spring onion

Hi guys, I am struggling to grow decent spring onions, I have used white lisbon up till now but think I should change, I have some winter hardy in my beds but had poor germination and they are tiny with not a lot of life showing, I drilled some under polythene a month ago and hardly any germinated. i am now trying to germinate them indoors in trays ready to transplant but do not have great expectations. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hi Blacksmith,

I've had mixed results with different types of Springs, I usually come back to White Lisbon though. Tried a red & white striped one last year, very poor germination.

Did have better sucess with a packet of Red Italian salad onions, meant for bulbing but doing nicely as springs now. There were about 2500 seeds in the packet too

 

I get them off to a flying start sown in pots in a heated propagator, then into a cold frame/poly tunnel and finally plant the whole contents of the pots out in clumps (and very often harvest the whole clump in one go as their roots are all tangled up). I hate waiting for them to germinate and then weeding around around tiny seedlings.

Here's a pot that's well ready for planting out:



Hardly any seeds are wasted and the soil can be hoed just before planting and they'll be ready to pull before any hand weeding around them is required.

 

Thanks for the tip Scrungee, your little pot of onions certainly look very strong and healthy. - I have just sown 4 small pots and will follow your method - progress (or lack of) report will follow.

 

Thank you all, I think this means I am on the right track to end my struggle, in fact I am starting nearly everything of in trays and pots for my raised beds.

 

I do not know how good this would be
Though a gardener I have met, puts in a couple of hundred onion sets but only one inch seperation, then when quite a bit of green growth, thins them out every second one, this provides him with small white onions which he uses in place of spring onions, they are just slightly larger than the original set

Jack McH

 

Thank you Jack, I shall watch out for some end of season deals on onion sets and give it a go