[vegmandan]

Does anyone else only use heat treated onion sets like me ?

I've never had a single "bolter" since changing to them.

They seem to be especially beneficial when growing Red onions as these are notorious for growing brilliantly and then sending up a bl##dy great flower spike after a prolonged hot dry spell.

I think it's worth the extra bit of money to guard against the good old "bolter".

 

[love-my-plot]

The red barons I ordered are heat treated but haven't arrived yet, so dunno what they're like yet.

[John]

I tend to prefer seed to set but heat treated are far better for not bolting.

[SpudtheBinx]

How do they heat treat them?

[vegmandan]

Apparently they either keep them at about 80+degrees for a month in either hot water or hot air which kills off the embryonic flower stem in the set so they don't bolt......arparently :?

[nobby]

still wating for mine to arive from T&M

[Nikkithefoot]

I have had the very odd onion set bolt, but usually they had been pretty stressed ie prolongued hot dry weather. I agree though heat treating should stop it though

[fatbelly]

I planted 100 Sturon and 50 Red Baron sets last Sunday, when can I expect to see some sort of germination from the sets?

Also what type of percentage of germination should I expect?
I planted 10 Shallot sets three weeks ago and so far only 7 are showing though giving me a 70% success rate.
Thanks FB

[John]

I planted 100 Sturon and 50 Red Baron sets last Sunday, when can I expect to see some sort of germination from the sets?

Also what type of percentage of germination should I expect?
I planted 10 Shallot sets three weeks ago and so far only 7 are showing though giving me a 70% success rate.
Thanks FB

Pretty quickly I would have thought. I'd expect to see some shooting by next weekend.

On your shallots, you might be lucky with the 3 - were they a bit rotten before you planted out?

[vegmandan]

I would think you should expect at least 90%+ success from sets and generally 100% within a fortnight.

The non sprouted shallots you have ,just give them a bit of a light tug to see if they've sent any roots down,if they have then they should be in pretty firmly and should be ok,just a bit slower to sprout, but if not they will just pull easily from the soil and they may be duff.