Topic: Red oinions

[caseylee]

hello there
Can I start my red oinions off in small plants and transer them to my allotment when it gets warmer.  I have been told that once they have been planted in pots they then cannot be transferred.  Any suggestions please.
Linda

[markfield rover]

If your talking 'sets' it's what I do  about now so that when I plant out in a month or so the roots stop the budgies

pulling them out, bless 'em.

[caseylee]

brilliant I have been dying to get them started thank you for that

[GodfreyRob]

The trick is to plant them out just before the roots get 'pot bound' - that is when they have spread throughout the compost in the pot but not yet started to curl up against the inside of the pot.
If you do this at the right time the roots will hold the compost together so you can plant them in the soil with as little disturbance as possible. The risk is that if you disturb the roots too much (or worse break them off) the plant will be miserable and/or go to seed before it has time to form a nice bulb.

[Cuke]

Talking of onion sets, are they ruined by frost when first planted out? I was thinking of trying to get some in the ground in the next week or so after an old guy at the allotment told me he'd just put his in this weekend.

I'd been planning on waiting another month or so to try and avoid frost...

[Dadnlad]

We've found that if onion sets are lightly pushed into a flat tray of dampish soil/compost, they will form roots in just a few days, so that once planted out they get going faster
 - but dont leave them too long in the tray or they're a bugger to disentangle !  ::)

[caseylee]

once they form roots can i put them straight into the ground this time of year, will they be ok or just move them to bigger pots in the greenhouse

[cornykev]

If its mild the weekend I might put a few lines in, my soil is workable at the moment, and while on the subject of onions (spelt the correct way)  ;D I jotted down last year that red onions go in later than the other onions is this true or did I dream it.  ???    ;D ;D ;D

[caseylee]

I'm not sure this is my first time growing anything and when I have just joined a4a. The only problem is when you look and read on the internet there are so many sites and they all say different things, it better on this site cause you can't beat experience

[cornykev]

Hi Caseylee you will find that lotties will have different ideas and methods, I would recomend you buy yourself a good book, I recommend Allotment Gardening by Susen Berger or The Allotment Book by Andi Clevely. ;D ;D ;D

[manicscousers]

or the allotment keeper's handbook by Jane Perrone  ;D
if the soil's not frozen, think I'll put some sturon onions in on saturday  ;D