Ok went down to the plot today and on my brothers plot he planted some red onions. Well nothing was comming up. The white onions where doing ok but the reds where doing nothing. I told him to wait for a bit until the warmer weather arived as they might be slow starters. Well he decided to investigate further and guess what? Yup they had all rotted >:(
So it looks like the winter Reds are out and we will stick with the winter whites. Luckly we have some summer red onion sets so we will try again with them :-\
The_Snail
unlucky snail still time to plant this year though
sorry to hear it snail :( I have similar trub with garlic. Me red garlic is bouncing away in its bed, but the white garlic - planted exactly the same time/method and in the same bed - hasn't shown at all (3 months now). The other day I saw something (grass?) so will carry on waiting since Patience is the Gardener's Friend >:( ;D
My winter red onions are very mediocre this year. I cannot understand why, unless it is the sets, they were very small. My garlic on the other hand is excellent.
Supersprout you are better than me I am affraid I would have to inspect a few very guntly to make sure they had not joined the great compost heap in the sky.
Curry I think it is the sets. A bad batch like ours. I can grow onions from sets but have never tried winter reds. I will try again this year with the winter reds and hope for a bit better luck.
I will be planting my summer reds in either march or april. The same time as my summer whites.
The_Snail
I got some summer onions this week because I thought the overwintering stuff wasn't doing to well (especially the reds) just had a look this morning and they all seemed to have doubled in size over the last few days! The reds are suffering with rot tho - last year a lot of my summer reds bolted which was a shame which is why I tried the winter ones, like you will stick with the summer reds @ least you can eat the bolted reds fresh.
I didn't bother with winter reds, just whites. Sets. They're doing OK but the garlic is even better. No like with the onions from seed however. They seem to have been washed away. :'(
I've got Electra. Good news - birds & squirrels didn't get them.
they haven't rotted off.
Can't say much more, really - living in hope for dramatic growth sometime.
Hi all, :D
Patience is required for all winter sown onion sets, they might not look like they are doing much but wait for it to warm up a bit & they will soon start to bulb up (get fatter). What you need is plenty of green leaf growth, if you have this the onions will perform. About now it is quite a good idea to give them some nitrogen feed (ie hoof & horn ) this will help them along.
Adrian.
I planted white onions and leeks to overwinter in October, both are doing well. I am going to plant red onions in March and see just how much difference winter planting makes to harvest time.
I have never seen winter red onions but I am new to all this :) the only red onions I have seen are the ones you plant in march.
Since they mature earlier in the year, ie may/june, I find they are ideal for salads, being mild in flavour and of course very colourful. I then concentrate on whites for the main summer crop.
Quote from: Curry on February 18, 2006, 18:23:51
Since they mature earlier in the year, ie may/june, I find they are ideal for salads, being mild in flavour and of course very colourful.
That's why I prefer to grow them, too, and also to free up the space for...errr..haven't decided yet ;D but something, anyway.
Normally the gaps get occupied by my leeks, which are ready for transplanting about that time.
Quote from: Curry on February 18, 2006, 19:23:03
Normally the gaps get occupied my my leeks, which are ready for transplanting about that time.
Thanks, Curry for reminding me - exactly what I'd planned ::)
I forgot to add, the space is also ideal for late 'baby' carrots, if there is any spare seed left over ...
My uncle mentioned that he put his onion sets in on Feb 1 (as every year) so I thought I would bung my Red Baron's in today. Have I just messed up as since surfing around on here tonight I keep seeing mid-March mentioned?
Looks like I will have to get some sets in as a mouse has rampaged through my seed sown onions in the greenhouse. They have eaten at least half of them in 24 hours!
:-((((
Jerry
Quote from: amanda21 on February 18, 2006, 19:41:57
My uncle mentioned that he put his onion sets in on Feb 1 (as every year) so I thought I would bung my Red Baron's in today. Have I just messed up as since surfing around on here tonight I keep seeing mid-March mentioned?
May be a bit too early as they will have plenty of time to bolt. I have had excellent results growing from seed sown in Feb - March. The earlier you sow the bigger they'll grow. I use a heated propagator to start them off having sown them 2 seeds to a cell of small plug [about 1" square] type trays. They are left in them until planting out in March - April having been hardened off.
My Electrics are awful. Lots are half-out of the soil (?birds?) and the rest look anorexic.
Stuck a good measure of 6X on them yesterday - nitrogen boost. Hopefully that will help. So might the rain (huzzah).
Now the summer ones (Sturon) look like they've bigger shoots than the autumn ones on already (they're in the conservatory in modules) - roots were coming out of the bottom of the modules (small ones) so repotted them to a larger size today. Have a horrible feeling I'll have to do it again at some point! Planted up a packet of Stuttgarter giant in the (larger!) modules today, as well as most of a packet of Golden Gourmet shallots. Together with the late garlic and the leeks, my planting area is being taken over by alliums! Mind you, haven't got great results from onions since 2003. And they were module-grown sets put out *very* late (mid-May!) because that was the year I did my back in. And by June they were huge.
I have hopes for this year.
moonbells