To sink or not to sink?

**Leeds_lad** · 10-04-2012, 06:41 PM

Personally I plant mine a bit under the soil and slowly reveal the top as they get bigger until by the end of the growing season the entire top and 1/2 the bulb is showing above soil

**Jardiniere** · 10-04-2012, 06:43 PM

as leeds lad says.....
I plant mine right under the soil cos i put them in, in October.
They soon push out ....

**chris** · 10-04-2012, 06:44 PM

I'm not convinced it's birds. I've netted mine, and still had some popped out.

Further reading suggested (probably here actually) that when the sets were pushed in, it compacted the ground so when the roots emerged it forced the set up out of the soil.. ?

**scarey55** · 10-04-2012, 06:49 PM

I plant mine under the soil (just) The only trouble with that is, until they come up, I don't know where they are - my straight line planting isn't that good

I've seen the same thing as you Chris and I actually dig out a bit of soil and plant the onions rather than just pushing them into the soil.

**piskieinboots** · 10-04-2012, 06:49 PM

Oh I hadn't heard that one Chris, but it makes perfect sense to me

**Nicos** · 10-04-2012, 06:56 PM

I root my shallots first by placing on top of potting compost in a blowaway- just gently firmed down onto it.
When the roots are about 3-4cm long I plant them out in little hollows and cover over the roots.
I could never be bothered with doing this with the small onion sets- but this tip was given to me by an 'oldie' on the next allotment who got banned from entering his onions into shows cos he always won everything!
If it worked for him.....

**Potstubsdustbins** · 10-04-2012, 07:24 PM

I plant my set about half way in. Roots can push the set out of the ground, but when you find a set some 4" away from where it was planted then that ain't root growth.

Colin

**Aberdeenplotter** · 10-04-2012, 07:54 PM

instead of pushing them in, use the point of a trowel to make a small hole and pop them in. It does work

**VirginVegGrower** · 10-04-2012, 08:13 PM

I bury mine to the neck or top but I always start them off in compost in modules, then I use my dibber to make the same size hole as the rootball and pop them in. However Mr VVG wanted to sow some and I let him, all of them proud, but still growing, just hanging on by their coat tails

**jackie j** · 10-04-2012, 08:18 PM

I leave the tip showing, and last winter the birds decided to play games and every time I pushed them back they pulled them out. I now have mixed up onions cos I couldn't tell which was which. I then covered them till they were more established.

**binley100** · 10-04-2012, 09:05 PM

Sets I do what AP said .....but why do my seedlings keep pushing themselves out ? It's not the birds cos they were doing it when they first germinated in the gh .........

**Pa Snips** · 10-04-2012, 09:56 PM

I shoved mine in to about three quarters of the bulb depth because I saw someone, rightly or wrongly, doing that on Youtube. Most of them have nice thick green shoots coming out of the top so they ain't dead anyway.

**donnakebab** · 11-04-2012, 03:03 AM

On the packet it said to plant an inch deep so that's what I did back in October. The green leaves look OK but I have no Idea if there is any size of a bulb yet below the surface. I think they are supposed to be cropped in June so maybe the bulb not that big yet anyway. I will have a look next time I'm at lottie.

**Bigmallly** · 11-04-2012, 05:31 AM

I make a dent in the soil with my dibber, sorry finger then sit the set in the dent and fill with soil just so the tip is showing. I read not to push onion / shallot sets into the ground as it can damage the base.

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