[SG6]

Last Oct/Nov I planted about 50 Senshu and 50 Radar onion sets in 2 equal sized beds.
All grew about equally.
Now they are not so equal.

The ones at the top half have seemingly developed into what at present looks like nice sized onions. Maybe a bit small but other years have been a complete waste.

The ones in the lower half haven't done as well and there seems to be little in the way of an onion developing on most of them.

Problem is that I have nothing in that says which is Senshu and which are Radar.

All the growth looks the same, as in size colour and amount.

Reason I want to know is that I will order 2 types again this year but would like to swap the poor one for a different variety.

[hindy]

I planted Shenshyu and Radar and had very good crops of both and both a fairly good size. Unfortunately they are hard to tell apart, luckily I marked the rows that they were in so know which is which.

[Yorkie]

I'm wondering whether it was a cultivation issue rather than a variety issue?

[zazen999]

This is where labels help.

The last of mine were pulled today, and there is little between them...more of the radars went to seed than the senshu which means the senshu grew ultimately bigger than the radars as they were in the ground longer.

In the spring, I use my finger/dibber/anything long and thin to loosen the soil around the onions, so that they can absorb the spring rain and thicken up

The bottom half of these are the Senshus and the remaining Radars. There's not a lot between them to tell the difference apart from the higher number of seed heads, all in all.

[SG6]

No really a chance of cultivation difference, the "2" beds are really just one with one type at the top and the other below them. Two green canes mark where one lot ends and the other begins. The lot in the top half are simply the bag that came to hand first.

They have been watered the same, had chicken pellets thrown randomly over both and mulched the same. They all grew the same, flopped over the same and except for the apparent size more or less look the same. Neither went to seed any more then the other, I think 2 of each went and that was all. Neither produced a great amount of green  either.

It was a simple case of if I could sort out which was which I would again try the bigger ones and get an alternative to have a go with later in the year.

Yes labels are a good idea and I have 2 packs bought from Wilkinsons so really have no excuse.

[zazen999]

Chicken pellets - won't these promote foliage growth over root bulking?

Thinking about it - the Senshu might be slightly flatter than the radar....not much help if they haven't reached a decent size. Perhaps compare two that are about the same size.

[SG6]

Concerning chicken pelletted poo application.
You are making the assumption that even a miniscule amount of thought was put into the application of pelleted poo to the patch. Bellieve me none at all was.

More a case of have 2 big tubs of pelleted poo (buy one get one free offer), feeling bored, realise haven't thrown pelleted poo over the veg for a while. So to pass 10 minutes take small flower pot of pellets and scatter over the veg patch.

Occasionally I apply pelleted poo because I have seen the black squirrel making a small hole and he/she really dislikes the smell of the pelleted poo.

Patch also has Cauli, Brocolli, Leeks and Celeraic in.

Will have to wait until I pull them up, week or two, and see if there is any difference that I can use to identify them by.

[Jay Dubya]

Hi, i think Z 999 has hit the nail on the head it's easy to be a little heavy handed with pellets and the bed is too nitrogen rich, lots of top growth. What you want is a little nitro at first, then high potash to swell the bulbs.

[SG6]

Makes sense except I got little top growth and greenery out of either types.

The top growth was poor all round, most went up to about 6 inches then laid flat and made about 8-10 inches along the ground. Onions have developed OK(ish) however.

Have no complaints about the onions on one type, flat feeble greenery all round but onions are usable. Just wanted to identify which of the two options it was the better.

Problem isn't that they didn't grow, just that one grew better then the other and I wanted to see if there was any way of working out which one it was.

[zazen999]

What sort of diameter are we talking here?

Did you see the bit about senshu being slightly flatter than the radars?

What sort of soil is it and have you grown anything on this patch in the last few years?

[cooperman]

did you manure the onion patch the previous autumn?

[SG6]

Not sure how this will help but here goes:

The area was dug over late summer, manure added and a course sand for drainage.
Added some inorganic fertiliser in a small amount as well as a about 3 pots (3inch plant pots) of chicken pellets.

The bed was left to rest for a while then I increased the bed edging height and was able to therefore increase the soil depth. This was done by adding two or three bags of compost then I dug it over again adding some more chicken pellets and the remains of whatever compost I had in an assortment of large pots.

Left the bed again them raked, levelled and trampled on prior to planting the Senshu and Radar onions.

Prior to this I had some potatoes in and a few leeks.
The whole bed was dug over and stuff added as the crop from both of these was poor.

Much improved this year all round. Onions, leeks, brocolli, cauli, celaraic, garlic all doing well.

Right that is basically the bed preparation, now tell me: Are the onions at the top Senshu or Radar? 

[zazen999]

Can you take a photo of the biggest of each and post it on here?