[Brassica Blaz]

hi folks,having sown all my onions from seed this year i read that you pot them on once there large enough. there seems to be an awful lot of work to do that .last year i just separated them like leeks at planting time and they were fine . is it really necessary to pot them on? your thoughts please.thanks.

[Totty]

I sow my onions into medium sized modules, thin to one in each then no need to pot on till much larger.

[sunshineband]

I have sown mine four seeds to a module and will plant them on/out as a small clump. I have seen this done and you end up with a clump of onoins of reasonable size, that just push each other apart as they grow.

No good if you want giant onions of course 

And as for if you need to pot them on BB -- it depends on how much space they will have to carry on growing until it is suitable weather to plant them out I think.

You don't want them to stop growing

[DD.]

Last year was my first successful year at growing onions from seed.

I hate waste, so I transplanted all the seedlings (The Kelsae) into small modules, (20 to a half seed tray), grew them on in these then hardened off & planted out.

Had about 80 onions between 2 1/2 & 3lb.

[mumofstig]

Last year I saw Carol Kline (I think) sow her onion, sprinkled over one of those mini module trays - the kind you get plug plants in. (same size as DD's I spose  ) Then she just snipped off the extra if more than one seed germinated in a space.

Looked an easy way of dealing with them 

[DD.]

What a waste!!

[sunshineband]

Last year was my first successful year at growing onions from seed.

I hate waste, so I transplanted all the seedlings (The Kelsae) into small modules, (20 to a half seed tray), grew them on in these then hardened off & planted out.

Had about 80 onions between 2 1/2 & 3lb.

I've never grown any onions except Spring Onions from seed before, so this is an experiment for me. Tried to find a way that didn't involve too much fine work as I find that a bit hard at the moment.

Let's hope it works --- not expecting onions that size though  :blink:

[Auntiemogs]

Last year was my first successful year at growing onions from seed.

I hate waste, so I transplanted all the seedlings (The Kelsae) into small modules, (20 to a half seed tray), grew them on in these then hardened off & planted out.

Had about 80 onions between 2 1/2 & 3lb.

Wow, that's some serious onion DD! What did you do with them all? 

[DD.]

Still got a lot hanging by their necks in the garage! (Along with a lot of set grown ones).

[shokkyy]

I did move on my seedlings last year, going from 60 per tray modules to 40 per tray modules. I did it because the seedlings in the original modules were kind of lying down, but maybe I sowed the seeds a little too shallow. When I moved them on to new modules they stood up straight and looked a lot happier.

[Aunt Sally]

I have sown mine four seeds to a module and will plant them on/out as a small clump. I have seen this done and you end up with a clump of onoins of reasonable size, that just push each other apart as they grow.

That's what I do except I put 3 seeds per podule (15 modules per tray).

No potting on involved.

[cissie]

First attempt at growing onion from seed these are a red variety called Karman. Wish i'd read this post before i sowed them  could have saved myself some work, spent all of 99p on them bargain got the seeds pot's and compost, can't wait for them to come up, how sad am i ??

[Trillium]

I found this works well for both leeks and onions. Just space the seeds out a bit to avoid having to do potting up. I too used the big planter as shown in the video and now I'll always do it this way: lots of soil and space means lots of big roots ready for planting out.

http://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment-tips/planting-leeks.php

[sunshineband]

I have sown mine four seeds to a module and will plant them on/out as a small clump. I have seen this done and you end up with a clump of onoins of reasonable size, that just push each other apart as they grow.

That's what I do except I put 3 seeds per podule (15 modules per tray).

No potting on involved.

Glad to hear about someone who actually does this, rather than just a theory 

(Mine are the fiteens too)

and leeks are sown 'au DD' in litter trays, ready to transplant when thick enough 

First ones sown today : Lyon 2, as they are early ones

[shokkyy]

When you plant them out as clumps, what spacing do you use?