Onion beds

[anthonyjb]

Hi

How often do you have to water onion beds

Thanks

Anthonyjb

[Scarlet]

I never water anything once it's been planted up. Although, if you are not on a metre (like me) a good soak once a week in very dry weather, when they are bulbing up should be more than enough. Any other time I wouldn't bother.

[Penellype]

I water mine about twice a week if there is no rain. My onions are planted where there used to be a patio, and the soil is about 50% sand.

[arpoet]

I have a tub if rain water with a sack of hos muck seeping in it and water my onions with that every few days, rain or no rain.

[RaptorUK]

On the subject of onions . . . I sowed 2 rows of Spring onions, they germinated OK and grew but they seem to be dwarfs, some are even bulbing up, the tallest is approx 6", I expected them to get taller/longer. Maybe they needed more water ? I've only watered them last week and the weekend as we haven't had any rain for 2 weeks.

[Barking Postlethwaite]

I try to avoid watering onions unless conditions are such that they begin to look stressed, particularly now when we're getting quite advanced in the growing season. Lots of water late on encourages them to put on soft growth and I think this tends to reduce their storage life once harvested.

[Bigmallly]

I very rarely water anything in the ground unless it is looking thirsty & wilting a bit.

[Alison]

I don't water things in the open ground either apart from when planting out / sowing

[kathyd]

I water things outside if they're in raised beds (which I see more as large containers) and if the weather's exceptionally dry for a long time (not often!). I've stopped doing the onions now though 'cos as BP says it's not that long until harvest, so I want them to dry out now.

[brownfingers]

I just give mine a light sprinkling when it's getting really dry. Mine are bulbing up like crazy at the moment. Reckon they will need harvesting early this year.

Off the subject of onions, I just dug up all my broad beans which have now finished, ready to make ready for some borlotti beans. Even though I have been watering this (raised bed) regularly, when I turned it over, it was bone dry. I mean proper dusty like.

[Small pumpkin]

I don't often water the beds, but that has more to do with my location than anything.

[snakeshack]

Strangely I water mine this time of year as they are bulking up along with a bfb feed but will stop again in a couple of weeks,I just feel the extra boost is good for the home run.


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[Scarlet]

Strangely I water mine this time of year as they are bulking up along with a bfb feed but will stop again in a couple of weeks,I just feel the extra boost is good for the home run.


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Yes, I agree. They have plenty of time to dry out in the sun when you've lifted them.

[Martin H]

Same as Snakeshack, when the tops are about to fall over I give them lots of water for a couple of weeks to swell the bulbs before letting them ripen.

I stopped watering the overwintering ones last week and will stop doing the maincrop next week probably.

[BUFFS]

I try to avoid watering onions unless conditions are such that they begin to look stressed, particularly now when we're getting quite advanced in the growing season. Lots of water late on encourages them to put on soft growth and I think this tends to reduce their storage life once harvested.

lots of water is what our onions get most summers(been raining for two days) so they just have to get on with it, I found the best way of overwintering mine is to hang them in a shady part of the unheated greenhouse and we only get problems if the temp goes below about -02deg so last winter was no problem, we had more frost at the end of august than over the winter........