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Anyone know how long these take to germinate? I have them on a cool windowsill in the kitchen (north facing), and they have been there for well over a week, still not sign of anything. They are saved seed from last summer and some Ailsa Craig seeds I had lying around. Do they need a bit more heat? Or am I just impatient? This is a bit experimental, it's the first time I have tried onion seeds.

Germination time is generally around 21 days!

Mine took two weeks to germinate, these are in a cold conservatory but sitting on a super 7 electric propagator.

I am doing a bit of an experiment.

I sprouted some leek and onion seeds on a wet kitchen towel, but once sprouted I sowed in trays/modules and then placed them in my cold greenhouse.

They do seem to be coming up, but they are very slow so it will be a while before I can count them and see how many I lose.

In answer to your question, onion/leek seeds do seem to take a while to germinate (a few days on the kitchen towel) so I am not surprised you do not see any yet, but I would still put them somewhere warmer until they start to show.

I'm impatient too :D, had mine in a propagater set at 23 deg for a week now and nothing showing

mine just dont like it where I grow them, I have lost 2 lots now, they get to about an inch long then at the hook stage die back? I am very carefull to water from underneath, but dont have a propogator...

Probably too wet.... I usually reckon you water at sowing time, and by the time they   go out in March you might have watered twice more.....

Quote from: chriscross1966 on February 02, 2011, 02:00:00
Probably too wet.... I usually reckon you water at sowing time, and by the time they   go out in March you might have watered twice more.....

its possible, but the compost was drying out, so I had to do something.

If the compost is drying out it's too warm unless you've got lights on it....Onions wan tabout 10-15 degrees C to germinate and a bit less than that unless they're in sunlight at the time.... they come from Siberia, they don't want it warmm until the summer comes along, the bulbing feature in onions is an aestivation trick not a hibernation one... ie it's there to get them through the short very hot bit in the middle of the Siberian summer...

Hmmm trouble is they are in the kitchen so do tend to get rather dry, so I water them but very sparingly. There is still nothing so far...

assuming you haven't sowed them too deep then they should germinate soon - maybe take a thin pointed tool and have a very gentle nosy  :)