Growing onions for the first time!

[Furny]

Hi Everyone
My Red Barron sets are now ready to go out (been inside toilet rolls of compost & now have big shoots). Please can anyone advise me what rough sized container would be best & how many to put in.
Thanks in Advance.
P.s I have flower buckets (too small?),plastic stack containers(like what you put kids toys in), builders plastic trug/ buckets?

[Potstubsdustbins]

Hi Furny,

Yep its that time my sets will be going in in the coming week, fleece covered to give them a good start in life.

Onions don't really need that much depth of soil 6" is ample as to how many. I work it out that red onions should grow to to approx 3" across and I like to have about an inch between mature bulbs. That way you get lots of onions in a small space.

Colin

[Chef_uk]

My Red Barons are only just coming through now whereas the Stuttgarter's have gone great guns nearly catching up the Japanese onions from 5 months ago with top growth. It was like that in the greenhouse though aswell with less roots coming from the Red Barons. Are they a slower grower than brown onions?

[Furny]

Hi Furny,

Yep its that time my sets will be going in in the coming week, fleece covered to give them a good start in life.

Onions don't really need that much depth of soil 6" is ample as to how many. I work it out that red onions should grow to to approx 3" across and I like to have about an inch between mature bulbs. That way you get lots of onions in a small space.

Colin

Thank you that is EXACTLY the kind of information I needed I shall go have a look through my containers today equipped with my ruler!.
I will be fleecing mine too as there is still chance of frost here for another month.
Do you also harden them off before planting out?.
I really appreciate your advice.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Mine will go in the pots fleeced over and put straight outside. All I do then is keep an eye on them and as soon as growth starts slit the fleece to allow the stem through. The fleece will come off entirely at the end of April beginning of May.

Colin

[Furny]

Mine will go in the pots fleeced over and put straight outside. All I do then is keep an eye on them and as soon as growth starts slit the fleece to allow the stem through. The fleece will come off entirely at the end of April beginning of May.

Colin

Thank you for coming to my rescue again.
Mine have already got really good strong long stems at the moment from starting them inside.
So I'll be fine to just fleece them like your picture above & put them straight out (no hardening)?. Do you leave the fleece on all them day & night or just at night until end of April, beginning of May? sorry if i'm been a bit slow I just want to get it right.
Thanks in advance.

[Potstubsdustbins]

If they have been started indoors then yes I would harden them of for a week or so, give them daytrips out side in a sheltered spot but bring them in at night.

We had a good frost here last night and I don't think your green shoots would like that so don't take the chance.

As to the fleece I leave it in place 24/7 and stand my pots in a dish to water them.

Colin

[Furny]

If they have been started indoors then yes I would harden them of for a week or so, give them daytrips out side in a sheltered spot but bring them in at night.

We had a good frost here last night and I don't think your green shoots would like that so don't take the chance.

As to the fleece I leave it in place 24/7 and stand my pots in a dish to water them.

Colin

Thank you so much you are my saviour potstubsdustbins!
So you water them from the bottom in your dish of water & then you don't have to remove fleece etc too?. Just wondering as I will have to make sure the slits I put in the containers are right & big enough. Would you add crocs/pebbles too to the bottom of the pots if they will be planted in plastic containers?

[Potstubsdustbins]

No disrespect but do make sure your plastic containers have enough holes in the bottom to provide adequate drainage. The crocks go over these holes to stop the compost falling through. Many people still use traditional crocks i.e. broken plant pots but I perfer to use broken up polystyrene packaging as I know that this is sterile.

You mention slits in your containers if this is for drainage I would use holes as slits can easily block and you will then drown your onions. An easy way to put holes in plastic is to heat a 6" nail or similar on your cooker and pass this through the plastic.

Pick the nail up with pliers you will only forget to do this once lol.

Colin

[Furny]

No disrespect but do make sure your plastic containers have enough holes in the bottom to provide adequate drainage. The crocks go over these holes to stop the compost falling through. Many people still use traditional crocks i.e. broken plant pots but I perfer to use broken up polystyrene packaging as I know that this is sterile.

