bloody red baron onion sets

[peterf]

well, for the 3rd year running ive tried growing these buggars on different beds and even on different sites.but it always comes up the same,they are a weak underdeveloped strain in my opinion.you see them touted in every garden centre, mail order catalouge,and pound stretcher you come across.this year i thought i would do the ultimate test and sow one bed with alternate rows of sturon,setton,showmaster, and red baron
guess what, point proven really good steady growth of all the prior varieties.red baron has got more gaps than hadrians wall,and on further checks whilst retrowling the gaps that they left.it looks to me like onion white rot now i know salad onions are more prone to white rot than most others.it would be nice if our suppliers could give us this info before we buy them,at least then they could be avoided.totally annoyed this year new onion bed 55ft long x 10ft with gaps galore where the reds should be growing

[Geoff]

I find Red Baron do brilliantly from seed. High germination rate, few flowers and good keepers. I put 5 seeds in small square pots then plant out as clumps a foot apart.

[Carole B.]

I've never had a good crop of Red Baron so I've given up on them and grow other reds from seed because the choice is wider.This year it's Long red Florence from the Seeds of Italy catalogue.

[peat]

mine are doing well after I've taken the seed heads off. The majority started to bolt but the sturon haven't.
Pete

[Ian F]

I have also had very mixed experience with Red Baron from sets, so I invested in heat treated sets from Fothergills this year, and they seem all right so far(touch wood). Normal sets seem run to seed much more readily than the white onions I plant.

I grew Long Red Florence as well last year, and they were very unimpressive, so I am still searching for a reliable red onion. Any recommendations?

[Beccy]

I am still using my Red Baron from last year

[Carole B.]

Oh no,Ian now I'm worried,I so wanted Florence to do well,she's in the bed with Brian the snail. Talking of bolting onions the chap that planted out his onions very early on our site has now got a wonderful crop of seed heads,just about every one has gone and bolted on him.Perhaps the cold spell after the early warm bit made them think it was winter and they've decided it's now their second year.I don't know the variety but it's not a red.

[Johnboy]

Hi Carole,
The guy with the bolted Onions goes to prove the old addage "it is better to be a tad late than a tad too early" I suppose what it really means is that things catch up if a little late but too early and all you get is problems. This year has caught just about everyone out with the weather being what it has been
because you had to been a bloody genius to get it right this year. The strange thing is next year will probably be nothing like this year and nothing like the year before that! I suppose that is why growing is such a wonderful pastime!