Topic: Spring Onions

[tottieheed]

Hullo

This is my first attempt at growing spring onions. They are planted in a tray in the kitchen and have grown to about 5 or 6 inches tall. They are a healthy looking colour. The problem is that they are very thin and limp and will not support themselves. They are lying along the tray rather than standing up in it.

Is this normal for young spring onions and will they perk up as they get larger? Do they need a dose of Viagra?


Thanks once again

[rog_pete]

You may have to transplant them to something deeper. 

I generally start mine off in a tray and they are around 3 inches now and I am just about to plant them in a container.  I will dib a hole around 2" deep and plant one per hole.  I find they will then grow taller and thicker and some nice spring onions will develop.

Hope that helps

[goodlife]

I sow mine in modules or small pots..and once big enough, I plant them as they are..no thinning or pricking out...all just in group and into ground. They get thinned when I start using them up.

Tottie..your onions propably are ready for going out..once they get their 'feet' in..get plenty of light, moisture and light' lunch..they will perk up and getting more upright.

[BarriedaleNick]

Most onions will fall over like this if they are kept indoors where it is dry and at a nice constant warm temp.
I try to move them to a cold frame/greenhouse/poly when they are a couple of inches high and they soon firm up - any new growth should be slower but stronger.
I plant out like goodlife but I nicked the idea of chriscross1966 after years of poor germination and very limited success!

[Dopey]

I plant mine directly outside from seed, why all the faffing about?

[BarriedaleNick]

Well I personally just do it because I like to faff around and waste my valuble time.

If you read my post it actually says why I do them in modules - years of poor germination and limited success - so I thought that I might use the tried and tested technique of one of our respected members.  Silly me.

[goodlife]

That is exactly same reason I do em in modules..I get much more reliable germination..and end up using much less seeds. Same packet of seeds will yield me enough for two summers spring onions.. ;) No waste!
..and that same apply for many other seeds!

[Dopey]

But seeds are so cheap, 99p for 1,000 seeds?

[goodlife]

Yes..they are cheap..but that 99p packet will last for me two years and I can even give some away..or swap.. ;D If I do sow straight into ground..I would not get much crop out of it.
When ever I grow something..I like to see the space well filled..and I can achieve this by pregrowing things in modules and planting where ever I want them..knowing that the space is used.
If I sow row of spring onion seeds..and end up having a foot long gap here and there..I only end up sowing the gaps again..and still having no guarantee that they will germinate in second time.
For me is much easier to sow in comfort of the greenhouse with a cup of tea next to me..have full trays of seedlings..plant them when they are ready..and job done.  ;D I don't have to repeat it again. It could be soil 'issue' that particularly onion seeds are not successful here. They will grow fine once planted as seedlings.

Like with other things..there is as many ways of doing things as there is  do'ers..and not all methods suit everybody... ;) That is challenge of gardening..finding the perfect way that works best.

[BarriedaleNick]

Doesn't matter how cheap they are if they dont germinate or don't grow and you dont get any onions.
Different people do things in different ways to suit the conditions around them - I grow everything in modules except for carrots and parsnips.  You call if faffing but I happen to like this way of gardening and it produces better results for me.  

[tottieheed]

Looks like I'm a faffer too!!

I will stick them in something deeper and harden them off for week before planting them out.

Thanks folks for the help

[Bing]

thin them, or they wont grow

[Lottiman]

Another one for the faff gang here!  tried many a time sowing direct and only had good results once, so going with module sowing this time to see what the results are like. many seem to have had great success so just taking good advise. Thanks people ;D

[Debs]

. . . I shall be faffing again, as the first lot did not germinate!!

Debs

[fitzsie]

Wish I could " faff".  I only have a small area of garden for growing veg and I soon get my jobs done. Oh for the day when I can spend a whole day faffing.
That day will be when I can get an allotment, have my own greenhouse, a BIG shed..........

[winecap]

For a slight variation on a theme, I sowed my first lot in a tray and they are ready for planting out now. I empty them out and tear them up into clumps of 6 or so and then plant them with a dibber giving that bit more space for them to grow. Worked great last year.
The second sowing were direct in the soil and they are about 1 cm high now. Hopefully they'll follow on from the first. As for the cost, I'll be saving my own seed. Bucketfulls for nothing.

[chriscross1966]

Doesn't matter how cheap they are if they dont germinate or don't grow and you dont get any onions.
Different people do things in different ways to suit the conditions around them - I grow everything in modules except for carrots and parsnips.  You call if faffing but I happen to like this way of gardening and it produces better results for me.  

I even do my carrots and parsnips... tried it last year and had tons of carrots and a parsnip patch with plants perfectly spaced that gave me two meals worth of parsnips off each one.... but for onions it's a no-brainer.... I keep the seed packet in my "greenhouse jacket" pocket and sow a pinch in a strip module or a quarter-trays worth of modules about once a week.... they don't get a set row really, quite a lot end up in big pots ... but it works... same with salads....

[Gordonmull]

I did them direct into windowbox type trays last year. 2 rows to a tray, one lot in multipurpose and another in garden soil. All were yum, yum and no problems. Repeating that this year with only multipurpose and they are going nicely. Getting a fair bit of flopping in the March sowed ones but the new leaves are standing tall. The March sowing lived in the GH until it got another leaf, then was hardened then put out. Aprils sowing is still lurking in the greenhouse. May's will go into the space left in the pot from March's lot.

Might be a middleground between faffing and not faffing?

[Susiebelle]

I also do the 'faffing' bit even with parsnips.
I pre chit seeds in the fridge, sow two seeds per toilet roll insert, thin out the weakest and plant out before root shows - since adopting this technique I save lots of time achieve the best results I have ever had with no fretting about germination resowing etc.
As for using up seed, this year I used last years parsnip seeds (shock horror always supposed to buy fresh parsnip seed) had a very healthy 90% germination so had lots of chitted seed to pass on to others.

Sorry not my intention to hi jack thread picked up on the 'faffing' bit!

[manicscousers]

Another faffer here  ;D