[allotmentvegigirl]

Hi All
I have purchased some wintering japanese oion sets.  Just a few questions -
1  can these go straight into the ground - or should I start these in pots?
2  When will these be ready to pull up
it's just I want want to plant them where I want to plant next years beans - if they still going to be in the ground!
Thanks!

[paintedlady]

I would wait until a bit later (I aim for mid-October, but Bristol ...  :?: ) and plant straight into the ground.  They are harvestable from about end May up to end of June.  If you were planning on planting french/runner beans, you might get away with it  

[Porffor]

I have some seeds, but wasn't sure whether to plant into the ground or pots.. they are also japenese.

Should they be really widely spaced too? or thin later?

[paintedlady]

Ah, I plant sets rather than seed so can't help you there.

As for distance apart, I prefer to be generous and allow 6-8 inch between each bulb.  When Japanese onions start to fatten up in late spring, some of them can get quite large.  Also I have onion rot on my plot - its very much a case of plant in a new bed & see what happens although the weather also plays a big part (mild conditions over winter and early spring encourage the rot)   The distance between each plant probably makes no difference if the onion rot is a bad case, but I live in hope that the increased gap may slow down its progress.

[Porffor]

thanks, need tog o shopping for some late sets, but only have the seed for now. Will 'try' some out and see how they go.

[cawdor2001]

i planted some japanese onion seed last year (end August) and they came beautifully, i sowed as thinly as i could but in the end they were thick so i just thinnned them by pulling some early in the spring as i would/did for spring onions and used them in the same way.  Great.  ot planted this years yet but ground prepared so will get in this week.  

Cawdor

[Lee1978]

I planted my sets in cells last year and brought them on in the greenhouse, they got a good head start  I planted them mid to late september and was harvesting them from june this year

[gobs]

As PL says, it sounds a bit early for sets. And as they don't store particularly well, you can pull them up, when you need the space, it does not much matter if they are perfectly ready or not. But they are usually ready by the time beans go out.

Potting them up is an unneccessary effort, net them, so the birds can't keep pulling them up.

[Porffor]

thanks for the tips on seeds... will do some prep this weekend if it's dry enough and get them in.. thinning for little onions is definately a good plan

[SG6]

I am in a similar position, 2 packs of 50 arrived 10 days ago, Senshyu and Radar. From what I have read some say late Aug, some say Sept, some say Oct. As Sept is the middle of these they are going in sometime in the next 10 days.

Blurb that accompanied them say plant as soon as possible, and plant Sept/Oct.

Decided that if dry then they go in this weekend.

[gobs]

Decided that if dry then they go in this weekend.

 

weatherforcast you have not seen

[cawdor2001]

put my onion seeds in yesterday, i would think that they are 3 allotments down from mine by now with all this rain  

Cawdor

[SG6]

Key phase being "If dry"
Then again even if not they may still go in.
Think this should be unambiguous: :shock:    :shock:  

IF (Local weather = DRY) then
{
    plant overwintering onions
}
ELSE
{
    Who knows, may still plant :?
}

Never thought that planting onions could be so specific.

The met office has a good 4 day weather animation that I have in favourites at home and at work. Seen the low pressure coming in the next 2 days? :evil:  :evil:  :evil:

[yummy]

I planted mine in a particularly wet spell last year and they went rotten. The man next to me planted some the same weekend and those went rotten too. His later lot were fine though.

I will try again this year.

[mother hen]

Hi everyone (new girl :oops: ) I planted japanese onions last october red and white, the whites were best the red ones bolted, will plant half the amount this year and start to use them earlier because they really didnt keep well, I fed them with onion feed from marshalls or dobies and planted carrots in between carrots grew quite well and I didnt see any sign of carrot fly until about a month aftere I'd pulled up the onions.