[New shoot]

I did grow Bedfordshire Championship one year and was not that impressed with them, but it was a while ago and I can’t remember the details of why.  Not much help I know 

This year I have Ailsa Craig and they are doing really well despite the heat and lack of rain.  I have watered them a bit, but not as much as I probably should have.  I tend to buy seeds of them or Globo over others for big sweet onions.

[Plot 1 Problems]

Lost my entire crop to the root miner 

[New shoot]

Lost my entire crop to the root miner 

Oh no 

[rowlandwells]

I note your reply New shoot and Il give the Bedfordshire onions a miss and go for some other variety i looked at Aisa craig as an alternative but it said they didn't store for long periods so I've had a rethink and golden Bear or Rijnsburger a Dutch variety both look a possibility having said that I don't really know those  varieties  because I've never grew them  I'm looking for a good bulb onion that will keep overwinter not to acidic I can grow from seed ?

[New shoot]

Pulled mine out yesterday.  They were all bending over at the neck.  I am not sure cooking on the plot in another heatwave is going to benefit them and I am not sure how they would react if the weather broke and it went cool and wet. 

They are about done anyway and safer in the shed   

[Subversive_plot]

I still have a lot to learn about growing proper onions.

I've found out that short-day onions are a better choice for where I live, and the seeds are sown in late summer to get good transplants to grow over the winter.  I am growing Yellow Granex from seed, the seeds are in chitting containers now.  That sweet variety is one of the types used in the Vidalia, Georgia region to produce Vidalia onions.

Question: I've read that the transplants should be about the diameter of a pencil before they are planted in the ground, but how deep should they be planted?  My first guess is to plant the base (between roots and leaves) about an inch deep.  Is that too shallow, or too deep?  I'm making the assumption that long and short day onions should be the planted at the same depth, if using transplants.

All suggestions appreciated.

[New shoot]

I always plant mine at the same depth as they were in whatever they were growing in (pots, modules or whatever) so the compost they are in is only slightly buried.  I find that putting a thin layer of soil over potting compost does help with stopping the root balls drying out.

Do you take them right out of the growing medium to plant them?

[Subversive_plot]

I always plant mine at the same depth as they were in whatever they were growing in (pots, modules or whatever) so the compost they are in is only slightly buried.  I find that putting a thin layer of soil over potting compost does help with stopping the root balls drying out.

Do you take them right out of the growing medium to plant them?

Well . . . that would be the "lot to learn" part.  I've successfully grown a lot of things, not so much with onions. 

So, my plan is to chit the seeds, and as they sprout, put them in a nursery pot (community pot style), with some distance between plants, to grow into transplants.  Maybe 50 seedlings to a 2-gallon nursery (community) pot? My thought is, get them to a decent size in a community pot, remove them from the pot when they are large enough, trim the leaves and get them in the ground quickly (treat them like transplants that you might buy, which are usually bare root).  I would probably leave any compost on the roots when transplanting.  Seed packet instructions say to sow the seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep, but that's for direct-planting.  If the chitted seed, placed in a nursery pot, is covered by 1/4 inch of soil, I'm assuming that the soil over the seedling roots in the nursery pot would be no more than 1/4 inch.  In that case, would you only have the roots buried 1/4 inch after transplanting in soil outdoors?  Or bury a little deeper (and by how much approximately)?

Or am I going about this all wrong?

[steven c]

our main onion from seed is Ailsa Craig also another couple of varieties we have found they store well [hanging in garage] still using last years this march, they have made a good size this year  we dont seem to have much luck with red onions i would like to know a reliable red onion to grow from seed for next year

[New shoot]

I always plant mine at the same depth as they were in whatever they were growing in (pots, modules or whatever) so the compost they are in is only slightly buried.  I find that putting a thin layer of soil over potting compost does help with stopping the root balls drying out.

Do you take them right out of the growing medium to plant them?

Well . . . that would be the "lot to learn" part.  I've successfully grown a lot of things, not so much with onions. 

So, my plan is to chit the seeds, and as they sprout, put them in a nursery pot (community pot style), with some distance between plants, to grow into transplants.  Maybe 50 seedlings to a 2-gallon nursery (community) pot? My thought is, get them to a decent size in a community pot, remove them from the pot when they are large enough, trim the leaves and get them in the ground quickly (treat them like transplants that you might buy, which are usually bare root).  I would probably leave any compost on the roots when transplanting.  Seed packet instructions say to sow the seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep, but that's for direct-planting.  If the chitted seed, placed in a nursery pot, is covered by 1/4 inch of soil, I'm assuming that the soil over the seedling roots in the nursery pot would be no more than 1/4 inch.  In that case, would you only have the roots buried 1/4 inch after transplanting in soil outdoors?  Or bury a little deeper (and by how much approximately)?

Or am I going about this all wrong?

Not grown seedlings in a community pot, but I do start them off indoors in a small seed tray. I just sprinkle seeds in the surface of the compost and let them sprout there. They pull themselves into the compost at the depth they want to be at.  The seed tray is covered to stop any drying out of roots.

They get transplanted into modules once they get to 2/3 leaves, but spaced in a community pot would work.

I do regularly use liquid fertiliser to keep them going. Onions and leeks really do benefit from that at seedling stage.

[New shoot]

our main onion from seed is Ailsa Craig also another couple of varieties we have found they store well [hanging in garage] still using last years this march, they have made a good size this year  we dont seem to have much luck with red onions i would like to know a reliable red onion to grow from seed for next year

I grew Red Herald last year and they were pretty good.

Picture here :

https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=133954.msg1559509#msg1559509

[Mr Dog]

our main onion from seed is Ailsa Craig also another couple of varieties we have found they store well [hanging in garage] still using last years this march, they have made a good size this year  we dont seem to have much luck with red onions i would like to know a reliable red onion to grow from seed for next year

I've grown Redspark the last few years and they keep well.

[Subversive_plot]

Not grown seedlings in a community pot, but I do start them off indoors in a small seed tray. I just sprinkle seeds in the surface of the compost and let them sprout there. They pull themselves into the compost at the depth they want to be at.  The seed tray is covered to stop any drying out of roots.

They get transplanted into modules once they get to 2/3 leaves, but spaced in a community pot would work.

I do regularly use liquid fertiliser to keep them going. Onions and leeks really do benefit from that at seedling stage.

Well, the chitted seeds sprouted, more quickly than I thought they would.  They are now in the nursery pots, we'll see what happens.