Kitchen Garden Forum

I planted a couple of Onion sets this year Red Baron (red Onions obviously) and Snowball(a white Onion) due to the weather some of the White Onions went to seed, but a lot of the Reds. I know that they can be susceptible to this but I did not have the problem last year. The question I would like answered is do the forum readers think that I would be better off sowing seeds in Jan I have never tried them before but it seems that they are less likely to Bolt?
Cheers

Are you planning to grow overwintering onions or onions to start next year dopolous?

Having grown onions from sets and seed, I'd be happy with either - but definitely seed for overwintering

Sorry, I should have said, this will be for next year

Sprout

Why seed for over wintering onions?

I grew from sets for the first time this year and had an excellent crop...I guess it must be taste?

Red Baron doing well...Snowball not so well and they are in the same section of the plot.

I go for seed now,I find I get less bolters and there's a greater choice of varieties too. You do need to have somewhere to start the seed off in January or February though but they don't need heat for growing on a cold greenhouse or a frame will do.I sow into a small seed tray on a heated tray and then prick out the seedlings into small cells (24 to a standard seed tray)seems to work well for me anyway.

Hi Weed, I do get excellent onions from sets, but there are always a few bolters

Carole B. wrote:I go for seed now,I find I get less bolters and there's a greater choice of varieties too.

And it's soooo cheap, but you can buy the varieties which grow well for you, which aren't available from sets :
I'm growing overwintering onions in modules for the first time (taking advice from the forum), five to a module, 7x7 modules, two trays - four varieties, total 8 trays. Well we do love our nunions!

After years of growing from sets I grew from seed for the first time this year. Last year, and the previous few years, up to 50% of the sets bolted, apparently because of the climatic conditions. I bought 5 varietes from Seeds of Italy and sowed them in a cold greenhouse in November/December. I also planted some sets in the autumn for comparison purposes.

The onions grown from seed are looking great, they're a good size and only 3 have bolted out of about 200. The sets are much the same size but a good 35 of the 60 planted have bolted. I'm never bothering with sets again.

Also, as Carole says, there's a huge variety to choose from.

That is interesting, thank you

The next question has to be what varieties are best for taste?

Seeds for me next time round then

What sort of taste do you like weed? Or do you want a variety - sweet, sharp, hot etc.?

I like strong onions....onions that taste like onions should taste...not the mampy pampy things they sell in supermarkets

I have to admit that some of the 'cooler' sweet ones are nice in a salad

Stuttgart Giant is my favourite old-fashioned onion. It has a flattish bottom, I don't mind but some cooks prefer the roundy ones But anything you grow will be zippy and oniony compared to the supermarket ones

I find Rijnsburger Balstora the best for seeds and very rarely get any bolters. I sow ingoors at the end of January, then move them to a cold greenhouse when there is no frost, then (approx early April) outdoors under fleece where they stay until late May, not least to stop birds from pulling them up. Oh, forgot to say, I always sow about 6 - 8 seeds in each rootrainer cell so that I get lots of onions of different sizes for various cooking purposes.

How far apart do you sow your multi-sown groups Monika?

If you really mean how far apart are the seeds, then the answer is that they are touching each other. I just sow them all together into the centre of each rootrainer cell. They push each other apart as they grow and make a good selection of different sizes.
If you mean how far apart do I plant each clump, then the answer is six to nine inches, just enough to get a small hoe between the clumps.
I have grown the onions like that for many years and it suits us well and rarely goes wrong!

I grow both sets and seed. My bedfordshire champion and Brunswick are great with only one bolter.

My sets were Setton and sturon and out of 400 only 2 have bolted. My red baron heat treated sets via T&M were of a shocking quality and were replaced foc with more poor sets. Nearly 40% of them have bolted so these will be grown from seed next year.

All my onions bar the red baron are grown in raised beds filled solely with 10-12 year old manure that really holds onto moisture well, which probably accounts for so few bolters.