BUYING ONION PLANTS OR SEEDS? -- WHICH IS BEST?!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2021
- It's time to get back on schedule with our fall seed starting! Today we're getting our alliums (onions and leeks) started in the greenhouse with lots of new varieties that we've never grown in the past.
We'll tell you why we like to grow our onions from seeds as opposed to buying plants, and tell you whether seeds or plants is right for you!
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This past spring, I purchased a 4"x4" container of what I thought was chives to add to my herb bed, and as I was about to plant it, I noticed it was white onions. So, I carefully separated that clump and planted about 70 tiny seedlings in a 300 gallon grow bag. I'm about harvest a nice crop of beautiful medium size onions! :) And have a variety of onion seeds to start my next round. I really need to get busy with all my fall starts soon.
Very nice!
Travis, hands down, LDF is one of the best gardening channels on TH-cam. That's saying something because there are a number of very good channels. Well done sir. Please keep up the great work. This subscriber appreciates it.
Thanks a ton David!
I buy my onion starts from Dixen Dale farms out of TX. Last year they did awesome. So I preordered my starts for this year.
They have great plants!
I have never had any luck with pelleted seeds. I have tried them for lettuce, carrots, and radish. They just never worked (tried in the garden, top watering in trays, bottom watering in trays). This year was the first time that I saved seed from my spring lettuce plants for my fall. I did it because it was getting hard to find the heirloom butterhead that I like. So this fall I planted the saved seed and whatever I had left from my spring packet. I was so impressed that the saved seed germinated about 40% faster and got to the true leaf stage a week ahead of the seedlings from the packet seed. I will probably continue to save seed at least for this lettuce in the future.
Great that you're able to use your own seeds for that variety. Not sure why the pelleted seeds wouldn't have worked. We always have great luck with them.
Love this channel, one of the best I’ve found on TH-cam. Your details and specifics on each vegetable you grow, your drip irrigation set up, it’s all awesome and super helpful. Keep up the great work, and thanks from Oklahoma.
Thanks!
I used to order onion plants but after three years straight of receiving mostly rotten, undersized, or dried out plants, I'm back growing from seed. My setup is better than what I had before so it's not a bother at all. I plant intermediate day onions in 7a/b of South Carolina. I plant seeds in December and transplant in March. I harvest in mid-late June depending on the variety. The intermediate varieties tend to grow larger than short day onions, and they keep longer. Generally, when I've planted short day onions they start bulb enlargement about the time they get growing good. The intermediates have time to grow huge foliage before enlargement begins. I often get softball size onions.
If you're going to plant short-day onions, you'd want to plant them in November like we do. The day length that triggers bulbing happens quick in the spring.
@@LazyDogFarm I've started Texas 1015y which means plant the seed October 15th. LOL It's too cold to plant before March 1st. Even planting in March, my plants often get stunted by hard freezes like the 20 degree night we had a few weeks ago. I had already set out my plants but this time a made an improvised small tunnel framework from pruned fruit tree shoots. I cut them about 6' long, stuck the bigger end in the dirt at a 45 degree angle, pushed the smaller end on the other side of the row and stuck it in the ground, forming the framework. Then before nightfall I covered them with a tarp. I removed the next morning after the Sun was up good, and the onions were unaffected.
Up here the short day onions start bulb enlargement in May after only a month or so of vigorous growth. I have had good years with the short day onions but here the intermediates produce the largest and best keeping onions. The intermediates have more time to catch up and grow foliage enough to produce a big bulb. My cousin lives South of Statesboro and grows huge short day onions. You guys are in a better climatic zone for onions than I am. I live about 30 minutes from the mountains at 900 feet elevation.
By the way I planted Monastrell and Cabernet, both red intermediate day onions this year. They will keep 4-6 months. My wife prefers red onions. LOL
I've just discovered your channel! Such great videos and a wealth of information! I also am in zone 8b in south Georgia and just starting to garden. Thank you for making these videos! God Bless!
Welcome to the channel Angie!
