I am looking for an easy grower, produces large crop and tastes divine...not much really expected out of a little bulb but if anyone can help or suggest I would be grateful! Supplier recommendation would also be helpful! many thanks
Choice of onion?
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Can anyone recommend a variety of onion to me. I have in the past grown Sturon - quite successful and this year Red Baron - not so successful!
I am looking for an easy grower, produces large crop and tastes divine...not much really expected out of a little bulb but if anyone can help or suggest I would be grateful! Supplier recommendation would also be helpful! many thanks
I am looking for an easy grower, produces large crop and tastes divine...not much really expected out of a little bulb but if anyone can help or suggest I would be grateful! Supplier recommendation would also be helpful! many thanks
Hi Jules
I planted Swift & Red Baron onion sets last autumn. The Swift were very hardy and were good harvested as young bulbs from about May onwards - like a giant spring onion. They were mild & juicy, gradually becoming more oniony as they matured. The Red Baron seemed more prone to rotting off over the winter and bolted in the spring, so got no crop at all off these
This year I have bought a duo pack from Marshalls (www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk). This has Swift and a red onion called Red Cross which is new and the catalogue claims overwinters well and is good for salads.
If you go on the Marshalls website consider the Griselle overwintering shallot as well. These did really well for me last year and I have bought the duo pack of these and Springfield this year.
Sue
I planted Swift & Red Baron onion sets last autumn. The Swift were very hardy and were good harvested as young bulbs from about May onwards - like a giant spring onion. They were mild & juicy, gradually becoming more oniony as they matured. The Red Baron seemed more prone to rotting off over the winter and bolted in the spring, so got no crop at all off these
This year I have bought a duo pack from Marshalls (www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk). This has Swift and a red onion called Red Cross which is new and the catalogue claims overwinters well and is good for salads.
If you go on the Marshalls website consider the Griselle overwintering shallot as well. These did really well for me last year and I have bought the duo pack of these and Springfield this year.
Sue
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Chantal
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This isn't an answer, sorry Jules, but wasn't someone on the forum, some time ago, desperate to find an onion called Red Cross? Or am I delusional?
Chantal
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cevenol jardin
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Jules are you looking for a main crop storer or for eating fresh.
For fresh the French Onion Blanc's are delicious (sow autumn for spring crops again in spring for a late summer crop- de Rebouillon is particularly good.
The Italian torpedo shaped red Rouge de Florence are my favourite all round great fresh AND they store well.
General all purpose best storer I've found is Giant Zittau and for a red one it would be the Italian rossa di Milano.
I can look through my notes for suppliers if you want just let me know.
For fresh the French Onion Blanc's are delicious (sow autumn for spring crops again in spring for a late summer crop- de Rebouillon is particularly good.
The Italian torpedo shaped red Rouge de Florence are my favourite all round great fresh AND they store well.
General all purpose best storer I've found is Giant Zittau and for a red one it would be the Italian rossa di Milano.
I can look through my notes for suppliers if you want just let me know.
Getting closer to the land www.masdudiable.com
Hi Jules,
I gave up using sets some while back and have never regretted it.
I feel that if you grow from seed you will probably get very descent crops. I think quite a few contributors have found the same thing.
Sowing Onion Seed is my Boxing Day Job. Originally I suppose most boxing mornings a I had a thick head and a house full of screaming children and it was a form of escapism but they all left home years ago but the sowing ritual remained.
This coming year I am sowing Red Baron pelleted seed along with several other varieties and am looking forward to a fair crop.
JB.
I gave up using sets some while back and have never regretted it.
I feel that if you grow from seed you will probably get very descent crops. I think quite a few contributors have found the same thing.
Sowing Onion Seed is my Boxing Day Job. Originally I suppose most boxing mornings a I had a thick head and a house full of screaming children and it was a form of escapism but they all left home years ago but the sowing ritual remained.
This coming year I am sowing Red Baron pelleted seed along with several other varieties and am looking forward to a fair crop.
JB.
Thank you so much everyone for all your tips. I will now list all your suggestions down and read more on each!!! I am really looking for an onion that you can store but also one I can eat fresh (if thats possible). I just find some of the supermarket onions tasteless once they are cooked but I was so disappointed with the Red Baron this year! I want a big, fat, round, juicy, tasty onion!! Not much then!
Thanks again for all your help!
Jules
Thanks again for all your help!
Jules
Seeds of Rijnsburger Balstora No 5 (D T Brown sell them) has been my choice for several years now because they keep well into spring when the overwintering onions (Radar is a good one, grown from sets) take over.
I sow about 8 seeds into each roottrainer compartment in late January on the window sill in the house, they then go out into the lightly heated greenhouse, then under a cloche at home and are finally planted on the allotment, staying under fleece for about a fortnight. They grow in clumps, providing some very large onions (enough for, say, a stew for a family of four), mostly middle sized ones and some very small ones for sauces and the like - very useful that. The clump sowing idea came from Geoff Hamilton's Organic Gardeing book, by the way, many years ago.
I sow about 8 seeds into each roottrainer compartment in late January on the window sill in the house, they then go out into the lightly heated greenhouse, then under a cloche at home and are finally planted on the allotment, staying under fleece for about a fortnight. They grow in clumps, providing some very large onions (enough for, say, a stew for a family of four), mostly middle sized ones and some very small ones for sauces and the like - very useful that. The clump sowing idea came from Geoff Hamilton's Organic Gardeing book, by the way, many years ago.
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Geoff
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Like JB I have grown all my onions from seed for many years and like Monika in bunches. I don't start until late January, what temperature do you use for the December sowing JB? Red Baron grown this way have always been a great success and usually various varieties of whites have been OK. This year nearly 100% of my Bedfordshire Champion have gone to seed (probably because I threatened to rename them Old Herbaceous) but Stuttgart have been a little better. It is probably the season but which is the best white onion from seed with least tendency to flower?
I also grow over wintering onions from seed in the same multi-sow way, or at least I did last Autumn for this year and it was so successful I have done it again. I sowed in the greenhouse in late August and planted them out yesterday (along with my garlic), I used Senshyu Yellow. You may still get away with sowing them direct.
I also grow over wintering onions from seed in the same multi-sow way, or at least I did last Autumn for this year and it was so successful I have done it again. I sowed in the greenhouse in late August and planted them out yesterday (along with my garlic), I used Senshyu Yellow. You may still get away with sowing them direct.