I am growing some onions from seed for the first time this year. How big should they be before they get planted out? And is the spacing the same as for sets?
Glad you asked that Caroline I want to know too ;)
5rod here
i have grown onions from seed this year over
300 all types.as for plant out have done this
weekend.the gap beween oinon depends on
what you have grown.
i have planted red onions 3-4"apart 6-9"between#
rows.for large onions 4-6"apart 6-9"rows
for very large onions 8-12"apart 9=12" rows
as for the size when planted mine were
sring onion size 4-6" high
hope this helps
ps
next year i going back to sets. to much
like hard work.
5 rod
I agree with 5rod about spacing! I always grow onions from seed and usually get good results. you get a much wider choice and in my opinion ( somebody always disagrees lol) they don,t bolt as easily. I have just planted out Kelsae
and some I got from Lidl ang I have red Brunswick coming on in the greenhouse
marg
Thanks. Mine are Ailsa Craig but they are only about 3" tall so will wait a bit (I'm not going out in this weather anyway!!)
I pot mine on into 3inch pots before they finally go out
I would hold off a while planting them out ..As Jeanine says pot them on ..
Plant them out when they are a bit bigger and weather is warmer.
Would suggests you give them more space than sets, if fed, Ailsa Craig grown from seed can make a biggish onion ...
These plants from last year were about 4 weeks away from being planted out.
(http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/2807/ononsdu2.jpg)
Really useful picture - I'm growing from seed to this year for the first time. Gives something to measure them by - my seed sown one are about 1/2 that size at the moment whilst the sets planted in modules are quite a lot bigger.
I have some utah jumbo white onions which are about 2 inch tall at the moment in their modules with no sign of bulbing yet at the bottom. If I plant them out in a couple of weeks do you think I might still get a decent crop from these come August/September?
Onions are dependant on day length. They keep growing and dont start bulbing and swelling till after longest day ,,The more growth you can get on them before this, the bigger the bulb you will get on the bottom ..
Thanks for all the info- I have potted some on today and left the smaller ones to grow a bit more.
I did not know if i should of put this in Top Tips or here.
The below picture are three of last years onions, while i don,t consider them to be big onion, they are a good shape for the show bench.
They are just starting to sprout the seed head.
If you get a big onion and want to get your own seed all you do is clean the onion back, take of the roots, cut the stalk off about 1" above the onion, turn it upside down to drain in the greenhouse for about six weeks then re plant it.
(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r111/stumpinsci/Picture018.jpg)