- Alan in Vermont
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- gixxerific
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G5 what you and I are growing I suppose could be called transplants but they are realy seedlings. They are not sets that is for sure. (we have been pm'ing each other with our seed progress)
Your welcome Alan I hope it helps, I'm no expert by any means, I'm still trying to get it right myself. I beleive Jal has it down.
I just planted some of my seedlings today as well as some sets I bought. I am interested to see if anything come of either. I did plant some sets in a large pot that are doign great, wether they bulb or not is still up in the air.
Your welcome Alan I hope it helps, I'm no expert by any means, I'm still trying to get it right myself. I beleive Jal has it down.
I just planted some of my seedlings today as well as some sets I bought. I am interested to see if anything come of either. I did plant some sets in a large pot that are doign great, wether they bulb or not is still up in the air.
- jal_ut
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Alan, my experience with Walla Walla onions shows mixed results. They do not all bulb properly, so I get some nice onions and lots of small ones. They do come on early, meaning they are short day type, and they don't store well at all. I have heard they are supposed to be day neutral, but I don't believe it.
You may have better results with Yellow Spanish onions. These are long day onions and would likely do better that far North.
If you are starting your onions indoors, you can just plant them in a flat, then when ready to go in the garden, you can separate them to bare root and plant them. They will do fine. Many onion plants are sold bareroot in bundles of 75 or so. These do very well. They are pretty tough.
You can plant onion seed or sets directly in the garden as early as your ground can be worked. Here that usually means early April, depending on the weather. They need to get started early so the plant can have some good size and vigor by the time the days get long enough to trigger the bulbing. Then you will get nice big bulbs.
In Arkansas, plant short day onions and plant them very early. I don't know what your winters are like, but you need to plant onions (in the garden) a month before your average last frost date.
Have a great garden.
You may have better results with Yellow Spanish onions. These are long day onions and would likely do better that far North.
If you are starting your onions indoors, you can just plant them in a flat, then when ready to go in the garden, you can separate them to bare root and plant them. They will do fine. Many onion plants are sold bareroot in bundles of 75 or so. These do very well. They are pretty tough.
You can plant onion seed or sets directly in the garden as early as your ground can be worked. Here that usually means early April, depending on the weather. They need to get started early so the plant can have some good size and vigor by the time the days get long enough to trigger the bulbing. Then you will get nice big bulbs.
In Arkansas, plant short day onions and plant them very early. I don't know what your winters are like, but you need to plant onions (in the garden) a month before your average last frost date.
Have a great garden.
- gixxerific
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If that was meant for me. Mine were just a touch bigger than that probably. I planted a few yesterday and saved some more for later planting. They have already had 3 haircuts if that means anything to you.applestar wrote:So how big did your seedlings get? My onions are still pretty tiny -- no more than 1/16" thick at the base. I'm going to give them until end of March and plant them at the same time I'll plant my potatoes.
I'm hoping for the best, I have never done very well with onions. But I always planted sets and transplants from the store before.
- Alan in Vermont
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According to Gurney's, where I got my seed from, WW are a long day onion. Univ. of Minnesota Extension Service, in that link Gixx posted, says not to set out plants until danger of frost is past.
Once again we are proving that if you ask 10 people a question online you will get 11 different answers. Not criticizing, jal, just making the observation. Sure would be nice to get a consensus.
Once again we are proving that if you ask 10 people a question online you will get 11 different answers. Not criticizing, jal, just making the observation. Sure would be nice to get a consensus.
- jal_ut
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You are not likely to get a consensus. What I suggest is put some out early and some later when the danger of frost is past and see for yourself what works for you. Also, don't limit yourself to one variety. Plant 5 varieties and see which does best. Every plot is different. You just have to try some things and see what works for you in your circumstances.
My experience with onions tells me I can plant onions a month before the average date of last frost. Seed, sets or plants. All will make it planted then. Here that is Early April, whenever the ground is right.
My experience with onions tells me I can plant onions a month before the average date of last frost. Seed, sets or plants. All will make it planted then. Here that is Early April, whenever the ground is right.
- gixxerific
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I agree with Jal on the early planting. That site is probably covering it's butt for people that may plant way too early, who knows.
