Kelsae onions

[chriscross1966]

Thanks for that Chris, I might try growing onions from seed this year, i always thought it was too complicated which was why i always purchased onion sets

They almost grow themselves once you've got them going, especially if you use modules rather than pricking out (can't believe anyone does that anymore, they're equally fiddly and it's loads better for the plant not to be disturbed...) .... also given that our weather systems seem to be getting a bit more hectic and unpredictable sets will become harder and harder to get to crop properly due to the bolting issue...

chrisc

[chriscross1966]

[Mike J]

I'm with LottieDollie - might give it a go next year, and sow some seeds instead of sets. Would it help reduce mildew which decimated my crop last season (someone said I over-watered last year tho').

[chriscross1966]

I'm with LottieDollie - might give it a go next year, and sow some seeds instead of sets. Would it help reduce mildew which decimated my crop last season (someone said I over-watered last year tho').

Last year was very wet at a couple of times when it's important for onions, certainly I've lost stored onions to rot due to the wet august, plus rust was an ongoing problem due to the wet spring...I suppose it's the variety and the bolt-proof nature of seed-sown that I like .... plus they're generally through the greenhouse before the tender stuff has even started. If you are keeping a GH frost free for flowering plants then you're only talking about a shelf to get the onions through..... a 24-module pack gets you a 30-foot row of Kelsaes (the biggies need between a foot and 18" spacing to get to their full size) and a 40 will get you that planted 3-4 seeds per with Sturon, Long Red Florence (well suited to the cluster technique) or Aisla Craig to get a very large cropweight for the row.... If you go to 5-7 seeds per module on a 60-module then most "maincrop" varieties will get you pickling onions from that row length though you might want to use a specialist variety like Paris Silverskin, SY300, Borettana or that other italian one that I can't remember right now...or a shallot like Prisma

chrisc

[tomatoada]

Thanks for the reply.  What modules  do you mean?   Coir pots or expanding pellets?  Then plant into ground.   Or trays divided into sections.  Sorry a bit slow here.

[chriscross1966]

I stole this image off mytinyplot.co.uk
http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/wp-content/seed_tray.jpg

THat's a 24/tray module (4 wide x 6 long), if you do sowings a bit later for normal maincrops adn things like picklers then it's not a bad choice as you will probably be able to go directly to the hardening off/planting out stage once they're roots get to the bottom of these without a potting on stage....  for the biggies I'd use a 60/tray (6 wide x 10 long) set to reduce the amount of propagator space used to start them and then pot on into 15/tray (3 wide x 5 long)

chrisc

[BarriedaleNick]

Thanks for all the info in this thread - really usefull..
Im going to give it a go this year..