I have my onion sets all planted up in plugs, waiting in the cold frame and sprouting nicely (as recommended on this forum!). Is time to plant them out yet?
Probably is....but wait if it's too wet (like here!!)
don't want them rotting off :)
QuoteI have my onion sets all planted up in plugs,
How big are the plugs? and where do you have them growing?
What I am concerned about is; if they become 'root bound' the time you have gained by planting in this way may be lost when you plant them out!
Sets should go straight in the ground, but its far too wet at the moment as said above they will only rot, I was going to put mine in today but we had aout 2 ihches of rain since last night. :'( :'( :'(
Too wet here at the moment - I so need to get digging! - Anyway just looked at my bag of onion sets and some are sprouting :o Will they be okay until I can get them in?
Mine were sprouting in the bag, which is why I put them in plugs (little tiny ones). They've only been in a couple of weeks - but I don't think they should stay there much longer.
It is quite damp here - but nothing out of the ordinary - If I wait for the dry they'll still be in plugs in June!
Should I feed the soil when they go in? Chicken pellets? Or does that make them bolt?
we planted ours out last week, although we have raised beds so the soil's not too wet, they were in pots for 3 weeks before that as they were all sprouting..it was either that or throw them away ;D
If its only damp Miniroots I would stick some in but I can't believe it's only damp in the rainy city. ;D ;D ;D
i am hoping to plant mine ensitu next weekend.
Ive planted mine and watered them as well, oops :-[
Don't believe the lies they tell you about Manchester! We've had a dry weekend and a beautiful sunny day yesterday. It's coming down now mind you.
I got all the onions in yesterday, they were a bit plug bound - but I gave them some extra verbal encouragement.
I'm made up it's raining up here, I can't get to the plot today and all the transplants need watering ;D
Temp dropped to 2 degrees here in cambridge and it only 5 now and its wet - yuck!!
Onions that have sprutted in the bag will grow on ok ..
Use a trowel to plant them out ,,Dont just push em in as you may do with the sets that haven't sprutted ...As for preparing the bed, lime raked in prior to planting seems to help...I find aliums like lime ...Cheers Jim
Quotethey were a bit plug bound
I hope the root system was not 'solid' or they might struggle.
If the were you will probably still see the basic shape of the plug when you harvest your onions.
Fingers crossed!! I hope they turn out OK
Eeeeek!!!
Just planted my onion sets this afternoon!!!
Bit worried just reading all this, that it may be too wet!! ::)
Nobbs xx 8)
Got mine in open plugs and hoping to get them out proper next weekend...
planted some more today, still got 50 white to go :)
I bought my sets a couple of weeks ago and have not yet done anything with them. should I be doing?? If so, what. I found some onion bulbs left in the greenhouse from the previous tennant. they have sprouted a bit. What shall I do with them? (no rude answers!!!)
I ordered some from Suttons & got a letter today saying they will be delivered early April - is that too late?
Marymary, early April will be fine :), at least they won't rot in the saturated ground we have at the moment ;).
QuoteI ordered some from Suttons & got a letter today saying they will be delivered early April - is that too late?
I guess these will be a heat treated variety and these are generally dispatched later than un-treated setts. So no need to worry.
Thanks TG & LS - I had a sudden panic, thought I'd have to cancel the order & try & buy them elsewhere. They are heat treated as I've grown them before & they have been fine. My shallots are already sprouting - planted about 3 weeks ago - hope they don't rot.
Hi I ordered some from suttons and Marshells and no sign of any yet - also got some from Woolies and have put into large plugs readyfor next week end weather permitting.
just been to huntingdon and guess what they have a wilko !!!
wow
I just had to pop in and they had loads of onions left 100 for £1
I planted my onions sets 2 weeks ago, rain or no rain, on the basis that my allotment neighbour had planted his and he appears to know what he's doing. The birds have had a kickabout with some of them but so far they seem OK...I think verbal encouragement is very important though :)
if the weather stays bad i might just start planting mine up in modules as some are starting to sprout!
Spuds in but still to wet for the onions, got soaked in the rain going to work at 6am this morning, cats and dogs for hours, stopped, then the sun come out 8) and its been lovely all afternoon. ;D ;D ;D
beat 3 hours stuck in traffic doing 4 miles an hour!
Are you gonna put your onions straight in the ground.I got some from Wilkies stuttgart. They look ok. just a couple gone a bit soft but then you get loads for a pound eh! I went in today and got another white hellibor and 3 packs of viola's for £5. Some more wire netting ( you know about netting don't you )lol. Some pegs to hold it down and some enamel paint to paint my old zinc watering can, bucket and mop bucket. Ive got a book on folk art. Something to do on a rainy day. Iput a few squash seed in today that SS sent me. I know it's a bit early but couldn't resist it. She sent me a ryme about planting squash on Feb 12th and Iv'e saved it if you want it. although you probably already have it
I'd like to see the rhyme particualry as I'm not planning to plant any squashes for another month - will I be too late.
