Starting Onion from Seed

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Weedygarden

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This is not the time of year for this post, but I found this and thought we can come back to it when it is onion planting time.

https://mofga.org/Publications/Articles-for-Reprinting/Start-Onions-From-Seed-in-February-March

Start Onions From Seed in February-March
Publications \ Articles for Reprinting \ Start Onions From Seed in February-March

By Jean English. Copyright 2009.

Home gardeners can easily grow all the onions they’ll need for the year. The easiest way is to plant “sets” (small onions) in the spring. Sets are available from seed catalogs, garden centers and hardware stores. In late April or early May, place the small bulbs about an inch deep in the garden, with four bulbs together, touching each other, and each bunch of four onion sets about 6 inches apart within rows. This method, advocated by Eliot Coleman, simplifies planting, watering, weeding and harvesting.

You can also start onions from seeds sown indoors in February or early March. The advantage to using seeds is that you have a greater selection of varieties, such as the big, sweet ‘Ailsa Craig’ and ‘Walla Walla’ cultivars. Organic grower Jason Kafka of Checkerberry Farm in Parkman, Maine, once reported that his 3 1/2 ounces of ‘Ailsa Craig’ seed grew 8,000 pounds of onions on 0.4 acres.

‘Copra’ is a favorite hybrid among some growers, and it stores well. (‘Ailsa Craig’ and ‘Walla Walla’ tend to have a short storage life.) ‘Marsi’ is a beautiful, red hybrid that stores into April. Check seed catalogs for other varieties and other traits—such as sweetness, pungency, size and storability.

One way to start onions from seed indoors is to sow the seed in two rows, about a quarter-inch deep, in 4- x 6-inch containers filled nearly to the top with a seed starting mix. Keep the containers warm (near, but not too near, the wood stove, for instance, or on top of the refrigerator) and keep the seed starting mix moist. The seeds may take a couple of weeks to germinate; don’t give up!

When the greens shoot up and are 4 to 5 inches tall, clip the tops to keep the plants a manageable size. The clippings can go into soups, salads or sandwiches.

In late April or early May, transplant the seedlings to a fertile, well-drained spot in the garden. As with sets, place four plants in each planting hole, and space each bunch of four onions about 6 inches apart.

Keep the onion plot weeded and watered throughout the growing season. Onions are shallow-rooted and respond well to an even supply of soil moisture. Their tops do not compete well with weeds, hence the importance of weeding—shallowly, to prevent injuring the shallow roots.

How many onions should you grow? How many do you eat in a year? In a well-tended plot, most of the onions you plant turn into good-sized bulbs. If you eat an onion a day, consider planting 400 or so seedlings or sets (or some combination of the two). That amount will take up 50 row feet of garden space. If you eat two onions a week, plant a little over 100 seedlings or sets.

Starting your own onions from seed is a great way to “think spring” in February, and the return on investment come midsummer can be huge, and delicious.

Photos by Jean English.


onions1.jpg


To start onion seedlings indoors in February or March, fill a container nearly to the top with a seed starting mix and then make two furrows, about 1/2-inch deep, for the onion seeds. Sprinkle seeds in the furrows and cover them lightly with more soil mix. Label the container with the name of the onion variety. Keep the container in a warm place.



onions2.jpg


Once the onion seeds germinate, keep the young plants in a sunny south window.



onions3.jpg

The seedlings can get so tall that they flop over and are difficult to transplant.


onions4.jpg

Keep the seedlings short and stocky by cutting the top inch or so of growth once or twice.
Use the trimmings in salads, soups or sandwiches.


onions5.jpg

In late April or early May, make a furrow in the garden.


onions6.jpg

Tip the mass of onion seedlings out of its container. (Newspaper on the bottom of this
container kept the seed starting mix from being washed out the drainage holes.)


onions7.jpg

Very gently separate groups of four seedlings and, holding them lightly enough that
you don't crush the tops, transplant them into the prepared furrow, covering the
exposed roots immediately with soil.


onions8.jpg

Transplanting onions in groups of four makes weeding easier.


onions9.jpg

Onions can also be started from purchased sets (small onions)
that are placed into a furrow in groups of four, with the groups
spaced about 6 inches apart.

onions10.jpg

Onions growing in the spring. Keep weeds hoed when they are small,
like those in this photo, because onions don't compete well with weeds,
and removing larger weeds can disrupt the shallow root systems of onions.



This article is provided by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), PO Box 170, Unity, ME 04988; 207-568-4142; [email protected]; www.mofga.org. Joining MOFGA helps support and promote organic farming and gardening in Maine and helps Maine consumers enjoy more healthful, Maine-grown food. Copyright 2008.If you reprint this article, please include this reference, and please let us know that you have reprinted. Thanks!
 
I was thinking it might be time to try to grow onions from seeds. I notice that the photos no longer show up here. In my experience, onion seeds are not viable for very long, maybe a couple years, as opposed to other seeds I've started that were up to 10 years old.

Anyone ever start onions from seed? I have had most of my luck from growing onions from sets.
 
I was thinking it might be time to try to grow onions from seeds. I notice that the photos no longer show up here. In my experience, onion seeds are not viable for very long, maybe a couple years, as opposed to other seeds I've started that were up to 10 years old.

Anyone ever start onions from seed? I have had most of my luck from growing onions from sets.
I have but not with great success. I have both seeds and sets this year so will keep you posted (or if I don't, feel free to rattle my chains.)
 
