[ferreter51]

Yes, I am already thinking about next year and particularly about onions.  I grow from sets and until I moved here a couple of years ago, I always grew Stuttgarter Giants with good results.  Last year I tried Sturon which only gave a poor crop of indifferently-sized onions at best and most of them were small.  By that I mean quite a bit smaller than the average onion on supermarket shelves.  Unwilling to write off Sturon on the strength of one season I planted them again this year in one bed, with my old favourite Stuttgarters in another.  Again the Stuttgarters are looking good and swelling nicely but the Sturon are looking like weaklings.  The beds were prepared in the same way and had fine ash from my woodburner spread on and raked in before planting.

Does anyone have any idea why one variety is doing well and the other seems to be doing so badly?  If I am doing something wrong then I can correct it and will plant Sturon again next year, if not then I'll go back to the Stuttgarter alone.

[monkeywobbler]

Is there any particular reason you're wanting to grow Sturon? If a particular cultivar isn't working, especially after a couple of years, I would grow something you know works - Stuttgarters seem to do well for you - stick with those. I can also recommend Hercules, excellent taste, big bulbs, fantastic storers. Of course, they may not work for you, but worth a try!

[Growster...]

Our exceptionally dry spring has made for a miserable onion crop this year.

I planted Stuttgarter too, and have just five from a whole packet of sets.

They were watered induvidually too, so presumably just had nowhere to put their roots down, as the soil was incredibly dry at the time when they needed to dig in a bit!

So, looking forward to next year here as well! Best of luck to you!

[ferreter51]

Is there any particular reason you're wanting to grow Sturon? If a particular cultivar isn't working, especially after a couple of years, I would grow something you know works - Stuttgarters seem to do well for you - stick with those. I can also recommend Hercules, excellent taste, big bulbs, fantastic storers. Of course, they may not work for you, but worth a try!

Thanks for the tip about Hercules, I will look out for them.  There was no strong reason for my trying Sturon, just that someone told me they were good.  Unless some drastic improvement happens between now and lifting them, I'll probably go on with Stuttgarters next year and try the Hercules as an experiment.

Thanks again.