[missmoneypenny]

Nearly all my (autumn planted) onions were little whereas last year they were large and healthy. I have heard about a new pest of onions this year but not sure about the details. or was it just a bad year. I'm in London. The onions weren't sickly just a lot smaller than last year. Thanks for any information from other onion growers.

[Plot 6B]

The Onion Fly......................
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/advice/pests_and_diseases/identifier.shtml?onion_fly

[shokkyy]

My seed sown onions were much smaller this year than they were last year. I just think it was the horrible weather conditions.

[Babstreefern]

I too had small onions (sets) - no bigger than pickled ones and my seed onions, well the less said the better

[solway cropper]

I'm sure I'm not alone in having had a pretty good year for onions. I know the weather has been cr*p and many of the overwintered sets bolted but the seed-sown onions have performed very well with the biggest coming in at 330g. I still plant sets in autumn but I think onions from seed are somehow hardier. They are certainly less inclined to bolt.

[A Reyt Tayty]

My onions from seed (planted 6 months ago in modules) are still only pickling size.

[GYO Girl]

Overall I've been quite pleased with my seed-grown onions, considering it was my first attempt and the weather has been exceptionally bad.  Some are still very small, but the majority have been OK-sized and I got a few good-sized ones.  I just wish I'd grown a lot more!  I'll certainly double the quantity next year.

[shokkyy]

I just wish I'd grown a lot more!  I'll certainly double the quantity next year.

Yes, I've come to that conclusion too. You can never have too many onions. Next year I'm going to have two raised beds (8ftX4ft) just for onions and garlic. But I am going to space them out a bit more than I did this year, because I did get a higher percentage of small bulbs than I did last year. I suspect that was largely down to the weather, but I might have crammed them in a bit too close as well.