Watering onions

[Brenjon]

In this extreme hot weather is it advisable to water my onions ( from sets) or should I leave well alone as they are as yet not showing any signs of being stressed by the heat, unlike other plants that i am watering very much. Advice please.
Brenjon

[Jenny Green]

I never, never, never water onions. And I've grown them in a dry chalky soil too. They don't seem to suffer in any way, but then I've never had the comparison of a watered crop. I can only vouchsafe that they won't die!

[sprout]

I never water my onions at all either, they are a fuss-free crop. The soil is silty and loses water fast, so I put a layer of compost on before planting the sets and sprinkle a dusting of wood ash on in the spring.

My neighbours on the allotment insist that onions should always be watered but agree that mine are doing well If you haven't watered up to now, they are likely to split if you do!

If yours are doing nicely, leave them to it?

[Trevor Holloway]

Great, I've not been watering mine and now it is absolutely chucking it down !

[Wellie]

I DO water mine, but only when I think it's absolutely necessary.
Growing on a 'raised bed system' I'm getting used to when and when not my veggies need water. It IS a fine balance, and only you can tell. Every day is SO different weather-wise, even against the forecast!

I reckon, that if you 'need' to water your onions, it's best done at soil level, rather than just 'over the top' foliage and all. I know rain falls all over the leaves, but when I water, it's the soil, and I feel that will cut down on disease-related probs maybe.
I've only been growing onions for 3 years now, but they've stood up championly well to 'elderly next doors', and he's only grown stuff for 54 years of his life so far, so I can't be doing it TOO wrong!
Good Luck with yours,
Wellie

[Chez]

Historically we don't water our onions. But this year has been so dry, they are smaller and less developed than last year's crop. Significantly. These are varieties we have grown for some years now, so are familiar with how well they normally do. On talking to others who routinely grow onions, their experiences have been similar. So over the past two weeks we have watered them well. Guess what? They now have a growth spurt on and have grown more in the past two weeks, than over the preceding six or so. I would say exceptional conditions require exceptional remedies. We have never watered our onions in previous years, but given their response, glad we have now done so.

[Johnboy]

This is rather a tickler because I actually agree with both trains of thought.
Like Chez historically I would not water Onions at all but then I agree with Wellie who says only if it is absolutely necessary. Well the weather the whole year has been strange so far and today is the first day that we have had rain since the Malvern Spring show all but less than 5 minutes of spots two weeks ago so you will imagine things were very dry here.
I am not growing Onions this year but have a few Shallots and I have given them a very small amount of water several times now. I never remember having to do this before and I would normally agreed with Jenny but this year it is somehow different.
Today we had a storm with thunder and lightening and then 10 minutes of very large hail stones followed by a gale forced wind then more rain. My Runner Beans are in shreds!
The temperature dropped down at the time but it has risen again and Damp Humid conditions are those for blight. Sorry to be so gloomy but that's about the score of things. The Shallots are nearly ready and they will certainly not be watered again.

[retropants]

In the past, I have never really bothered watering onions, or garlic for that matter, and have always had fairly disappointing results. This year, both were watered once a week at soil level if there hadn't been any rain. The autumn planted red onion sets have produced an absolutely bumper crop, some are flipping massive! The garlic is average, but much better than the last few years looking forward to caramelised red onion chutney!

[peat]

I was taught that with onions, grow them well until the longest day, to give good leaf coverage. After the longest day the bulb then starts to swell to build its food storage. So there will now be a spurt in growth of the bulbs. Another tip I was given was to let the weeds grow or undersow with another crop to use the nitrogen up and that would improve the keeping qualities of the onion.
Pete