Topic: Red Baron Onions

[redrichwen]

I planted some red baron onions sets direct into a raised bed in early May. They don't seem to have grown much and the little foilage that has grown is spindly and just flops over onto the soil. I expected to have rows of stems waving around.
The only ones that seem to have done well, are three that i planted into a bucket.

Can anyone suggest what has gone wrong. Is it a combination of unsettled weather, or could it have been a dodgy lot. I did share the pack with two other friends, and they both describe their foilage as being the same.

I have sown a few carrots in between some of them, but since the carrots are still very weeny, i don't think i've crowded the onions out.

Is it worth me leaving them in or shall i pull them up and accept defeat? :(

[lancelotment]

Hi Red, I've not had any joy either this year though I did OK with Red Baron from sets last year.  Tried Sturon this year but they're only about big enough for pickling.  I've just about given up on them as well.  Lance

[Curryandchips]

Not grown any reds through the summer, but yours sound like they will not improve. Onions like moisture, and I would hazard a guess that they have struggled with the dry spring and summer we have had? Now is about the right time for lifting onions anyway, so I would crop what you can and put it down to experience.

[caroline7758]

I grew red baron this year & was disppointed by the size- I put it down to lack of water. They taste good, though.

[froglets]

Ditto

small onions due to lack of moisture this year though the onioniness seems pretty concentrated - same with the garlic.....

[Hyacinth]

I  late-autumn-planted Red Baron and Electra & both have been harvested now. Huge and lovely - just like me garlic 8) Can well imagine how spring planted stuff have suffered this year.

[sweet-pea]

I  late-autumn-planted Red Baron and Electra & both have been harvested now. Huge and lovely - just like me garlic 8) Can well imagine how spring planted stuff have suffered this year.

Is it sets you plant in late Autumn or seed?

[jennym]

Red ones, sets spring planted (Red Baron)are smaller then yellow ones (Sturon)here, both planted at the same time, both bought on special offer from Woolworths. Was kindly given some red sets too, don't know variety, and they've done a bit better. Am going to try planting/sowing in autumn this year too, its worth a try, I've heard a lot of good reports, and now from Alishka too.

[grawrc]

My autumn planted ones have been far better than the spring planted sets. I have huge and lovely Radar, but Red Baron and Sturon have been disappointing. I thought you shouldn't water onions much but I really wish I had.

[Squashfan]

I planted sets last autumn and got very good results. I do have a lot of onions to eat/make into jam tho.  My shallots, planted in Feb came up a cropper too. Will do the same this year.

[umshamrock]

no one on my allotment site had any success at all with onions planted this spring.

do you guys think the sets can be saved and replanted next year?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Mine were OK, but not as good as some of the overwintering ones. I put a couple of inches of grass mulch over the sets, which may have made the difference.

[Svea]

like alishka, i planted red elektra in november, they did very well and i dug them up when i needed the space in june. huge onions, most of them

alishka, how did red barons do over winter? they are not signed as overwintering variety?

does anyone know if red torpedo (italian variety?) can be grown o/w also?

[ruudbarb]

no one on my allotment site had any success at all with onions planted this spring.

do you guys think the sets can be saved and replanted next year?

I would bet they would all bolt faster than my neighbour's cat with our GSD up it's tail......... ;D

[ruudbarb]

I used to buy sets as I was led to believe they were best and gave better, bigger crops.  In reality I found in some years about half would bolt so I experimented with seed one late February and sowed in a tray with 1" sections 2 or 3 seeds per section.  I gave them a little heat until they reached 2" high when they thinned out to 1 per section and went out on the staging in a cold greenhouse until they were about 6' high.  That year they were planted out a week after the sets and at first were slower to develop but caught up through the summer and ended as big or bigger than most of the sets.  More importantly none of the seed ones bolted whereas about a third or more of the sets did.  I find heat treated sets to be a bit better but nowhere as good as seeds so it has been seeds from then onwards.

My onions, garlic and shallots - grown on the north Wales coast - were amply watered a few times this summer during the driest times and were lifted this week.  They were given ample general fertiliser prior to planting but none since.  My whites, Duraldo from T & M and Marco from Marshalls have produced nice sized bulbs mostly about 3"+ diameter with a few nearly 6" dia.  The Red Barons are slightly bigger.    None bolted.

Please can I have now some more sun to ripen them....... 8)