If you can't find the sprayer at your local Dollar Store, Harbor Freight also carries them for $6.99. I've been using those on seedlings for years. I have several of them and they also work great for BT if you don't need a lot of mixed up material. I like how you can dial the spray pattern from a fine wide mist to a more robust heavy mist for the plants as they get larger. Also good for spraying foliar feeding plants, or foliar spraying of chealated calcium on tomatoes and peppers. Not all of us use those big beds!
What kind of seed starting mix you are using
Didn't think of using it for pesticide applications in the greenhouse, but that's a great idea!
Thanks for sharing your ❤️ of gardening. Always learn so much. You gave me the swift kick in the pants I needed to get my onion seeds planted! Learning about fall gardening and over-wintering plants.
Glad you found it helpful Lynn!
So yeah, I have been using a zep spray bottle and it never crossed my mind to use the 1/2 gallon pump sprayer. So I dug mine out and BAM!!!! An amazing hack for sure
Awesome!
Really enjoyed this video! Going to try to grow my onions from seed this year. I'm in southern Indiana ,and so ready for winter to be over with and get back to the garden! Getting ready to order some new trays and seeds.
Once you get the hang of growing your own onion plants, you won't go back to buying plants.
@@LazyDogFarm I bought 4 different varieties today (walla walla, granex yellow, Texas grano and red grano). Going to get them going tomorrow or Tuesday. Getting excited to see how this is going to turn out. Haven't had much luck with sets or transplants the last few years.
Great video Travis 🌱🦋Thank you for sharing. Have a blessed evening 🌅💚
Thanks for joining us Kelly!
We grew the red onions this year and picked them as well, big hit with everyone.
That's the best way I've found to preserve them considering they don't store that well.
I liked your onion trial this past spring.. I grown Candy onions for 5 years now. Added Paterson this year as a long storage onion. Candy makes some great blooming onions and caramelized onions. I'm right at the north border for intermediate day so I can use those or long day. I bought 1 of the 338 trays from Greenhouse mega store over the summer with onions in mind. My onion video series shows how they worked out.
Thanks for sharing Steve. I hear great things about those Candy onions.
Funny this Video came out today I just planted my onion seeds yesterday. Texas Grano, Last year I started them from seed and had my first successful crop of onions. Hoping to repeat last years success, all from watching your video on the other channel.
Great to hear of your success. Here's to another great onion year!
Another great video Travis! We started a 128 tray of 1015Y and another 128 tray of Plethora onions on Sept 14, waiting for them to germinate then will start 1/4 - 1/2 strength 20-20-20 when the leaf stem straightens out.
Sounds like you're right on time!
Hakuna Matata...😂😂😂 You make me laugh!
luv pelleted seed. perfect germination and no thinning required. i use my big spray bottle, with the wand, to fertilize seedlings in seed trays, as it sits on a shelf in my garden shed, so dont want water everywhere.
Pelleted seed is so much easier!
I'm going to try something different this year growing onions. Weed row cover layed right on the beds with a slit down the middle and direct seeded. Watered the old fashion way with a ditchrow instead of overhead or drip, after they sprout. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. I'm a big fan of no till but sometimes ya just gotta dig it :) Thanks for the vid gg
Definitely let us know how that works. I've seen weeds grow through that fabric down here.
Good Video Travis ! Always great content. Been buying my Texas Legends from Dixondale for years with very good success. Hard to make the commitment to grow my own from seed. Maybe next year, I will grow some of my own from seed alongside the Dixondale to see if there is a difference.
If you have a seed starting setup, it's worth a try for comparison purposes. One of the other issues we had with plants was getting them in time. Sometimes Dixondale would have crop failures or were unable to dig plants in late October or November due to weather conditions. As a result, their shipping was delayed and our planting was delayed. When you're growing your own, you have more control over that.
Yessir, top of the line equipment and components. Proptek trays, Sunshine #4, AgroThrive 3-3-2, the little pump sprayer, quality genetics. A lot of us are watching closely and following right behind you. Megaton leeks have been discontinued. I grow Bleu Solaise and American Flag but they're 120 day Fall leeks.
