The great onion seed v set experiment

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shokkyy

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The great onion seed v set experiment
« on: September 10, 2011, 13:40 »
Earlier this year, I said on this forum i was trying onions from seed for the first time, because although I always had a reasonable crop from sets I'd never been able to grow very big onions. I've lifted the last of them today and I have to say they're right, I have got much bigger onions from seed. I grew half Beds Champion and half Ailsa Craig. Both have given a good crop, with very few failures or bulbs too small to be useful, and a decent proportion of them have been a very good size. The Ailsa Craig were bigger on average, with about 75% of them falling between 270g and 320g.

I'm convinced, and in future I'll always grow them from seed :)

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DD.

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2011, 13:46 »
I did the same, having never had much joy, the last attempt having resulted in a jar of pickled onions.

I grew "The Kelsae" and they're running out at about 2-3 lb each, whatever that is in Centigrade. I'll wait to see how they store though before making a decision as to whether or not to solely grow them.
Did it really tell you to do THAT on the packet?

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arugula

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2011, 13:54 »
about 2-3 lb each, whatever that is in Centigrade.

Over a kilogramme, that's impressive.
"They say a snow year's a good year" -- Rutherford.

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lacewing

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2011, 14:00 »
I tried seeds two years ago and I would never go back to sets. Onions are much bigger, less chance of bolting and less chance of bringing in disease with sets.  Deffo the way ahead for me!
There is no better show of antisipation than a man sowing seeds in a field.

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DD.

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2011, 14:12 »
This is the one I brought home - the first to flop - the others are still in the ground and upright. Exactly 2lb on the scales, a lot of the others are a bit larger.


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shokkyy

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2011, 14:32 »
Did you do anything special with feed or anything? Or is Kelsae a particularly big variety? Mine were planted in a bed that's only 6" deep and I didn't space them all that far apart either. All I gave them feedwise was a sprinkling of BFB once a month.

I like the 300g sort of size I've got from the Ailsa Craig. It's the perfect size for a good big onion to chuck in a casserole. And the slightly smaller onions I got from the Beds Champ give me a good range of sizes for when I don't want such a big one. They hadn't completely died back so I could have left them in longer, but I was starting to get a bit nervous about them rotting because we've had so much rain here the last few weeks. I don't know how well they'll store, but to be honest I don't have the space to grow enough to make that a problem. I doubt they'll be enough to last me all through the winter.

Now I just have to decide whether to stick with these varieties next year or try something different. I wouldn't mind trying Kelsae and I'd quite like to try some of the Spanish varieties as well.

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DD.

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2011, 14:38 »
The Kelsae is one variety that show growers use. My reckoning was that even if they didn't grow too well, I may still end up with a semi-decent sized onion.

I started the seed in January in the greenhouse, then transplanted them into individual modules before going out alongside the sets. They sat there for ages it seemed whilst the sets romped away.

They suddenly took off and overtook them near to the finishing line. Just had a couple of doses of chicken manure pellets during the season.

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shokkyy

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2011, 18:17 »
I had to start mine off inside the house, which I did in February, because my greenhouse is seriously cold as it has glass missing. As happens every year, I ended up with a ridiculous amount of seedlings in the house, which didn't get as much light as I'd have liked. This year I'm planning to put up a polytunnel, 4M X 2M, which should hopefully give me some outside space with better light. It won't be heated, but if I put them in that and also put one of those clear plastic lids over the top, do you think that would be warm enough for them?

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operabunny

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2011, 21:12 »
It was my first year growing onions this year so I just used sets. Had a decent crop but not very big (didn't grow 'big' varieties or feed them, though). This year I'm going to grow the sets but also try some seeds and see how they compare.

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gavinjconway

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2011, 23:59 »
I did Kelsea and Mammoth one year to play with big onions. My cat scraped some of the plants out when it used the seed tray as a sand box and I had some good results with the remaining plants... They are both show big mammoth types.
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Salmo

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2011, 00:17 »
Big onions do not usually keep well so use them first. In my household they are not popular. Tennis ball size and smaller are preferred in the kitchen. Just really a matter of planting them closer.

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gavinjconway

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2011, 00:21 »
Yep - agree on the mammoth types - dont keep well and not a lot of taste...

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DD.

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2011, 06:05 »
Quote from: kelso.bordernet.co.uk
It has exceptional culinary qualities, and those who prefer a mild-flavoured onion, will find it most acceptable as it can be eaten either raw or cooked. When properly harvested and ripened, it will keep well into the following year.

As regards size, we get through quite a lot. I recently made a batch of onion soup which called for 900g of onions.

This is simply now "Take one onion" with these!  :lol:

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m1ckz

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2011, 07:37 »
hi i grew kelsae from seed this year started them in dec last year there great,big size and taste good,had them in the shed for 4 weeks now , on checking them yesterday , 1 was going soft,the rest look ok,i think i pulled them up a tad early a lesson learned, but ill be growing them again come dec

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lacewing

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Re: The great onion seed v set experiment
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2011, 07:59 »
I grew some huge red onions, I think they were called 'Red Aposta' they got to the size and shape of a large grapefruit but then, a lot of the bulbs split in half. I did wonder if I should have harvested earlier whilst the stems were still green and left them  to dry off on the ground. Or perhaps breaking the roots with a fork may have prevented the split. I was a little dissapointed as they were looking so good before they started to split. The necks seem to have closed well on both sections, so hopefully they will keep.




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