Ok, bear with me..
I have some rare onion seeds, impossible to find here.
As onion seeds have a limited shelf life and they were from 2008 onions I sowed them all hoping that I would get enough to get a few that I could save and replant which I have done before.. trouble is.
It is not a good storage one . The last time I saved I managed to get about 3 onions through to the next year but I lost a sack full trying.
Question finally. Can I grow them on to tiny onion size, then do something to stop them so they make onion sets like the ones we buy, and if I can, would the sets save till next year and grow or do they have to planted this year again.
Oh and buy the way, needless to say it looks like they all germinated!!
Hope that makes sense, I reall really want to get seeds from them.
XX Jeannine
I don't know but i know someone who will, shall ask her tomorrow and let you know.
Onions as you know are biennial so its worth leaving a few in site to go through the winter. Some should regrow again next year and go to seed.
Alternately choose a few you have picked dry them out as best you can then strip them back (removing some of the outer layers ) set each in a pot where they should strike and go to seed. Davey1 is the guy to ask about how to do this . cheers. Jim
Quote from: fi on March 01, 2010, 21:54:33
I don't know but i know someone who will, shall ask her tomorrow and let you know.
Hi Fi
* Waves
Back to the onions.....
You can get them to go into sets but it is extremely difficult and really not worth it. I'm not sure what stage your onions are at the moment [seeds, bulbs or seedlings]....but....
Alliums will start back up again if they are replanted; as long as they haven't rotted....so ignore the 'sets' stage and just replant whatever ones you have or leave them in if they are already planted up and let them flower and save the seeds from those. If they aren't lasting outdoors and rotting away, then sow them into a seed tray and just leave them all winter in a coldframe or unheated greenhouse and transplant them into a bed in the spring and leave them to bulb up and flower.
I am doing the same from some rare red onions this year. Sown last spring, put all winter into a raised bed and they have just started looking green again as the foliage died off last year.
I don't understand. I can't leave them in the ground as it is unlikely they will survive here. They are sown already by the way inside as I usually and just breaking through. I have grown onions and produced seed before from long keepers but these are not good keepers and will probably rot through the winter.
They are already sown in a seed tray and I don't have more , so I have to try to save seed from these.
Is there a way of getting seed from these poor keepers without leaving them in the ground. Even if I could just get one seed head I would be happy.
Is there anyway to try to store onions that don't store well.
Difficult as it is can you tell me how to grow them on and pull up as immature to save as sets, it may be the only way.
XX Jeannine
Hi,
I don't know if it would work or even if it's possible, but have you considered growing some on as a
quasi house plant . ?
Saving them as sets - you have to roll the tops down during autumn and wait for them to bulk out. However, they often don't bulk out as the bulking is often dependent on day length and there isn't enough day length left in the year to encourage the bulking...
So they are seedlings now?
Have you got any of the 3 that made it through the winter before?
One way of doing it is to just grow as usual and pull them when they are about an inch in diameter [not if the necks are wide though, they won't work], and leave them to dry out and keep them somewhere cool until the spring or trim, dry out and then plant into deep wide trays and keep them in a coldframe/greenhouse for the winter and they will sprout in the spring. Then, you can either transplant or leave them until they flower in the trays.
What variety are they?
The three that made it I did regrow and they gave me the seeds I have from 2008, they are all planted now, but I was in the UK so it was easier.
They are Rose de Roscoff.
Si if I grow them and pull at 1 inch, dry and replant in spring, will they grow a seed head that year
Thank you for the help
XX Jeannine
Quote from: Jeannine on March 03, 2010, 08:07:55
The three that made it I did regrow and they gave me the seeds I have from 2008, they are all planted now, but I was in the UK so it was easier.
They are Rose de Roscoff.
Si if I grow them and pull at 1 inch, dry and replant in spring, will they grow a seed head that year
Thank you for the help
XX Jeannine
Nice - I am also saving Rose de Roscoff ;D
I'm also saving Rossa Di Milano......
