Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Jamrock on January 26, 2013, 22:17
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Hi all
I want to grow some maincrop onions from seed this year and possibly some to overwinter into 2014
Have grown mostly from sets before but grew some 'Long Red Florence' from seed last year with variable success
I'm after some advice with successful and tasty varieties please (and their suppliers) - aswell as any growing tips you wish to share
My soil is on the clay side of loamy but not too heavy
Many thanks :)
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John's advice is here
http://www.allotment-garden.org/grow-your-own/vegetables/onions/growing-onions-from-seed
good luck :)
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Take a look at the web site of Robinsons ''Mammoth Onion'', they are supliers of specialist show types and general kitchen varieties with an excellent cultivation guide, they are also very helpful on the phone.
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Downy mildew is a problem on my plot so I only grow Santero from seed as it is a resistant variety, but of course the downside is the seed is more expensive.
The onions are very good quality and store very well.
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I've only grown Bedfordshire and Ailsa Craig from seed - both reliable.
This year I've got a longer list and Long Red Florence is on it - when you say "variable success", are they not worth the bother?
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I've only grown Bedfordshire and Ailsa Craig from seed - both reliable.
This year I've got a longer list and Long Red Florence is on it - when you say "variable success", are they not worth the bother?
Yes I rather neglected them as I already had some sets in but got the LRF seeds free with a magazine. I just sort of threw them in and forgot about them. The ones I harvested were delicious though so I wouldn't dismiss them! In fact I've just ordered some more along with some 'Jaune Paille de Vertus'
Can I ask when and how you start your seeds off please?
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when and how you start your seeds off please?
That's reassuring that LRF are tasty :D
I should have started my onions this weekend ... But, not ..... This week though :lol:
For me, light is the problem, so I sow no earlier than now. Pinch of seed in each module, into heated propagator, out when first seedling just showing. Onto windowsill, with foil behind (DD's tip). Grow on
(http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff393/shoozie1/P2260342.jpg)
For those I plan to grow singly, when passed the crook stage, thin to a single pot (same size as shown), trim seed root by a third. Grow on til planting out.
The rest are left as a clump in original modules and planted out as a clump either in the ground or in pots.
Timing move from indoors to frost free (ish) greenhouse is weather dependent (relying on paraffin heater - so only effective in very light frost, although I have a separate blow away inside the greenhouse which helps)
I'm still learning about the world of seed onions, so there might be more informed views.
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This year I've got a longer list and Long Red Florence is on it - when you say "variable success", are they not worth the bother?
I grow Long Red Florence every year. They are lovely sweet onions which you can use small like banana shallots or let them bulb. They don't store very well though - so I wouldn't grow them as a main crop. I end up slicing and freezing any that don't get used up fairly quickly after harvest
I sowed a small pinch per module, in a cold greenhouse, on 2 March last year according to my diary :)
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Thanks for the reply very helpful :) looking forward to getting them started off
If you can remember - What sort of time did you plant out last year? And harvest?
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This year I've got a longer list and Long Red Florence is on it - when you say "variable success", are they not worth the bother?
I grow Long Red Florence every year. They are lovely sweet onions which you can use small like banana shallots or let them bulb. They don't store very well though - so I wouldn't grow them as a main crop. I end up slicing and freezing any that don't get used up fairly quickly after harvest
I sowed a small pinch per module, in a cold greenhouse, on 2 March last year according to my diary :)
Thanks for that :D
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Thanks for the reply very helpful :) looking forward to getting them started off
If you can remember - What sort of time did you plant out last year? And harvest?
I started on 28 January indoors through February (then start leeks). Planted out late April - early May (but fleeced several times as a result of late hard frosts). We eat onions as young greens throughout summer leaving the rest to grow on til they die back when they say they are ready :D.
Edit: reason ... Not reading the Question !
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If you can remember - What sort of time did you plant out last year? And harvest?
They get planted at about 4in high in April after hardening off. Final harvest of big bulbs was in August, but they are picked anytime after they reach shallot size :)
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Thankyou both for your responses :)
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I sow from seed, but I put them straight into the ground!
And this was my crop, a mix of banana and round shallots, red and white onions.
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc1189dpos1r2hpqmo1_500.jpg)
And don't worry about germination rates either:
- Gary.
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Nice! When do you sow them?
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I am growing mine from my own seed this year, the year before last I selected the two biggest bulbs from my batch and put them both in a fertile piece of ground and left them to it. They grew into two huge plants last year and I harvested the seeds when they were ripe. The seed heads were riddled with onion fly maggots so it was not nice separating them but I did not want to let them carry on and pupate.
I sowed a batch of seed the last week in December in the unheated summer house, and they were at the crook stage a couple of weeks ago when I then transplanted into plastic drinking cups and put back into the unheated room. They have survived the cold weather quite happily, as have the sets I planted in pots. I will transplant them out into the lotty when they are about pencil size and when (if) the lotty dries out a bit.