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I planted 3 kinds of onion seeds a few weeks ago. It still has not rained here soil is dry as desert with no rain in 3 months. Weather has turned cold 28 at night and about 60 during the day and getting colder. TV News said rain today but no rain, they claim it will rain next Wed. Wait and see.

Will onion seeds germinate is cold weather?

If I build a hot bed for onion seeds will they germinate?

If seeds germinate will onions benefit from a hot bed and grow better through the winter?

I am trying to think of ways to get a good onion crop I think seeds should have been already growing months ago but with no rain there is no way that could have happened. I planted several rows of other type seeds mid August, chard, lettuce, broccoli, beats, carrots, celery, nothing came up in 100 degree weather with no rain, then a month if 90 degree weather and last week it was still 84 degrees and still no rain. Now the weather is cold and still no rain.

Your seed need water.

tomc wrote:Your seed need water.

I think if I water the seeds they will die if I don't keep watering them every day until the rainy season finally arrives.

Gary, in reading your opener I see "no rain" about four times. Sounds like Northern Utah. Ya, we are likely to go months without rain and especially in the warmer weather. It boils down to: If you want a crop you must irrigate.

What sources of water do you have?

jal_ut wrote:Gary, in reading your opener I see "no rain" about four times. Sounds like Northern Utah. Ya, we are likely to go months without rain and especially in the warmer weather. It boils down to: If you want a crop you must irrigate.

What sources of water do you have?

We have a water usage ban. Not allowed to water, plants, yard, garden, wash cars, etc. Once I start to water I have to keep watering. Neighbor could report me and get me arrested.

If I don't water there will be no onions and if I do water and it is too cold to germinate there will be no onions so I have nothing to loose.

I like the no rain weather it is much better than rain almost every day like we usually have. No place to get water for irrigation streams have dried up.

Gary, I'm still thinking you could start your onions like I did in a cheap plastic dishpan from WM. Drill a few holes in the bottom and place screen there to keep soilless mix from falling out. I planted 20-25 seeds in there, which turned out to be pretty sparse. You could probably do twice that many.

Easy to water something like that; hardly any water at all. In 6-8 weeks they'll be ready to plant out. Maybe drought will be over by then. But I don't know the right time to do all this for your area.

I watered the onion seeds after dark. It is warming up again TV Weather woman says 75 degrees next week so maybe seeds will germinate after all. We are suppose to have 3 days of thunder storms next week. Wait and C.

IT RAINED. Weather man claimed were were going to get 2.5 to 3" of rain with 80 mph wind, lightning, and tornadoes. We got .8" of rain, no lightning, no 80 mph wind, and no tornadoes. .

No you don't want a tornado. BTDT, not an experience I want to repeat.

I planted old onion seeds in a pot last year. I planted them in early spring and they went through a few freeze/thaw cycles. They came up great. Even for TN I think it's still pretty early for planting for spring unless you are growing them indoors. February would be a better time but you've already planted yours.

Must be pretty bad if you're not even allowed to water gardens. I hope your drought breaks soon.

Glad you got some rain Gary350. Hope your onions do well. You might try some spinach?

Here 29 degrees F this morning and four inches of snow on my garden area. Won't be doing any growing until about April.