Good to know about Megaton. There's a big market farm in Vermont that used to grow some huge ones.
I enjoyed that. The green house looks so great! I have watched some English guys growing gourds, to get them to germinate they always nick or sand the seed in a certain spot.
I've heard that tip as well. Probably going to have to try that next year.
I just re-watched this video for a refresher on growing onions. However, when I saw where you dumped your gourd seeds in the plot, I saw what Clemson Extension the worst weed ever, Chamberbitter. They named it right too! I fought that stuff for several years before I finally got rid of most it. I still, have it show up outside the garden bed but I pull as much as I can. Each of those seed pods on the plant will explode and put out hundreds of more tiny seeds. I hope you’ve been able to catch that before it gets almost unmanageable.
As always, I really appreciate your knowledge. Thanks
Thanks for watching Leslie!
Well, Travis, I'm coming along right behind you. It's been raining here in North Florida, too, so getting my garden tilled has been a vexation! Maybe it'll be dry enough in a few days....or end of next week..... In the meantime, I, too, am getting my transplants ready. Brassicas are up and thriving, so now it's time for lettuce and onions. My favorite onions so far are Texas Legend, Savannah Sweets and Red Creole. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do in the new garden!
Those are all great varieties! You got this!
Those sprayers are great . that one looks similar to the harborfreight one but I find the ones a lowes are more durable
It's been great to have in the greenhouse. Definitely $5 well spent!
Hey Travis, glad to see you recovered and are back at it... I'm sure the wife is too lol...
I heard you mention a red onion picking episode. I looked through the Lazy Dog and the Hoss videos without any luck. I am in the intermediate growing zone and I grew Candy sweet onion sets I got from Dixondale. Quite a large haul. I pickled mine in an old standard "Bread N Butter" type brine.. I am anxious to learn how you pickled yours... Plan on growing another crop in the late spring and am looking for options. Thanks man!! The Ty-Ty is an awesome lil helper!!!
I don't recall the exact video, but we'll have the recipe on our new website which will be live in the next week or two. So stay tuned and you can find it on there.
Very good video. Thanks for the info and explanations.
Thanks for watching Jon!
Great video Travis. I’ve struggled with growing onions and finally figured that they weren’t getting enough sun to trigger the bulbing process. Now that we’ve moved to our lake house full time and I have better, open and sunny areas, I’m going to try again this fall. How are you liking the greenhouse??
Hope you have better luck this year with the change in location. We're loving the greenhouse! One of the best investments we've made on our homestead.
TIP: We put lettuce in pots on top of our WATER WELL that we had a Heat Lamp. We also had an old swing set that we wrapped around plastic around. Y'all we had lettuce through the winter.
That's a neat idea!
We have 7 varieties of onion seeds currently in trays, our first time trying, following your lead brother Trav
Awesome. Good to hear you're trying lots of different varieties.
Great content as always. We really enjoy growing the candy onion... They get huge some softball size and have good disease resistance. Climax, NC zone 7
I hear that's a good one!
Thanks for sharing. I used vego garden raised beds since wood doesn't last in florida. Plan to follow you so I can start my own onion transplants this fall.😎🏖🏝🙏
Wonderful!
Fun tip, a wet wooden chopstick will make singular lettuce seed planting easier.
Great idea!!
Travis
A good article
I watched Quebec homestead on planting carrots with corn strach.
Travis you must watch this. This is a great idea for planting any small seed.
I thing wall paper paste would work too.
The Breez
I assume you're taking about ways to keep from planting too many seed? I've seen folks use sand too.
Great stuff as usual Travis. It hard for me here in Oklahoma to overwinter onions. Mostly our winters are fairly mild but we will get a week or 2 of pretty cold.
Yeah I would imagine that you would be better to wait until late winter to plant.
Try letting stuff germinate in the barn. I know in July and august in ny I need to do that for a lot of brassicas. Too hot in the greenhouse
The white covering on ours really helps keep it not that hot. Been really pleased with it so far.