You mention slits in your containers if this is for drainage I would use holes as slits can easily block and you will then drown your onions. An easy way to put holes in plastic is to heat a 6" nail or similar on your cooker and pass this through the plastic.

Pick the nail up with pliers you will only forget to do this once lol.

Colin

Thank you.
Looking at your pictures are your pots teracotta?.
As you can tell I'm only in my second year of `grow your own` so I haven't got any nice large plant pots etc (just many flower buckets), I'm hoping to come across some on freecycle.;
I was thinking I am going to grow them in a plastic kids toy tote/tub & planter as thats all I have at the moment big enough unless I come across anything better so yes the slits where to be for drainage. I normally do the slits with a hot knife but shall use the nail method now thanks & I'll be careful regarding the pliers.
For drainage I normally use gravel/pebbles saved left from our old drive way & hadn't really thought how sterile they are but I shall hunt out the polystyrene now. Don't want to make the containers too big as I'll struggle to water from the bottom, If small enough I can stand them in the kitchen sink otherwise I need to hunt round for some kind of item I can use as a tray for them to sit in to water. Since getting in to gardening every item is just about looked at as
"Errm I could use that if i put a few holes in it!" Ha!.
Thanks again!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Yes it is strange how we look at things in a different light. During the break I called in the fishmongers and bought a box of coley, the box is made of polystyrene about 3" deep 10" x 14" with a fitted lid. Before I had got to the van it was tray for carrying small pots, on the way home it became a planter, then maybe a box for mushrooms.

All I have to do now is retrun to the fishmonger to scrounge a few more.

Colin

[Furny]

Yes it is strange how we look at things in a different light. During the break I called in the fishmongers and bought a box of coley, the box is made of polystyrene about 3" deep 10" x 14" with a fitted lid. Before I had got to the van it was tray for carrying small pots, on the way home it became a planter, then maybe a box for mushrooms.

All I have to do now is retrun to the fishmonger to scrounge a few more.

Colin

Yes, I got a book out of the library about container gardening & there is a full section on how to adapt every day objects in to containers to grow in.
Cue, five minutes later after reading the section there is me in the dark on the driveway in my dressing gown rifeling through the kerbside recycling box retreiving all the tin cans for my herb collection I'm going to do this year!, I hope no-one saw me!ha!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Not liking to overstress my wallet I look at most things to see if they would work.

One of my most successful has been plastic cold water storage tanks (the large tank you will find in your roof space or over your hot water cylinder). With a lot of people turning to combination boilers these tanks become redundant and are destined for landfill. I have 4 now, 2 cut down to 8" deep used for main crop onions and 2 full size used for main crop spuds.

If you know a plumber he will gladly give you any he as lying around as he will have to pay to get rid of them.

Colin

[Furny]

I shall inform the hubby as he works with a few plumbers on sites so I may be able to get some.
I put the onions out yesterday as they were looking desperate to be out with long stems, they have had a week hardening so will hopefully be ok.
I put them in a plastic planter & kids toy tote (used the nail/plyer method too thanks) & I didn't have any fleece like yours but have put a frost fleece(mesh kind, bought from Lidl)& cut slits in it for the stems which are poking out. It was quite mild last night so a good first nights introduction to my patio/decking.
I just need to find a large tray of some sort to put water in to sit them in to water from the bottom now (too big to fit in sink) as I had to top water yesterday & was not happy about it as I don't want to rot them, I'll have to come up with something soon as I don't want to be recovering the fleece & re-threading the stems through slits each time, I shall have to get my thinking cap on!.
Shallotts ready for hardening now, they have took a lot longer to get the stems going inside & some haven't even sprouted them. The variety are golden gourmet & the sets where really quite large to start with, like small onions so it will be there turn next using the same methods I suppose?.

[Aberdeenplotter]

top watering won't rot them. Just don't overwater. They like to be moist, not wet, in fact they like best to be on the dry side of moist.