Onions up north. Onion varieties -which from seed, which from sets?

[JustPotteringAbout]

I'm sure I read somewhere that some types of onion were better from seed as the sets were prone to bolting and others best grown from set if even availables.

I've quite a heavy soil and it can get very wet. Although I sow into ridges to aid drainage, mostly they don't swell out (lack of sun? poor rooting?) and sometimes they rot. So I'm looking for a heavy soil and wet-tolerant variety.

I don't have much space so looking for a variety that's exceptional keeper.

Perhaps I should give up. I have quite the opposite conditions to the biggest onion producer in the UK on light soil in East Anglia the driest part of the country and considerably sunnier..

[Snadger]

I have good success with the japanese overwintered onions, especially the reds. I always grow japanese onions from sets. I have tried Senshyu from seed but it costs more for a packet of seed than 50 sets, so now I stick with sets.

Red spring planted onion sets always bolt for me so I have given up on them. I prefer the taste of the red torpedo onions grown from seed so grow those along with Centurian spring planted sets.

[Zelenina]

I'm not an onion expert but I'd say that the ones most readily available as sets in your local area are probably the best ones to buy. Generally yellow varieties are better for storage than red or white ones. And big sets are more likely to bolt than smaller ones, so don't be tempted by a pack of beautiful big ones that look almost like onions already.

Where I live Stuttgarter and Vsetana are the most common varieties of yellow spring-planted onion sets. I've read that Vsetana are the same as Sturon which is a very popular and reliable type in the UK. If you want something a bit more exotic that keeps well, you could try some French pink onions that are sometimes available as sets e.g Keravel or Rosanna.

They do like to grow in a sunny place, and to be kept well weeded because they don't compete well with weeds. But I don't know if heavy soil is a problem. They seem to like plenty of water in the early stages. You should probably not grow them in a position where you had problems with rot before.

They also have particular requirements for nutrients. I had good results last year using fertiliser specifically for onions and garlic.

I haven't heard of any varieties that are good for sets but not for seed. It's more likely to be the other way round. It's possible to grow your own sets, either deliberately or accidentally by not planting out your seedlings from their trays. I've got some batches of the accidental kind to try out this year.

[Mr Bones]

We struggle with white rot but grew Golden Bear from seed last year (said to be white rot resistant). They were brilliant with only two losses out of 120 as opposed to the usual 50% (plus another one that rotted in storage). Only half a dozen left to eat now and I'll be sorry when they've gone.

[burnie]

Try making raised beds, my soil is very light and sandy being coastal, in the raised beds I can adjust to what I think the plants need, I had some nice Dobies F1 Red Pearl last year and am growing them again as I type.

[Thelma Sanders]

We struggle with white rot but grew Golden Bear from seed last year (said to be white rot resistant). They were brilliant with only two losses out of 120 as opposed to the usual 50% (plus another one that rotted in storage).

That's good to hear, as I've sown some Golden Bear this year

[SelkirkAlex]

sets are definitely the easiest option, all I have tried here work well, usually do overwintering onions, varieties include stuttgarter, sturon, senshu, skakespeare ,electric and radar, non noticeably better than others.

I have grown from seed. just to see if I could more than anything and for varieties not readily available as sets like ailsa craig and kelsae, I still dabble with seeds but for my larder I rely on sets.

[greenishfing]

I always grow mine from sets from the local garden centre. (whatever is available). I have cold heavy clay soil but as long as they get plenty water they seem to do ok. I am happily using last years at the moment. As for weeding, well occasionally the onions get lost among them.............

[bazzaboy]

We struggle with white rot.....

Yes me too, Mr B - and the books will tell you it's an unsolvable problem and don't grow onions there again for 8 or even 20 years.... But now some bright spark has come up with a possible remedy that I'm going to try this year (and any time soon, well before planting out onion seed or sets).

Basically white rot spreads by traces being left in the ground when you pull out an infected onion and then waiting there patiently until you plant the next one! Bright Spark fools the white rot into thinking he's planted the next onions when he hasn't - the white rot gets to work but finds there's no onions to live on (just a smelly garlic wash!) and dies!

Better more technical description: "There is a glimmer of faint hope, and that's adding garlic extract to the soil. The idea is that this causes the sclerotia to sense allicin, the chemical that gives onion family plants their scent. This tricks the sclerotia into germinating and, finding no host plant to infect, they will starve and die. This may help reduce, if not completely eliminate, the disease."

Full details including how to make and use your own garlic wash or alternatives: https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/how...ion-white-rot/

PS When using sets, before planting always check the basal plate of each one for any signs of white rot as it's possible to import it on sets. Any sign of tiny black seeds or white fluff around the base discard that one (I'm so paranoid about white rot I'd probably discard the lot and certainly complain to supplier....), bin or burn (don't compost). The article above has a couple of close-up photographs if you're not sure what you're looking for. I usually start sets off in mini module trays (so the birds don't get a chance to yank them out) and then plant out when the weather's a bit more hospitable to both onions and gardeners.

[Snadger]

We struggle with white rot but grew Golden Bear from seed last year (said to be white rot resistant). They were brilliant with only two losses out of 120 as opposed to the usual 50% (plus another one that rotted in storage). Only half a dozen left to eat now and I'll be sorry when they've gone.

My old plot had white rot. I grew Golden Bear and had no losses.

[Snadger]

I get my onion sets loose by the lb from my local Garden Centre.

As well as being a lot cheaper it means I can choose every set individually. A lot of people go for the biggest sets where as I go for the smaller ones and get very few bolters. My theory is that bigger sets sometimes bollt or split into two onions.