i bought some red onions seedlings today from the garden centre, could someone please give me a bit of planting advice, they are about 6 or 8" tall and fairly spindly so i was wondering how to plant them so they dont just fall over :)
Do they have a bulb at all at the bottom? Are they onions or spring onions?
Just carefully plant them in deep earth, if they're spindly they'll probably need to be planted out now.
If you have any chicken manure or fertilizer then sprinkle that on the earth first. Onions like to be fed. Water them in well and they'll soon stand up again. I water mine with a bit of tomorite tomato fertilizer in the water.
they are normal onions not spring onions, so it's ok to plant them a bit deeper so they don't get blown over.
I would plant them more or less the same depth that they are now. Onions don't make a stem as such but each new leaf grows out through the centre of the other leaves. The seedling will develop a small bulb at the depth it prefers then after each new leaf the bulb simply gets fatter and fatter until its growth is naturally terminated.
If you are woried about the getting up rooted, or not rooting because they have flopped over then push a length of stick in next to it and secure it like you would a tomato or wire with a bent over loop till the roots get established.
Staris,
I wouldn't plant them deeper, just give them some support.
Onions don't need support. The next leaf out will grow up, the old leaf will soon wilt and die. They may not look neat and tidy but there are no prizes this month.
thanks everyone i've never planted onions this way before i've only ever planted bulbs which are easy, so from what eristic has said they will pretty much right themselves :)
My Red Brunswick only look like 2" blades of grass at the moment as they were only sown 4 weeks ago. I sowed seed as a first but may of missed the boat this year. Pleased I managed to get one set of onions in all the same.
Quote from: ktlawson on April 13, 2009, 22:31:04
My Red Brunswick only look like 2" blades of grass at the moment as they were only sown 4 weeks ago. I sowed seed as a first but may of missed the boat this year. Pleased I managed to get one set of onions in all the same.
You should get a crop but they'll be a bit small... roast them with similar-sized chunks of root veg .... or pickle them.....