Poor spring onion germination

[Marb67]

Well they have withered top nothing, while still staying green. For the life of me I just can't understand when I do everything by the book this happens. I am convinced that seed quality has dropped massively this year as so many new seeds have either failed or been poor under ideal circumstances.

[Jungle Jane]

Did you try planting them out or did you leave them in the same shallow containers? Maybe they’d prefer root disturbance with planting out,it might make the roots think they’ve got more space to grow bigger,in return the whole plant grows bigger.

[ameno]

Well they have withered top nothing, while still staying green. For the life of me I just can't understand when I do everything by the book this happens. I am convinced that seed quality has dropped massively this year as so many new seeds have either failed or been poor under ideal circumstances.

Seed quality won't cause them to wilt. It might well be the cause of the poor germination rate, but once the seedlings are up then seed quality is no longer a factor.
If germinated seedlings are wilting then the problem is elsewhere, I would suggest in the compost (either too much water or poor compost).

[Marb67]

Its high quality nursery grade and I have not over/under watered. All the tops have now gone. Same with spinnach. Thin, wispy stems that flop over and never regain their rigidity.

I just don't know why I bother.

[Jungle Jane]

Sometimes I don’t know why I bother!!

[Snoop Puss]

I'm growing, or trying to grow, two types of spring onion. One has great germination (new seed, Long White Koshigaya) but useless growth, and the other has terrible germination (very old seed, Karminka) but grows really well once it's up and running. They're in the same bed, so same climate, feed and watering conditions.

I don't think it's an issue to do with seed quality but more to do with the vigour of the variety. I'd stick with Karminka forever if I could, but I can't get them here any more.

Once you find a variety that grows where you are, you can start them off indoors but move outside asap after germination. Indoors will be too warm for them and not enough light. They also like firmish soil, so no compost that's loose or fluffy.

[ameno]

Its high quality nursery grade and I have not over/under watered. All the tops have now gone. Same with spinnach. Thin, wispy stems that flop over and never regain their rigidity.

I just don't know why I bother.

If it has happened to multiple different types of seedlings then the problem is definitely either with the compost or with something you are doing to them.
Why didn't you plant them out when we suggested you do?

Also, just because the compost is nursery grade, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't the problem. Sometimes you get bad batches, and any compost, not matter how good, is really only fit to use for seeds and young plants for 12 months at most, so if your compost was made before then then it may just be too old.
And were you growing them indoors or out? They need to be outdoors this time of year, even from the seedling stage.

[Marb67]

I am confused now as I have been told they like warmth to grow, and yet advised that indoors is too warm. If I had planted them outside they would have died much quicker. I left the pot outside to get fresh rain water to stimulate them into growth but the tops have all gone, some look broken into small pieces.

Whenever I have planted any out in the soil that have successfully grown from seed, they just stay small and never get any bigger, even the following year. Its just something about my garden that most veg won't grow any bigger, despite giving them the appropriate nutrition. Then there are the pests I am plagued with. Slugs, snails, thrips, flea beetle etc etc. Its too depressing.

[ameno]

The symptoms those seedlings where exhibiting were fairly indicative of a compost problem, either nitrogen deficiency or else an excess of one or more nutrients causing cell burn. Either way, getting them away from that compost as soon as possible was the only way to improve matters.

If you are consistently finding that things grow poorly when you plant them out then there must be some underlying cause. Which way does your garden face? What sort of soil do you have? What do you feed things with? How many hours of full sun does you veg patch get each day? What other plants (if any) are there growing at or near the edge of the veg patch?