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For the first time i am trying onions from seed - Alisa Craig and Bedfordshire Champion. So I sowed in trays on the kitchen windowsill about a week ago, and tiny seedlings are coming up. What do I do now?
How big do they have to be to plant out, and what should the weather be like then? Can I plant them out at the same time as sets, which for me here is usually early March. And do I need to prick them out? Or can they stay quite close together in the trays?
Thx for any help you can give! I will buy sets too, but just testing for now to see how I get on.

I'm not a regular at this ... but I prick them out into cells....  :-X

I'd prick them out into cells or pots so they can grow-on without too much of a check. Then eventually harden off before planting out.

I treat them a bit like leeks, I don't prick them out, last year I sowed 17th Jan then plant them out 8th May. Hope this helps.

Daughter bought onion seedlings last year, planted in clumps & had a really good crop.

This link with its pictures might help you;

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Onion/Onion.htm

Wondering how many days to maturity? Are they for eating this year or next?

Depends on the variety... but definitely eating from August this year...  :)

Quote from: Tee Gee on January 17, 2012, 15:36:03
This link with its pictures might help you;

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Onion/Onion.htm

TeeGee, thanks, now I see at what stage I need to prick them out. so in...6 weeks time! My hubby will be sick of seeing them on the windowsill! The biggest hassle is keeping them away from the cat, who already tried scratching the tray! Luckily I put it all back and the seed has germinated regardless! Any ideas? For now I have covered it with a cut up plastic bag but might n eed something sturdier as they get bigger.

@lilian, yes they are 2012's onions, or some of them anyway. I will also grow sets, in March, usually Sturon or Stuttgarter or Jaune Paille des vertus as well as red onions. We get a damp spring and dry summer here and my onions have always done very well. If I can get teh hang of growing from seed, it will reduce my seed bill no end! Sets are quite expensive I find.

I never prick mine out. I either pull them apart when it comes to planting time, or just plonk them in position and they push themselves apart as they grow.

As seen on the blog...

http://linearlegume.blogspot.com/2010/06/onions-yes-they-really-do-push.html

For the last couple of years I have tried them from seed and they have really worked for me. I have grown them in rows, with each onion very close to the next. This way they seem to grow at different speeds, because I got different sized ones, which are great for cooking, some small and some larger. As a side benefit they are easier to weed and hoe in a row.

I'm also in the "first onions from seed" boat. Will they do ok indoors on a windowsill? I've read that they need to be kept below 13C after they have germinated or they'll bolt later. If i've got to keep the temperature down then it looks like I'll be building a cold frame very soon.

I was intending to sow in cardboard pots made from toilet roll tubes, 2 seeds to a pot, thin the weakest seedling and plant the whole pots in the ground when the weather is good enough. Hoping to give onion fly the least invitation possible.

I wouldn't put them in loo roll insides, as they do go mouldy before the onions are ready to go out. Just use small pots. I sow mine inside and as soon as they are showing, the pots go out and I sow another small pinch in a small pot. By March, I have plenty to go into their final beds.

My 'going out' is in an unheated greenhouse - but a cold frame will do, or just an upturned plastic storage box [see through].

I am quite surprised at the idea of putting them outdoors yet! They are on a fairly cool windowsill, I can't put them just anywhere or the cat will eat them!
Idea of an upturned storage bin is interesting! Wouldn't have thought of that! I could set up a small forcing tunnel, would that be OK? Surely they won't go out till February at least?

Also I have lots of seeds. If I sow a little "in situ" in spring, will I get spring onions? Or just small useless storing onions?

Quote from: antipodes on January 20, 2012, 10:15:56
I am quite surprised at the idea of putting them outdoors yet! They are on a fairly cool windowsill, I can't put them just anywhere or the cat will eat them!
Idea of an upturned storage bin is interesting! Wouldn't have thought of that! I could set up a small forcing tunnel, would that be OK? Surely they won't go out till February at least?

Also I have lots of seeds. If I sow a little "in situ" in spring, will I get spring onions? Or just small useless storing onions?

Well, mine go outside as soon as they are showing, each year, every year. Into an unheated greenhouse and before that, the upturned storage container. But if you have space, then a cool windowsill will be fine.

I also sow spring onions in modules now, and put them out in bunches of 5 or 6 so that I can pick a bunch at a time....again a pinch each time in each module. I sow a few little pots/modules each week in the kitchen and as soon as they are up, they are replaced by more.

I started off some Long Red Florence bulb onions and White Lisbon spring onions on 26th Dec in a heated propagator, and others in modules without heat. As soon as the ones in the propagator were up, I moved them out, and they have been in the cold greenhouse through the cold snap, not covered with fleece. Despite the frost remaining on the glass for 3 days, the seedlings are fine, and the ones with no heat are beginning to show today. I will keep them in the greenhouse probably until March, depending on weather conditions. I will sow some more seeds in a couple of weeks to give a succession of these onions.

I heard something on Gardener's Question Time about this and they reckoned that planting 3 seeds per module and just sticking them in the ground when they were ready worked - the onions just pushed themselves apart. Have planted over wintering sets last Nov but might try the seeds as well, I found a really great red onion from Dobies called Lillia can be used either as spring onion or grown on for 'proper' ones.

I've grown Lilia before, but they were put in a bit late, so we had them as spring onions. They were very good at that stage. We might have got bulbs if we had been more patient  ???

I planted Lilia last summer in the poly. Granted its been a bit dry in there but I'm still using them now but no bulbs just big spring onions and they've had plenty of time. however they seem hardy enough.