sowing onion seeds.

[biglongdarren]

for the past 5 years i have been sowing my onion seeds around the end of january, this year i done the same but i have noticed that for some reason that i dont know about that some of the seedlings are turning yellow and dont look in great shape.
would it be too late in the year to sow a second batch now in case they do all die off?
Darren

 

[pargyle]

for the past 5 years i have been sowing my onion seeds around the end of january, this year i done the same but i have noticed that for some reason that i dont know about that some of the seedlings are turning yellow and dont look in great shape.
would it be too late in the year to sow a second batch now in case they do all die off?
Darren

Not too late for onion sets ... not sure about onion seed - I always grow from sets, people who grow from seed are usually those looking to grow specimens. Get your sets in now and you should still get a good crop by the end of summer. The wet weather left a lot of my overwintering onion sets planted in November rotting in the ground - I've just put a second batch in to bring the crop up to strength.

 

[beebopalula]

Not too late, but if you have not tried them already, why not try shallots? They have a superior more delicate flavour, not as coarse.

 

[theboynelson]

Onions are pretty hardy, the old nurseryman way of doing it was to put them in the ground on the shortest day & dig them up on the longest. But it has been a terrible winter/spring.
I agree that sets are much easier, where have you been growing the seeds, could it be damping off?

 

[oliver90owner]

The longest day is the day that the onions (the normal summer variety) stop producing new leaves, so they would still be enlarging at that time. These days we have lengthening day and shortening day varieties of several of our veg. Onion seed planted now should produce a fair amount of leaf by the solstice and provide reasonable sized bulbs by later in the season, but clearly smaller than the maximum possible if sown earlier. The tops die back and the bulb (the organ of perennation) should survive to next year when the onion would start early (a head start like onion sets) and produce seed heads. A bit like our bees and swarming, although bees and onions sometimes don't work to the basic normal plan.

 

[Hivemaker.]

And make sure you don't plant the seeds or sets upside down.

 

[pargyle]

And make sure you don't plant the seeds or sets upside down.

And if you plant sets put some netting over them or the birds will dig them up - they don't eat them - just dig 'em up !!

 

[Teemore]

Plant a few onion sets as back up Darren.
By any chance are the early sown seeds lying in wet ground (not that anywhere is dry at present....)?

 

[Luminos]

I'm hopeless at growing onions. And garlic.
Fancy living in France and not being able to grow onions or garlic...

 

[biglongdarren]

the seeds i planted are in seed trays inside a big plastic container(like a mini greenhouse) this is how i do them every year, any sets i have always grown in the past have nearly always bolted and i find them hard to keep from rotting when i store them.
i will sow a new packet of seeds and see what happens sure.
Thanks Darren