Onions from seeds -- now that I have seedlings, what next?

[wisconsindead]

Last year I planted my Candy onions 5 or 6 inches apart and by season's end they were touching each other. I don't really think they were interfering with each other but this year I think I'll give them an extra inch just for the heck of it.

I love the look of your onions seedlings in the flat Wisconsin. Mine don't look nearly that good. I've been trimming them off; they would probably be that tall by now otherwise, but they're not nearly as thick. I plant mine in a deep dishpan, but am beginning to wonder if that's even necessary. Your shallow flat seedlings look great. Do you remember when you started the seeds? And what is the planting medium?

Thanks. I am using Fox Farm Ocean Forest potting soil. I planted the seeds on February 12 (expression and new york early varieties from Johnny's Seeds). And I have them under a set of 4 T5 bulbs with the tips growing (and burning) in the lights themselves.

Thanks everyone else for the input. This is helpful.

[Gary350]

Onions are not aggressive plants they do not grow well in hard soil or in computation with grass, weeds or other onions. How other people grow onions may not work for you or me, you need to experiment to learn what works best for you in your soil and your weather conditions. TN soil is hard clay I use my garden tiller to till in peat moss, about 30% peat moss with 70% soil to make the soil easy for onion roots to grow. Onions like, soft soil, full sun, nitrogen and water.

You can not grow large onions from a small onion set. Onion sets with 3 leaves will have 3 rings. Onion sets with 12 leaves will have 12 rings. Onion sets with 7 leaves will have 7 rings. A 12 ring onion set will grow a large onion but a 3 ring onion set will never become a large onion. Plant large sets if you want large onions.

I plant onions in 3 ft wide beds, 7 rows per bed the spacing is about 4.5" between rows. Beds are 30 ft long. My bed starts out with onions 3'x3' then garlic 3'x3' then different onions 3'x5' then beets 3'x3' then chard 3x'3' then lettuce 3'x3' then radishes, 3'x1' then Napa 3'x3' then potatoes 3'x6'. This is not technically a raised bed just boards to keep the peat moss/soil mix in place.

[jal_ut]

What I call onion sets are small dry onions, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 inch diameter. These are just pushed into the soil far enough that they will stay put. Do not bury them deep. A couple months later you get this:

[jal_ut]

[imafan26]

Nice bulb onions. I do plant in October from seed. We don't really have a choice since sets are not usually available in Hawaii, only seeds of Texas granax and a local red onion. I do start them like bunching onion and transplant them out. I usually cut part of the tops because onions always fall over when they get transplanted and they grow the tops back almost immediately.
I do grow mostly bunching onions because that is what I use most. I cannot grow enough onions to supply me for a year and sweet onions like Texas granax don't keep well so have to be pickled shortly after harvesting or they get hot.

Bunching onions grow year round, I just snip off the tops as I need them and they grow back. I keep several gallon pots of them and they are enough to supply my needs for the year or until they bloom and get fat whichever comes first.