I have grown onions from seeds and sets for a while.

Onions are Aliums which are bi-anuals. They grow from seed store up chemical energy in it's layers to survive a winter. In spring they use the energy in the outer layers to regrow. When they regrow they produce flower heads. If the flower heads are not cut back, the onion will direct energy into flower head.

Unless properly "treated" (I don't know) sets behave like they are second year and want to produce flowers.

I have grown maybe 15-20 varieties and lean towards starting from seed. I had started into producing my own seed but was interrupted by other adventures.

The Princess loves "Red Bull" but they are a hybrid. I have tried to grow seeds of them and it did not go well. (Mind you that is a 3 year long experiment.)

I will be learning more about heirloom varieties to find something that serves our needs and has a long storage life if life goes my way.

Ben
 
I'll be trying winter sowing of some onions, cabbages, kale, spinach and leeks this week.
I just watched a video about it. It'll take 6 weeks or so for them to germinate and grow, but I won't have to keep them in the house taking up space.
This guy is in Md zone 7b (I think) but the info is good for anywhere I would think:
 
I'll be trying winter sowing of some onions, cabbages, kale, spinach and leeks this week.
I just watched a video about it. It'll take 6 weeks or so for them to germinate and grow, but I won't have to keep them in the house taking up space.
This guy is in Md zone 7b (I think) but the info is good for anywhere I would think:

Thank you, I'll watch this as I have a bunch of seeds.
 
What is the difference between a set and a slip?

sets are grown previous year and die back and dry.

slips are started in winter from december to march depending on your location.the tops are trimmed so they produce nice bulb for transplanting and not get a big long green shoot. notice in picture above they been trimmed.usually multiple times.
 
Hey @elkhound, I found your post extremely interesting. Do I need to trim the greens on my onions to get good bulbs? When is the best time to trim them? I go some onions that now have greens about 10" tall and I was just wandering if I should trim them back and how far back should I trim the if I do.....
 
Hey @elkhound, I found your post extremely interesting. Do I need to trim the greens on my onions to get good bulbs? When is the best time to trim them? I go some onions that now have greens about 10" tall and I was just wandering if I should trim them back and how far back should I trim the if I do.....

i have never grow slips only sets...but i bought a several bundles each planting year...i never...ever...seen planting slips with more than approx hands width of green on them..see bundles of slips in picture above...4 inchs or so.

the few times i tried the greeniery got real tall/long fast and needed trimming often but i failed getting them grown large enough to plant out in garden. hence reason i want to grow sets for next season as its easier and less effort and care during low light and low temps. i only have limited inside space...if i get a little greenhouse up and running i will do some slips.
 
I buy 2 bunches every year. Only pull so so onions. I do not have any seed. However my multiplying onions grow well for me so in a pinch or times, I still have some. None grow bigger than a quarter size, but they continue to multiply.
My grandparents had a patch of onions that was always there. They never planted new ones, and whenever we wanted onions, we would go get what we needed. They were about the size of a quarter as well, and I remember that this patch was surrounded by a rock border and there were always plenty of onions in it. I have no idea what kind they were, but I imagine they were multiplying onions.
 
I grew onion sets most of my life and never got them to bulb out to a slicing size. Since I've started using slips from Home - Dixondale Farms I get decent size bulbs every year, sometimes really big ones and they for the most part are better keepers.
One thing I'll add here, the last few years I have started following a strict fetilize and water regiment. Onions are very finiky and need regular feeding and watering. Drip irrigation works best to keep the plants dry
 
I grew onion sets most of my life and never got them to bulb out to a slicing size. Since I've started using slips from Home - Dixondale Farms I get decent size bulbs every year, sometimes really big ones and they for the most part are better keepers.
One thing I'll add here, the last few years I have started following a strict fetilize and water regiment. Onions are very finiky and need regular feeding and watering. Drip irrigation works best to keep the plants dry
I just heard about different kinds of onions needing a certain amount of day light a day to produce a bulb.
 
I was thinking it might be time to try to grow onions from seeds. I notice that the photos no longer show up here. In my experience, onion seeds are not viable for very long, maybe a couple years, as opposed to other seeds I've started that were up to 10 years old.

Anyone ever start onions from seed? I have had most of my luck from growing onions from sets.
Just started them in a flower pot this week.
 
I get the little bulbs by the pound from the feed store. They grow really well. I have some come up already and my stupid little sheep ate the tops off them!! Grrrrrr, I can't believe they did that. There is nothing else in that garden yet so not fenced yet
I have tried growing from seed and it worked but took much longer
 
We grow a lot of things from seed mainly because it teaches my grand daughters patience.
I have several kinds and colors of carrots planted in flower pots because of this reason.
My oldest grand daughter thinks nothing about going over to her flowerpot garden of carrots pulling one up and eating it.
Doesn't get fresher than that.
Each flower pot is labeled with small metal picture frame with the seed packet inside so we know what we got growing.
 
We grow a lot of things from seed mainly because it teaches my grand daughters patience.
I have several kinds and colors of carrots planted in flower pots because of this reason.
My oldest grand daughter thinks nothing about going over to her flowerpot garden of carrots pulling one up and eating it.
Doesn't get fresher than that.
Each flower pot is labeled with small metal picture frame with the seed packet inside so we know what we got growing.
I really like the idea of a picture frame with the seed packet inside!

This guy really seems to know how to grow onions. I never thought about seed starting them indoors before. I wish I had thought of that before!


 

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