully i'll get some strong plants. - as ive said this is my first year at trying them from seed so i dont knwo if the advice ive given you is correct or not - im sure another member will correct me if im wrong.

all the best
matt

[zazen999]

ive been told that you have to transplant them just before the seed pod breaks the surface.

Eh?

The easiest way to grow onions:

Get some modules. Sow a pinch of onions into each module [best to sow these around Dec-Feb but anytime after March you won't get too much of a crop]. Then water and leave to germinate. They might germinate better indoors for a couple of weeks.

Once they have germinated, pop them into a coldframe or unheated greenhouse, with fleece over the top if really cold weather is forecast.

In April/May, plant out either module by module or tear the seedlings apart and plant out individually. Add some root veg [phosphorus] fertiliser before they go out. Keep weed free.

Make sure they don't dry out - and give them another feed around June time.

Once the days start getting shorter [after Midsummer] the bulbs should start to widen. This is the time to make sure they get plenty of water to release all that feed and enable them to soak it all up.

Harvest when the tops dry out after leaving the skins to dry off.

[Matt94]

i thought it was bestto transplant them into individual pots - like i said ive never grown them before - im growing exhibition onions this year - i just presumed you'd grow normal onions the same way.

well i did say others would correct me if i was wrong - and in this case i was.

[zazen999]

The Linear Legume: onions

I've posted loads of onion based info on the blog....the manure versus compost trial was interesting...

my 'Eh?' was regarding transplanting before the seed pod breaks the surface. What does that mean?

[Matt94]

its hard to explain, but ill give it a go - when the onion seeds germinate they come through as a 'n' shape, but eventually they grow straight with a seed pod attached to the top a the plant. i was simply saying from reading a couple of sites (cant remember which) that i was under the impression when growing onions it was best to transplant them a the 'n' stage, hopefully that makes sense.

oh no im doubting myself now!

[zazen999]

Aah - the crook stage.

I don't transplant at all - I find you get a better result if you leave them be until they are ready to go into their final position.

[Matt94]

i didnt know how to explain what i was on about - just found the website - it was medwyn's of angelsy - on the giant onion growing page.

[bazzaboy]

Matt, Medwyn of Anglesey is certainly a champion grower of many crops and has a catalogue (online and printed) selling (at a price!) prize winning seeds (e.g.10 onion seeds from Peter Glazerbrook's world record onions will set you back £45). Medwyn gives regular tips online and in the garden press (including what he does at the 'n'/crook stage that you mention). These guys are operating at the absolute ultimate (leeks are another fiercely competitive area in the veg area and there are many competitions in various flower categories - roses, dahlias, orchids etc). If you participate and enjoy doing it it's something to aspire to and learn from. I always assume there are things they do that they DON'T reveal to competitors!

Sounds as if you've already found his website, for readers who haven't it's at:
Medwyn's Exhibition Vegetable Seeds

Rob - re spindly onion seedlings (I have them too...) - you probably need artificial light at this early stage to bolster day-light. It gets a bit technical but if you Google "Grow Lights UK" you'll get a range of UK sites offering advice, explanation and a range of products. If you can get your seedlings through this feeble stage they will pick up as daylight and temperature increase in duration and intensity.

[Aberdeenplotter]

yups get them into the light as soon as you can otherwise they will grow spindly. Matt I think I suggested on another thread that you buy the NVS dvd on growing Exhibition onions. That shows you step by step. It's one thing to grow onions for the kitchen from seed but if you are growing for exhibition,you need to use different techniques.

[Two_Sheds]

you probably need artificial light at this early stage

Or, you can delay sowing for a few weeks until the sun is higher and the days are longer

[bazzaboy]

Or, you can delay sowing for a few weeks until the sun is higher and the days are longer

LOL... here we go again... Yes, you're right.... BUT if you're "growing for showing" (and particularly if that showing has to do with size/weight) you need to extend the growing season as much as possible in which case additional lighting becomes essential. Boxing Day (a few days after the equinox which Christmas is all about) was a traditional day but it's probably even earlier these days. If you're growing for the kitchen you can plant seeds in April or not plant them at all and use sets. Onions are quite slow growing, build up leaf until the summer equinox then, as daylight shortens from late June, the bulb swells storing food for the winter. Seedlings need more light than adult leaves so to get them where you want them to be when the sun is higher and the days are longer takes additional resources at that critical early stage.

[Matt94]

yep thanks for your advice, i didn't know whether you where supposed to transplant at the crook-neck stage with normal onions, oh well.

bazzaboy im not spending £45 quid on seeds, i think i'll stick to kelsea or robinsons mammoth, they're only a couple of quid a packet!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Matt, Medwyn of Anglesey is certainly a champion grower of many crops and has a catalogue (online and printed) selling (at a price!) prize winning seeds (e.g.10 onion seeds from Peter Glazerbrook's world record onions will set you back £45).

First of all, Peter's world record onion has probably not even been put down to seed yet and the earliest date that seed will be available will be in the autumn of this year. It is very unlikely that anyone other than Peter will be selling seed from that onion.

I bought some Large exhibition onion seed from Peter in November. It was from the same strain as his world record effort and Peter only charged £5 for 50 seeds. There is no need to pay more than you have to, cut out the middle man and go direct to Peter. He is a lovely fella.

[rob the roller]

Thank you everyone who replied.

I raise pretty well everything in modules. My garden is heavy clay and even heavier slugs, so need to give everything the best possible start. The modules are on the window ledge in my office (west facing). I don't have artificial lighting. I am starting them in a homemade concoction of about one third worm compost and two third sieved gp compost.

I grow for the kitchen rather than the show bench. Having said that, all else being equal, bigger is obviously better, so welcome any advice on getting the biggest possible bulbs. The seeds are Rijnsberger and I have a packet of Bedford Giant to go in. We are big onion eaters and I love nothing more than homemade homegrown onion soup, so objective is to get enough to last through to the spring. Managed the end of January last year, so can't really complain, but many bull neck bulbs and a lot were little larger than pickling onions. Nothing wrong with them, but rather fiddly.

Hope I haven't bored everyone into silence, appreciate all your responses very much.

Rob