Yes, doing the above will get it growing again the next year....personally I'd consider just transplanting the best 4 or 5 specimens from this year's seedlings into pots of their own and keep them growing all winter somewhere [they don't really grow but by keeping the root systems intact they will grow stronger next year].
Don't forget that sets are grown under fake conditions and aren't a true representation of how an onion grows.
Perhaps put 5 in pots and keep them somewhere for the winter and save 5-10 as 'sets' in case the potted ones fail....hedge your bets.
Quote from: . on March 02, 2010, 21:27:23
Hi,
I don't know if it would work or even if it's possible, but have you considered growing some on as a
quasi house plant . ?
That's my kind of house plant :D
I just went to check; and yes as well as having some of these in the lottie for seed, I have one that has been in a pot in the greenhouse and it is sprouted and looking fine. So, even if the lottie ones fail, I will still get seed from the one in the greenhouse.
Ok, good idea about the houseplants, thank you that I can do, my windowsills all face North as does my patio but t might work, the option of trying ti make sets I could try but it doesn't sound so good.
Nice to hear someone else has them.
Thank you again.
XX Jeannine
Hello and welcome to A4A Aj.
Sounds like you will be experementing Jeannine and maybe a new house plant! But just wondered, are they not going to be a bit early for sets to store for spring use, particularly if they are not good in store?
I'm outa sinc! ;D
I don't know..never had anything to do with home saved sets. I have always bought sets for other onions or planted seeds. I am going to go with the houseplants I think, or maybe try to save some in the undergorund parking, I put geraniums in there still in moss baskets and they have survived and are stating to grow.It is just that these are so special I want to try to keep some.
XX Jeannine
Hi Jeannine,
When you moved to Canada it got colder in England!
It may seem a silly question, but why do you want to persist with onions that do not store well?
The easiest thing to do is to put the grown onions, with plenty of their roots and soil still attached, in a pot and overwinter them, away from frost. That is what I do with leeks which my wife likes put at the back of the flower beds with their flowers giving a great show. Admittedly the leeks survive the winter outside but there should not be too much difference.
Hi all about.
Yes it is colder in England than here but here the option of leaving them in the ground is out because the wild animals that we have here would dig them up for food in the winter.
I am keeping them because
a) they are a very sweet nice onions which I like very much and one I cannot buy.
b) because they are not available as seeds or sets as they are a protected onion that is only grown in the Roscoff area in France, so if I don't keep my own seeds I cannot get more unless some kind soul sends me some onions over from Roscoff.
XX Jeannine
Keep them in pots over winter somewhere the animals won't be able to get them.
Yes I think that is what I will do, I hadn't thought of that till I read some of the answers..thank you all. I have another question though.
Do I grow them in the pot from the transplant and let them stay in that all through their growth till they send up a seed flower, or do I grow them like normal onions and after harvest plant a few in pots after lifting while still green..and if the second is the right answer do I plant them in the pots straight away or leave them to dry out a bit then plant themXXJeannine
Hi
You could do either; probably best to lift the best few specimens and transplant them into decent sized pots and keep in a greenhouse for the winter. Then you know what you are trying to save.
Rose De Roscoff onions were the original onions hung round the necks of Frenchmen when they brought onions over to England to sell....according to the legend. As I have said, I save them and I got mine from a chum in Leicester so if yours do fail, then contact me and we'll see if some can be sorted out for you. I've still got quite a few seeds left from the batch he gave me this time last year.
If you like to PM me your Email I'll send you a PDF of the HSL guide to saving onion and leek seed. It doesn't say how many plants you need so it's probably not critical. Save the best, and rogue out anything that isn't true to type.
Yes AJ I know the story. I got my seed from two places, some from I think the same as you and some I saved from onions sent from Roscoff.
Thank you Robert, that is very kind I will PM you my addy.
XX Jeannine
Quote from: Jeannine on March 08, 2010, 03:30:14
Yes AJ I know the story.
Sorry, I was trying to explain to others why you might be interested in growing them when they aren't good keepers.
I feel like you have told me off here!!!
No, of course not silly, I was agreeing with you,it is a lovely story. I will try and find a link to show folks all about it.
XX Jeannine