[Rich72]

Hi all

Which onion sets are best to grow? I grew sturon this year and they did not do as well as planned. Anyone grow anything different? My winter onions are in and are growing away nicely. Look far better than my summer crop so far

[doubledug]

Dont know about sets but i grew several varietys from seed last year and got good results with none going to seed, i shall be doing the same for next season.

[gavinjconway]

I go for Sturon (Setton) and Stuttgarter.  Radar and Senshu for autumn planting

These are always the old trusty faithfuls for me.  I also only plant sets as they don't bolt easily..

[bigben]

I would have said Sturon - have you had success with them in the past? It might have been conditions this year - my onions did not do as well as I hoped but much of this was down to white rot which is a problem in my soil. I did find that others on the site suffered from the dry weather and got mixed results.

[rowlandwells]

i have grown onion sets the variety  turbo now for several years with excellent results i always use wood ash and some growmore spead on the ground before planting

doublebug
any help for growing onions for seed been trying for some time to grow from seed not getting the results i thought i would tried pelleted seed fi seed you must be doing something ime not to get results and i thought i was a gardener

any info most appreciated RW

[AnneB]

I can endorse Turbo too.  I grew them from sets for the first time this year and had brilliant results.  I have a huge crop from a net I got from Wilkinsons reduced to 35p.  For a picture have a look at my entry in the Exhibition veg show...

NB Mine seem to be the only entry in the onion category.  Anybody else want to enter?

[Rich72]

Right....Thanks everyone. Will have to try turbo in the spring then

[gavinjconway]

Most varieties are good... but sometimes the weather and other feeding factors etc. just make you have an unhappy bad crop... it's just the way it goes sometimes. I have had duds and goodies of the same varieties on different years and all planted with the same care etc..   

[cooperman]

as previous writer noted cultural conditions play a BIG part in growing onions, get some muck into the soil (year before is best) - some BF&B - and water correctly at the right time.

Sets v. seed
well I always do both.  Sets mean an earlier crop, seed means a better quality onion but a lot later.  Sow seed early (late december for me) under heat and pot on without fail and harden off at the same time and then plant out early.

shallots are a wee bit different..... but thats another story