onions & shallots from seed

Hi cant find any info about my ?.Have never grown onions or shallots from seed.thought i would try next year,They will have to grow in large pots,in my garden. Want advice were to keep them, how many to a pot.and most of all will this work.dont expect to get shed loads just enough to last year. How many seeds to a pot,how far apart to prick out. thanks.

 

does nobody know the answer to my question, come on you allotment holders surely you should know.
pleeeeeeeese

 

Hi mum :D
First off I dont think you can grow shallots from seed, you plant small bulbs that grow into clumps of bulbs.
That said, I've never tried growing in pots, so its only guess work, but, if your looking for small onions, perhaps four to a 10 in pot would work given a good nitrogen feed up until late June then high potash for a month or so.
It will work, but trial and error is your best guide.

 

Mum. I am not a vegetable gardener but talking to the grumpy old men (and women) of my local club then the general opinion seems to be that unless you want to grow unusual onions like giant white ones then it's just too much trouble. If you want to grow huge whites then just a few seeds to a pot then thin like mad (just one to a large pot) then feed it like there is no tomorrow as Pete says. If you just want smallish onions for eating, then just buy sets and put them in the soil.

 

Hi.

I tried some shallots for from seed a year ago. Each seed produces a single bulb. Got an OK crop, but planted later than they recommended, so I guess they might have been bigger if I'd really known what I was doing.....

This article might be useful...

cheers,
Dave

 

hello, sorry but you can grow shallots from seed,
the ones i am growing are PRISMA F1.from Plants of Distinction. they do lots of different veggies and tomatoes,I had never heard off.

 

Well there you go mum, its trial and error.

 

You are of course right Mums. You can grow shallots from seed, you can even grow garlic from seed. After all they are all aliums. I think what Pete meant was what my grumpy old men in my local club meant. 'Is it worth it when sets are so cheap and so much easier?' (If he didn't mean that then I'm confused :confused: cos he's usually spot on except when he disagrees with me).

I suppose it's worth it if 1) you want to grow big show type onions or 2) like a lot of us you get a kick out of growing from seed even if it's easier another way.

I have a neighbour with a gorgeous garden. She buys everything fully grown from garden centers. :confused: Personally I can't get excited. Grow from seed is my motto (or at least from very small plants). But I don't grow veg. :D

 

Got to disagree with you John, again.
I was wrong about growing shallots from seed, I've not read a veg seed catalogue for about ten years, so I'm a bit behind the times.

Having read Daves link I see they are now growable from seed, I see there are some advantages, perhaps a bit healthier plants but most seems irrelavent to me.
I always grow shallots every year, I never plant on the shortest day as it says, thats daft, my allotments usually a slimey mess at that time of the year, infact they are not available in most garden centres until late Jan.
I plant in late march and harvest in early Aug, they have never bolted and they keep all the winter.
So I cant really see the point in seed growing.
But until you try you dont know,
hence Trial and error.

 

Pete. Not sure where we are disagreeing. Maybe it's about whether you could always grow shallots from seed, or only in the last 10 years. Come off it. Have they suddenly genetically modified shallots to produce seed? Rubbish, not worth discussing. We were eating shallots grown from seed in the fifties. My dad let his own go to seed for the following year.

I grow most exotics from seed (if I can) but agree that there is no point in growing certain veg from seed (asparagus is a case in point) unless you just get a kick out of it.

 

I'm dissagreeing, you said I'm usually spot on, but I was wrong, I didn't know you could buy shallot seed. :D

 

There is no stirrer smiley. :D :D :D

 

Onions are worth growing from seed I reckon. I used to grow the big show onions but i only did it cause i had to - I was on the horticultural society committee and you have to support the show don't you?
I started growing vegetables again last year after a long break. I worked out how many onions I needed in the limited space.....onion sets aren't cheap are they? I decided onion seed was reasonably cheap, even fro F1 hybrids. I think it is easy to start the onions inside in February and then i just pricked them out into seed trays in March in the cold greenhouse. Not a lot of effort and I got a big crop from not a lot of space -6 inches apart in rows 8 inches apart. I grew the shallots from sets because the wife wanted posh French ones and I did not think seed would give as heavy a crop. I can't grow shallots from seed cause mine don't bolt, but i do have a string of the best ones as the basis for next year. Just hope they keep better than the red onions. The yellow onions (F1 hybrids) are much better keepers.]
To get maximum yield out of a limited space I felt that seed raised onions were the best. Shallots don't produce as much but i grew them for the flavour.

 

Hi everyone,thanks for your comments,I dont want shed loads of onions,shallots,just enough to feed a couple of us.for a year.Have a small 4ftx4ft bed in which to grow them.so will be more onions than shallots.

 

I don't know what is the best way of maximising yield out of onions. I spaced mine at 6 inches apart in the rows and I could have put rows 4 1/2 apart instead of 8 inches cause they were not opposite each other. Some books say you can space them 3 inch apart in the row but i felt that was a bit close. Next year I am going to do a little experiment. Some of the onions i intend to sow in soil blocks. I will sow 3 or 4 seeds/block so that they grow out like big shallots. I think the late and great Geoff Hamilton used that technique years ago. As I have a limited amount of space I need to maximise the yield. Red Baron is not going to be used. Too many of those are going soft in my garage and they are strung up in strings. Anyone know of a good keeping red onion?