Our sets made it into the cold frame... ready to hit the ground running on Saturday...
;D
i am hoping to plant out my onion sets, onion seed, shallot seed, leeks and swede this weekend in there final planting position.
what do you think my chances are?
Pretty good chance I think, most of the southern half of the country will be fine tomorrow (Sat) I hope so anyway, after we have finished up the hospital Im hoping for an hour or Two on the plot, bought some onion sets for £1 at the local garden centre and they will be better off in the ground rather that trying to shoot through the bag!
Regards
Matt
yep was going to plant them in the modules but i think that there is more of a chance of the modules being knocked off shelved by wind then the soil being 2 wet :-) i hope
Here in Scotland, the soil is still a bit wet, but i may have another look later.
I have 50 Red Baron sets and 50 Stuttgart Giant sets to plant. Might just do some more planning first.
;)
Anyone else in Scotland planted theirs?
tried to dig over one of my beds to add some more manure and soil and its just so wet i have abandoned the idea of potting up my onions.
I have forked the area over and will go back tomorrow and if there is no joy then i will come back and plant in cells.
But i checked on the onions i sowed last year ( was supposed to plant in april and forgot and did not plant till aug ) and there almost ready. I think the mild winter has helped them survive and i should be able to get a crop soon!! yippe
Got a row of Sturon in, it was a bit wet, but the ground is starting to dry out a bit..Thames water will give us a hosepipe ban soon if this dry weather keeps up!
Also managed to get my pea sticks up, ready for me planting the peas in a couple of weeks
Regards
Matt
Peas in pots up to six inches so I put them in the ground today, still to wet for onions, about six onions sprouting may put them in black pots tomorrow. ;D ;D ;D
I've noticed our onion sets sprouting in the packaging, might get them out tomorrow and give them a breath of fresh air - i suspect our plot will still be too wet to plant them though. ::)
I'm getting worried about this pea thing though, i'm sure the ones i bought in lidl's say not to plant them out til about may? I could quite easily be wrong though :-\ :-X
I planted my red baron ones last week. Must have been pretty wet as i had half the garden stuck to my boots. They seem okay though, the ones the birds have pulled out have little roots on them, No signs of rotting. Have i been to early???
I live in Fife. Rainy Scotland
No, not at all. They're evidently growing, which is what you want.
I put my onion sets in small pots today using ordinary riddled garden soil with a bit of grit sand mixed in,this way when roots formed and sprouted sets which are" Sturon" I can simply plant out where required and using soil like where they are to grow it avoids the rooting into compost which plants are loth to leave resulting in poor growth.
1 lb bag of sets = 3x40 set up the small pots 40 in a tray are from Aldi about £2.99 per tray and can be used again and again.I also by same method put beetroot seed 4 per pot and when grown about inch high just plant where to grow a foot apart
ours are under cover at the moment, early type so will go out next week, kitten, maybe yours are a later type, we'll be planting them through 'til may :)
Planted out 80 onions yesterday after having them in moduals for 6 days they had loverely roots used both types cheap ones from Wiki's and expensive from marshels
going to do more in the next few days ;D
Wayhay, we planted about 80 of each red (Red Baron) & white (Sturon) onions at the lottie today ;D Some had gone soft (mainly those with the big sprouts!) so we chucked them, did i do the right thing? ???
Still got another pack (100) of each so might do those in a couple of weeks - are we meant to successional sow onions :D
I planted out a whole bed of onions yesterday. I was told by a 'woman who knows' that when the Daffs are out, it is time to plant onions. I made a mistake though ( or so she told me) I covered the tips with soil. I had to go over the whole bed and uncover them. I hope the bird have not pinched them. I did put string up with flappy plastic bits on to deter them. will have to cross my fingers. Do you think I have done right, planting now, with the tips showing?
further to my post 11th March --today I planted onions out of their pots all have grown strongly about to 2" high strong rooted and easier to put in and avoid trouble of birds pulling the onion set up and having to replant using this method last year I got a really good crop large firm onions and am still eating today they have kept superbly with only the odd one rotting.the dry weather helped for making sure they are really ripened and dried in the sun, is important for good storage throughout the winter period
If you plant your sets early next year you will avoid the problem with birds which pull them when they see a nice piece of brown nesting material.There is still time to plant them and if you have any left over, follow my tip on
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_onions.html
Mine are doing lovely!
They've been about a month, none pulled up, all sprouting away like crazy!
I've done an experiment with half the row fed chicken nuts pellet and the other half manure. The second row I've swapped it round, to control for the fact it's shadier at one end.
We'll have to wait and see if they come out the same shape as the plugs I original started them in.
AllaboutLiverpool - did you speak at a conference last year, about digital technology? Or is there another blog site Arts about Liverpool?
Sophie