[freefolk]

Greetings from sunny (but VERY COLD Hampshire!) I have read that onion sets can be started off in 2" modular trays, to give them a head start before planting out late March time.  Has anyone done this, or have any views on pros and cons of doing it?  Grateful for any views.  Have a nice weekend everyone.

[ApprenticeGardener82]

I'm giving it a go this year. Saw "muddybootz" on YouTube do it so thought I'd give it a go. I'll let you know how I get on.

[freefolk]

Me too, got some to put in this weekend I think.  "Sturon" and "Red Baron" for me.

[Nobbie]

Yes, I regularly do this, although with 1 1/2 modules 8*5, so 40 per tray. Gives me a chance to get the soil in decent condition first. Always had good result, just left them outside on staging until about 6" high.

[Pescador]

Always used to do it before White Rot stopped me growing any Alliums, and very good method it is.

[sunshineband]

I tried this with a dozen sets the year before last, and the onions grown were slightly larger than those planted directly, but not enough to make me want to pre-plant them all like this... 150 would be a bit much!

[snowdrops]

I’ve done it later on when the grounds not been ready or it’s too cold/wet to plant

[ilan]

I got mine rooted already More that with a good root system the birds find it a lot harder to pull them out of the ground whilst looking for nesting material larger onions are a bonus

[Nobbie]

Just remembered another advantage, if the weather is ok, you can prepare the bed ahead of when you need to plant out and leave it for the weed seedlings to germinate, so you can get rid of most of the weeds before the onions go in. Really useful on my site where 2/3 of plots are overgrown and weed seeds blow all over the maintained plots