[purplebean]

the last couple of years my onions have not grown, the sets just sit there looking at me and laughing. I can't decide if it's the weather or something that I am doing/not doing

So if anyone has any suggestions for looking after onion sets I would love to hear them

[Yorkie]

I started mine off in very small modules so that when I planted them out the roots were already a bit established, rather than trying to grow in colder soil.

[Carrot Man]

It's quite mild this year, so you may find the opposite and the onions sets planted out now, getting ahead

I've also did some previously as Yorkie has said, in pots similar to the way I do my shallots, then plant out once the roots have established and tops started to sprout

[gobs]

the last couple of years my onions have not grown, the sets just sit there looking at me and laughing. I can't decide if it's the weather or something that I am doing/not doing

So if anyone has any suggestions for looking after onion sets I would love to hear them

When did you plant them?

[sunshineband]

Two things to think about if you do want to plant them out directly:

- is the soil compacted underneath the sets by you pushing them into the ground?

- are they covered over too deep?

Not sure if this will help....

[Totty]

I would say its too late to sow overwintering sets now, and too early to sow normal sets. I too plant them in trays or modules of compost in the greenhouse. I think they sprout quicker, get a really good start with strong roots and you dont get the problem of birds pulling at the top of the fresh planted sets.
 If the soil is ok and they are kept well weeded i have found them to be more or less problem free.

Totty

[BabbyAnn]

the last couple of years my onions have not grown, the sets just sit there looking at me and laughing. I can't decide if it's the weather or something that I am doing/not doing

As this is not something recent, then presumably it's an ongoing problem where they don't bulb up.  Have you done better from seed or just a query about onions in general?

Perhaps it is the soil?  Is it sandy or clay?  Although onions can get plagued with rot if sitting in wet heavy soil, they tend to bulb up when they need water at just the right stage - if the weather was overly dry, perhaps they didn't get enough water?  What about soil fertility - last year someone recommended feeding with a potash based fertiliser and I have to confess the crop was much better than expected.

Onions also need full sun, so if in the shade or in a very weedy bed that is also competing with the water and nutrients, they'll probably not do very well.

[LilacSandy]

Had a fantistic crop last year and I think it was becuase we did not get a lot of rain.  I never feed or water but I do start them off in modules because I have clay and in the winter the soil gets very soggy.

[DD.]

Had a fantastic crop last year, sets AND plants.

I think it's because I did regularly water!

[purplebean]

I wasn't planning on planting any sets just yet they would get blown away if nothing else  just trying to think ahead a little.

I did just put them in the ground and I am wondering if I should try starting them off in modules this year and planting when they have a bit of root and top growth.

I only water when the soil is getting dry but based on the advice that may or may not be an issue 

I'll try module sowing and some potash feed and see what happens.

I have never grown them from seed I can't even manage spring onions from seed. Can you see a pattern here with alliums! I had tiny garlic as well

[gobs]

I asked, when you planted them - we do not know - as they need to go in fairly early to get good bulbs.

They are not annuals. They shall stop growing around the summer solistice, regardless, when you plant them. So if you are late, you are unlikely to get anything.

[Salmo]

It will help if you tell us exactly what happens to them.

Do they produce leaves and then just sit there? Do they produce a decent root system? Do they rot?

It could be that you have soil infested with white rot.

[JayG]

I asked, when you planted them - we do not know - as they need to go in fairly early to get good bulbs.

They are not annuals. They shall stop growing around the summer solistice, regardless, when you plant them. So if you are late, you are unlikely to get anything.

In that case my Sweet Spanish Yellow onions (from seed) last year must have been wearing blindfolds! By the summer solstice they had been planted out for 3 months and still looked more like chives than onions, and were finally harvested in October (still growing!!)

Will probably try again this year to see if I can get them to gee up a bit although I'm not at all sure what I can do any differently! 

[gobs]

 

I do not know these ones. Varieties can have very different growth rates. It's my spring onions that usually look like chives, all year, too.

Then they start growing again as biennials. I just did not write this bit, as we usually pick them before. This was a summer like autumn. Me artichokes keep budding still...

[LilacSandy]

There are so many different elements to take into account that we get varying results from year to year.  we in the South East have had the dryest Summer that I can remember for a long time but my soil seems to hang onto the water well.

Our allotment site is very big and on a hill, I am at the top where the soil is quite a heavy loam and down the bottom of the site they garden on sand.  My red onions were quite good this year but every one at the bottom of the site has spindley little things.