[Eblana]

My OH harvested my yellow onions last weekend and they were fab (half seed grown and half sets).  I was wondering why there were no red onions with them but he said he couldn't see any.  Anyhow I went up today to look for them and managed to locate them amongst the weeds but they are tiny (about double the size of a set) this is the third year in a row that this has happened.  Can anyone suggest what is going wrong.  They are getting identical treatment to the yellow ones but the leaves appear to die off on the red ones very early on (any that do keep leaves on bolt) and they fail to bulk up. 

[RJR_38]

I always had this problem with red onions so gave up with them

[RichardA]

I grow red baron from sets and sturon from sets. Both do well. Reds keep less well but preferred in kitchen. Sturon store well and today we used last stored onion and first this season onion as wife wanted 2 bringing in.
Perhaps you need to change supplier ?? Has anyone in your immediate area experience of success/failure with particular type or supplier??.

[AlaninCarlisle]

Yes, my reds are generally disappointing in size compared with yellow one like Sturon

[snow white]

Try Electric autumn sets.  Mine grew huge.  All my sets in spring are rubbish.  From seed is better, but I do love my autumn grown ones.  They grow huge.

[jambop]

Long red Florence and red amposta are worth a try from seed.

[AnneB]

I always find red onions more temperamental than white ones.
However, you mentioned that you had to uncover them amongst the weeds and I think that may partly be your problem.  Onions are notorious for not liking competition from weeds.  If you keep your onions well weeded you are likely to get a better crop.

[jaydig]

Long red Florence and red amposta are worth a try from seed.

I now always grow Long Red Florence, and they can get to quite a size.  I grow from see, and there is little or no problem with bolting, they always produce a good crop, and they are so easy to peel and slice.  I don't know how well they would keep over the winter, because I tend only to keep a few fresh ones, and the rest are sliced, bagged and frozen, ready to use when I want them.

[jambop]

They do grow to shapes and sizes well in excess of the catalogue description that's for sure. All the descriptions I have read for both red amposta and long red Florence say the keeping qualities are first rate... I am about to find out because the are almost dry now and will be going into the store for over wintering.

[sunshineband]

Thank you for sharing your success stories with red onions. Our autumn planted sets (Red Electric) are often good but this year almost all bolted. Although I have grown others onions from seed I have not tried Long Red Florence. so you have given me something to think about

[AlaninCarlisle]

Certainly the yellow onions I grew from seed this year have done far better than the ones I grew from sets. I grew a few on  in the polytunnel from seed as well and they are monsters.

[mumofstig]

Long Red Florence is a lovely sweet onion, but it does have quite a thick neck.
I found it impossible to dry enough for long keeping, but as a late summer/autumn salad onion I don't think you can beat it 

[rowlandwells]

when your talking about Florence onion are they an elongated bulb type that are recommended as a good raw slicer  we grew red Barron  and although a tad smaller than the Turbo   they seem to be keeping ok after lifting

we also grew a white onion from Franchi seed that although not as big as the main crop looked and tasted quite good

I've already done sowings of autumn seed onions and there just coming through I'm a bit undecided how the onions will overwinter both spring and bulb  sowed sow where  pelleted seed that seem to take a little longer to germinate

one thing we do when we prep the onion bed in spring is to spread wood as with the some fertilizer as someone told me wood ash is good for onions 

[jambop]

The seeds that I bought from Premier seeds have delivered an onion that is somewhere between round and long lets say pear shaped they have dried really well and now I hope the will store for a while. I was expecting a long onion but the are more like a red amposta/ long Florence hybrid a lovely big onion and the necks on them are dried very well.

[jaydig]

My Long Red Florence tend mostly to be an elongated oval shape, narrow at the root end, which makes trimming the root off very easy.  I also find them a lot easier to peel and slice than round onions, probably due to my having Arthur Itis as a permanent visitor in my finger joints, and I find this shape more comfortable to hold. I do grow mostly Ailsa Craig which keeps very well, plus something like Exhibition which is a very large onion, plus a smaller variety such as Santero, which also is an excellent keeper.