Spring onions driving me mad

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beesrus

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #30 on: April 01, 2014, 19:46 »
I just wonder if spring onions originated from early sown onions, and were not specifically the different crop they have become these days.
Soapy is a good description. I plead guilty to thinking of them as some 1970s pub grub thing accompanying paper lettuce. Early green onions seem far more exotic and the business to me.

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Markw

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #31 on: April 01, 2014, 20:14 »
I am lost for words Lardman, I have never had any problems with growing them. As some others have mentioned Ishikura  and Guardsman are good, I have never got on with Lisbon as they are just to slow.
Have a go with the Ishikura there one of the better ones you can grow, and their quick

I am just thinking that there might be something with your water. Is your water soft or hard ? and you can't over water spring onions.
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VegGirl7

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #32 on: April 01, 2014, 20:27 »
I've never had any success starting spring onions (or lettuce) in pots/cells so tried them direct into the soil last year and managed to get a reasonable crop  :)

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Sparkyrog

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #33 on: April 01, 2014, 20:30 »
I thought you just chucked em in a drill and forgot them that's what I do till harvest  :D
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gobs

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #34 on: April 01, 2014, 20:40 »
How about Welsh onions instead? We have a dozen or so clumps that can be taken at any time, summer or winter, and are very similar to spring onions. Just divide the clumps every three years or so and you have a constant endless supply. I just hate cleaning them...

Best wishes,
Maarten

It isn't about the lack of onions, Maarten.

These I grew years ago, but I have failed in every attempt since.  Trying again fingers crossed



Now that looks like spring onions! Sunshinie's do look like some juvenile garlic.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2014, 20:40 by gobs »
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gobs

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #35 on: April 01, 2014, 20:42 »
I just wonder if spring onions originated from early sown onions, and were not specifically the different crop they have become these days.
Soapy is a good description. I plead guilty to thinking of them as some 1970s pub grub thing accompanying paper lettuce. Early green onions seem far more exotic and the business to me.

And this Lisbon 'grows' (exaggeration) as long as a leek.

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BARNACLE BILL

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #36 on: April 02, 2014, 21:00 »
As you can see from posts I am a newbie. I grew spring onions in the soil last year with some success they where slightly thicker than a pencil. I also had a small raised bed that I mixed a bag of topsoil with 3 bags of ASDA compost. The onions in there grew like wildfire nearly as big as a golf ball. So the suggestion put forward earlier might be the key very soft compost. I also grew some leeks in there which did really well. I turned over this bed this week and it's still very soft and not at all waterlogged following recent heavy rain.

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Lardman

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #37 on: April 09, 2014, 20:13 »
I've got some very interesting results from the last sowing. I'll post some pictures tomorrow, Im beginning to think It's not me.  :D

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devonbarmygardener

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #38 on: April 09, 2014, 20:31 »
I sow my spring onions in very large, deep terracotta flower pots spaced how they are to grow and the seem to do ok in the greenhouse in the early part of the year and outside the greenhouse in the summer.
I make successional sowings like this too. 'Crimson Forest' were good for me last year.

I have a lot of big pots! :D

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Lardman

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #39 on: April 10, 2014, 09:51 »
2 of these rows contains seeds bought in 2013 from 2 of the boards favourite suppliers. 1 treated / pelleted seed , 1 not. The other contains seeds from an open packet in the 'seed parcel' from a less well used supplier with a sow by date of 2010 all are white lisbon and were sown at the same time in the same compost and kept in the same place.

Which makes me wonder if all of us with spring onion problems have been buying them at the same place(s) ?
spring_onions_b.jpg

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mumofstig

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #40 on: April 10, 2014, 10:55 »
Interesting - I remember this happening, a few years back, with a single variety of peas  :dry:

Makes me wonder if something went wrong at the bulk growers/suppliers.

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Eblana

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #41 on: April 10, 2014, 11:28 »
i also planted my lisbon from a new packet in modules 3 weeks ago and not a sign of them.  I have just bought a new packet of bunching ones and I am off out to sow them in modules, we use a lot of spring onions so I need to get them sorted as I am currently spending 6 euro a week on them (4 bunches a week at 1.50 per bunch).

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JayG

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #42 on: April 10, 2014, 11:41 »
2 of these rows contains seeds bought in 2013 from 2 of the boards favourite suppliers. 1 treated / pelleted seed , 1 not. The other contains seeds from an open packet in the 'seed parcel' from a less well used supplier with a sow by date of 2010 all are white lisbon and were sown at the same time in the same compost and kept in the same place.

Which makes me wonder if all of us with spring onion problems have been buying them at the same place(s) ?

Are you saying it's only the out of date seed which has germinated so far then Lardman?

If so, that's put in doubt my latest 'observation' that onion seed can have very low viability after just one year!  ::) :unsure:
Sow your seeds, plant your plants. What's the difference? A couple of weeks or more when answering possible queries!

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Lardman

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #43 on: April 10, 2014, 11:57 »
Makes me wonder if something went wrong at the bulk growers/suppliers.

Im leaning towards that too, I can sort of understand the treated seeds, I've seen germination rates on those drop significantly with age with things like tomatoes, but I can only think the other seed was dead to start with.  I've bought a different variety from one of the supplier so I'll try those and see what happens.

Are you saying it's only the out of date seed which has germinated so far then Lardman?

If so, that's put in doubt my latest 'observation' that onion seed can have very low viability after just one year!  ::) :unsure:

Yep - the only germination and I've looked very carefully is from the right hand row. Which were packed in 2008 with a sow by 2010.

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Snoop

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Re: Spring onions driving me mad
« Reply #44 on: April 11, 2014, 12:27 »
Are you saying it's only the out of date seed which has germinated so far then Lardman?

If so, that's put in doubt my latest 'observation' that onion seed can have very low viability after just one year!  ::) :unsure:

I generally use onion seed for two years and then chuck any I haven't used. Second-year germination seems fine to me.

On the spring onion front, I've tried White Lisbon on a few occasions (new packets of seed and in date, usually given to me as a gift) but with very limited success: very low germination rates and they take for ever to do anything. By the time they're pickable, I've got reasonably decent Spanish salad onions ready as well.

This year I've got a bowl of Ishikura on the go. Sown on 22 February. Came up relatively quickly but still only have two or three very thin leaves apiece. Mind you, that's better than nothing.



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