Growing Onions from Seed

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I am having problems growing onions from seed. They grow too leggy & fall over & don't seem to develope well. What should I do? Carl

-- Jan Sears (jcsears@magma.ca), March 09, 2001

Answers

I don't know where you are located so I can only answer in general terms. It sounds like you have too much nitrogen in your soil which keeps the tops growing but don't allow the the bulbs to enlarge. You might want to try adding wood ash or potassium materials to your soil.

-- Tom (tjk@cac.net), March 09, 2001.

Read Garden Way's Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond. It's OOP right now, but you can find the book at abebooks.com

Page 253: "I've never had as much fun and satisfaction growing onions as I have since I began using home-grown sets. I grow about 45 lb. of sets each year in an area 3'x5' and it takes only 1 ounce of seeds.

Sow onion seeds in mid July--about 3 or 4 months before the first hard freezes are due in my area. Onions grown for sets should grow about 4 months before a hard freeze kills the tops. If I planted earlier, the bulbs would get bigger; if later, they wouldn't have enough time to for marble-suized bulbs.

Pick a section of garden where I recently grew a weed beating green manure crop like peas, beans or buckwheat. Oknions like to grow fast, so fertilzer is important--\especially in midsummer.

To plant, rake the soil of the bed one last time to get it smooth as I can. Then I sprinkle the ounce of seed evenly over the bed. The seeds land about 1/4 to 1/2 " aprat. Firm them in with a hoe, rake up a 1/4 or 1/2 " covering of the soil from outside the seedbed.

Slight crowding will help keep the sets small. You don't want to grow big sets because those go to seed when you plant them next spring.

About frost time, the tops, though small, start to die. They'll grow a little bit beyond a frost, but not much. By the next freeze the tops are usually brown and have fallen down.

I pull htme up and spread them out to dry for a week in a warm, airy place such as a porch or carport. Don't wash the onions, and don't worry about the tops. The'll just dry up and fall off.

The last step is very important. Pt the best sets in small mesh bags. Never load a lot of sets or small onions in a big bag. Theyu'll pack too tightly and the onions in themiddle won't get the air circulation they need to keep.

Once I've got them bagged, I put them in the root cellar where it's cool and dry. Any cool, dry place in your house should be okay. Check once or twice a month, and get rid of sets that sprout or rot. Plant the sets next spring!"

Jody

-- Jody Courtney (jodycourt@yahoo.com), March 09, 2001.


Hello Jan, I don't know about too much nitrogen but, I have found that plants get leggy if you use grow lights and the lights are too afar away from the plants. Most plants thrive well if the the grow lights are just 4 or 5 inches from them. Sincerely, Ernest http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks

-- Ernest in the Ozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), March 10, 2001.

You need to check if you are growing the right type of onion for your area. There are three types, long day, short day, and day neutral. If you live in the south where the days are long you are supposed to plant short day(go figure). If you live in the north you are supposed to plant long day. And anyone can plant day neutral varieties. Warning! If you live in the south there are very few long day varieties in seed catalogs. You have to search for them and sometimes call. Many in the north want those sweet vidalia type onions and those onions are short day onions. Consequently they are disappointed.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little bit Farm (littlebit@calinet.com), March 14, 2001.


I grow onions from seed every year because I like being able to select varieties that are long-storage types, giving me homegrown onions year round.

Onions need to be given a "hair cut" back to about 3" high to give them good bulb formation. I just go in every couple of days or so with a pair of scissors and cut them back. Don't worry about cleaning up the pieces you cut off - it's kind of like a repellent I think because nothing ever bothers them after that. Good luck!!

-- Karen Braun (jbraun@one.net), March 15, 2001.



Thanks to everyone who responded to my question on growing onions from seed. Will try your suggestions. I have started them indoors as we live in Canada & the most we can count on is 3 months growing without frost. The surface of the growing medium is covered with mold/mildew. Any suggestions?

Thanks Jan

-- Jan Sears (jcsears@magma.ca), March 15, 2001.


Try spraying them with a mild chamomile tes solution to get guard against damping off. I think yoou may be watering too much-that's why you have mold and mildew. Also, I use a electric fan to circulate the air and that helps the mold and mildew.

-- Ardie from WI (a6203@hotmail.com), March 16, 2001.

Jan, You have not made it clear whether or not you are using grow lights over your seedbed. Ernest mentioned the need for having your lights closer, to prevent legginess. Are you, in fact, using lights??? This would be a biggy, to my way of thinking... Especially if your growing season is as short as you indicated. We use those $10.00 (two tube) florescent fixtures. Florescent lights don't waste as much electricity as incandescent bulbs would. We also hook a timer to them to give the plants eight hours of rest each night. Also, since the plants under the CENTER of the florescent tubes receive the most light, we rotate the end plants with them once weekly. If you try and think of onions like asparagas: THE CROP THAT YOU HARVEST THE SECOND YEAR, it makes it a little more fun to grow. You actually grow the second year's planting-bulbs, during the first year. If you want larger onions to eat this fall, just buy some store bought bulbs to plant, this first spring. Have fun!

-- Action Dude (theactiondude@yahoo.com), March 16, 2001.

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