I believe that if your ground is not so saturated they will rot, onions should be plated early even if they don't grow very much when the time is right they will do their thing. Being planted in as opposed to above the ground they have that added cold weather protection.
Like I said I just planted some and will plant again in a few weeks or so. I also have some in pots that are maybe 10 inches tall right now growing indoors. they are more of an experiment, that seems to be doing well. I just put some more in pots a few day's ago and they are already (3-4 day's later) starting to poke through. These were sets.
Oh and Alan you are very right about the differing ideas. I have researched 20 - 30 different sites and they all have their own twist to them. Good luck do as Jal says try a few different ways and see what works best for you in your situation.
I believe that if your ground is not so saturated they will rot, onions should be plated early even if they don't grow very much when the time is right they will do their thing. Being planted in as opposed to above the ground they have that added cold weather protection.
Like I said I just planted some and will plant again in a few weeks or so. I also have some in pots that are maybe 10 inches tall right now growing indoors. they are more of an experiment, that seems to be doing well. I just put some more in pots a few day's ago and they are already (3-4 day's later) starting to poke through. These were sets.
Oh and Alan you are very right about the differing ideas. I have researched 20 - 30 different sites and they all have their own twist to them. Good luck do as Jal says try a few different ways and see what works best for you in your situation.
I agree, Gix, what we really have on our hands (or in our pots) now are seedlings.
Since everyone's micro-climate is different, I don't know how close we will come to finding a one size fits all approach to growing onions. Although, there are a few blatantly conflicting or incorrect theories that are floating around that could be eliminated. This would reduce some of the confusion.
Good luck with your onions, all.
Since everyone's micro-climate is different, I don't know how close we will come to finding a one size fits all approach to growing onions. Although, there are a few blatantly conflicting or incorrect theories that are floating around that could be eliminated. This would reduce some of the confusion.
Good luck with your onions, all.
- Alan in Vermont
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Eight days after planting the onion seedlings are coming along nicely. I have covered two domes with black plastic so I can cover the onions but keep the lights on for the other plants. There are tomatoes starting in the flat behind the onions in the first pic.
[img]https://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/AlaninVermont/my%20garden/onions-3.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/AlaninVermont/my%20garden/onions-2.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/AlaninVermont/my%20garden/onions-3.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/AlaninVermont/my%20garden/onions-2.jpg[/img]
- Alan in Vermont
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My original plan was to thin to one per cell. Having no idea what the germination percentage was I seeded at two per, then tossed the remaining seeds from the packet randomly into the trays. Depending on how these come along I may thin them as planned or just break the soil apart and plant then as bare-root seedlings. I have one batch of nursery grown bare-root plants ordered as a backup, just in case my attempt at growing my own goes bad.
- Alan in Vermont
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- gixxerific
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- !potatoes!
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- gixxerific
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They will eat up the nitrogen, you can also a good amount of phosphorous at planting time to stimulate bulb and root growth.!potatoes! wrote:re: going for bulb size in onions, it's good to remember that the onion will get a layer for every new leaf, so as in many cases where you want to encourage leaf growth, good ol' high-nitrogen fertilizer (of whatever sort) can work wonders.
- Alan in Vermont
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Well, my first attempt at onions is not being real promising. Got all sorts of long growth, looks like coarse grass though, not nice onion tops. I trimmed them back a couple timesand for a few days they stood (more or less) straight then laid back down. Quite a few have multiple leaves(fronds, stalks, tendrils?) but definitely nothing resembling a nice stocky onion plant. Thought maybe there wasn't light enough so today I rigged two more tubes over them, gave them another haircut and set the lights down close.
I had hoped to try setting them out in about 10 days, Still want to aim for that but may not have soil dry enough to work by then. We had 6" of wet snow on the ground yesterday so soil temps are back down and moisture is way high.
At any rate I'm glad I had onion plants ordered so I will get a crop in spite of my attempts at home grown. Got notice earlier this week that the plants have been shipped so I need to get a spot ready for them ASAP.
I had hoped to try setting them out in about 10 days, Still want to aim for that but may not have soil dry enough to work by then. We had 6" of wet snow on the ground yesterday so soil temps are back down and moisture is way high.
At any rate I'm glad I had onion plants ordered so I will get a crop in spite of my attempts at home grown. Got notice earlier this week that the plants have been shipped so I need to get a spot ready for them ASAP.
- jal_ut
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[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/onions_up.jpg[/img]
These are from sets planted on April 12. I took the pic on April 26. They have been snowed on three times. It doesn't bother them. I planted some seed the same day and it is up and looking good. I haven't taken a pic of those yet.
[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/onion_plants.jpg[/img]
This is a bundle of Big Daddy Onions that I bought locally. There was 91 in that bundle. They ranged in size from pencil size down to toothpick size. I have had great results with these for several years.
These are from sets planted on April 12. I took the pic on April 26. They have been snowed on three times. It doesn't bother them. I planted some seed the same day and it is up and looking good. I haven't taken a pic of those yet.
[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/onion_plants.jpg[/img]
This is a bundle of Big Daddy Onions that I bought locally. There was 91 in that bundle. They ranged in size from pencil size down to toothpick size. I have had great results with these for several years.
- Alan in Vermont
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Here's a long overdue update on the onion experiment.
After watching my seedlings develop slowly I finally decided that a major change was due. They grew willingly enough but were prone (no pun intended) to falling flat and growing along the top of the trays. After about a month of that I added two more bulbs over them for a total of four 40 watt (48") tubes. That gave them the idea of how to grow and they started thickening and growing multiple leaves. Couple weeks of that, then a couple more in the coldframe.
Garden prep took me forever with this semi-functioning hand of mine so it was mid-May before they got in the ground.
And away they went! Transplanting losses were miniscule and the plants thrived.
As of 7/2 they were developing good tops with miltiple leaves but no bulbing yet.
[/img]
[img]https://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/AlaninVermont/my%20garden/onions2-7-2.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/AlaninVermont/my%20garden/Onions-7-13.jpg[/img]
After watching my seedlings develop slowly I finally decided that a major change was due. They grew willingly enough but were prone (no pun intended) to falling flat and growing along the top of the trays. After about a month of that I added two more bulbs over them for a total of four 40 watt (48") tubes. That gave them the idea of how to grow and they started thickening and growing multiple leaves. Couple weeks of that, then a couple more in the coldframe.
Garden prep took me forever with this semi-functioning hand of mine so it was mid-May before they got in the ground.
And away they went! Transplanting losses were miniscule and the plants thrived.
As of 7/2 they were developing good tops with miltiple leaves but no bulbing yet.
[/img]
[img]https://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/AlaninVermont/my%20garden/onions2-7-2.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/AlaninVermont/my%20garden/Onions-7-13.jpg[/img]
- Alan in Vermont
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Just as a side note, I had ordered Walla Walla plants from Gurney's as a backup to my homegrowns. They arrived around May 1 but I had no place ready for them so they went into the refrigerator. They stayed there too long and were pretty sickly looking when I set them out.
When you buy from Gurney's you buy by the "offer", each "offer" consists of two "bunches. Each "bunch" is supposed to contain 55 to 75 plants, so 110 to 150 plants per "offer". I received 62 plants TOTAL, roughly half of what should have been. Last year I though we blew through the onions pretty fast but I had never counted them when I set them out.
I emailed them about the shortage and they will be sending me another offer for next year. I will be counting them!
As it happened the boughten plants suffered badly from their time in cold storage, virtually none of them survived. That is my fault, not theirs.
When you buy from Gurney's you buy by the "offer", each "offer" consists of two "bunches. Each "bunch" is supposed to contain 55 to 75 plants, so 110 to 150 plants per "offer". I received 62 plants TOTAL, roughly half of what should have been. Last year I though we blew through the onions pretty fast but I had never counted them when I set them out.
I emailed them about the shortage and they will be sending me another offer for next year. I will be counting them!
As it happened the boughten plants suffered badly from their time in cold storage, virtually none of them survived. That is my fault, not theirs.
- jal_ut
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Why that is so? All I can say is that is just the way onions grow. I have had people suggest that you should move the soil away from the bulb some so it can more easily expand. I say, I have better things to do. Let the onions do their thing. Plant 'em, weed 'em, water 'em.As of this morning they are bulbing nicely. My thought would be to keep the tops of the bulbs covered but everything I have read indicates that they should be left exposed. Does anyone have any idea why that is so?