Your soil temperature has a lot to do with germination of your seeds.
If the soil is too warm or too cold for certain seeds they won't germinate.
I would have to guess the soil temperature was optimal outside where you dump the seeds versus where your soil temperature was inside the greenhouse.
I see your point. But if the greenhouse wasn't too hot to germinate brassica and onion seeds really well, I don't see how it would be too hot for gourd seeds.
Ha ... popsicle sticks! I figured a trick when using them ... ducktape them on the outside of the tray. You may already knew that.
Haven't thought of that!
it may be like fall down south but here in the hills of Ky. it’s HOT! We had near 90 today with off the charts humidity. hope all is well
We're back warm today. It just keeps flip-flopping.
i agree growing them at home is a lot better.
It's definitely more fun!
Always love your videos and information you provide. I would like to grow leaks I’m unable to start in seed trays. Can I start them from seed in a raised bed. Zone 9
You certainly can. I'd plant them thick with the intention to move them and space them appropriately once they get up and going.
Great subject topic Travis I’ve seen both trying to find Texas legends ended up buying seed
Glad you were able to find some!
Need link to those bottom trays and the stackable cell trays
First time starting my own from seed rather than ordering from Dixondale. No problems with them just wanna see the difference. Started them this morning. Fingers crossed 🤞
Hope the plants you grow do well for you!
Wow your greenhouse is doing great !!
It is!
Hi Travis, great video, Savanah sweet has always been my best onion. But going to try yellow red and white short day onions this year,
Savannah Sweet is a good one! I'm interested to see if this "Sapelo Sweet" is the same thing.
@@LazyDogFarm most likely is.
Will you please show us your Garlic planting, thank you.
I sure will!
Thanks a lot Trav.... greenhouse mega store is like my new crack
You can easily get lost in all the goodness on their site.
Here in the high deserts of Utah, we plant onion sets (little bulbs) in mid-April and harvest them late summer, sometimes early fall. (First average frost is September 20-just three days away! 😬 ) It is forecasted to get down to 33F. on Monday, which actually is the 20th!! Yikes!
One year, I planted onion seeds (that I harvested from the year before) directly in the ground. They grew little onions which I harvested, dried, and saved for the following spring. I then planted those little sets in the spring and harvested the best onions up to that point, because their storage life was the longest we ever had-almost a year.
We've got 38F scheduled for Monday at the foot of Pikes Peak. The wolf is at the door for both of us, Enjoy your Winter.
You should try planting "plants" instead of the little bulbs. I think you'd make much larger onions than using sets.
Have a good time seed starting.
Thanks Izzy!
A little more.
NESeed is a good place n l like their packages. I also use Jung seed and have great luck with all their seed too.
I really like their packaging as well. Jung is a great company that's been around for a while. Used to run into those guys quite a bit on the conference circuit before COVID hit -- good people.
Learned my lesson last year: I can't tell direct seeded onions from wild garlic till they get some size. Only doing my own transplants from now on. But most of my beautiful transplants are messed up from a week of rain and no sun. Another week to go. The brassicas will have to be done over. The onions still stand but are thin. A lady on YT said trimming onion sprouts makes them sturdier. Do you think it would help? I'd hate to lose the three weeks I've got in them. Used cinnamon to stop damp off so far OK. I've always direct seeded gourds with good results.
They probably do make them a bit "sturdier" just because they are shorter, but I've never trimmed them.
Well I tried a different plot to till for my onions. Dirt. Again. So I pulled up all my tomato and cucumber t post trellising. (They needed to go anyway to start rotation and soil healing) well looks like I'll be tilling a different plot that I know will grow for my onions and cool weather crops. Are you direct seeding carrots? At least this will get me some experience with turning this dirt into workable garden soil. Maybe by spring time it will be ready. I may have to buy 2 more rabbits for that preplant fertilizer. Thank you for this video. As always love the cover crop lesson. (Still loving the tiller attachment.) Going to till up around my deer stand to plant some peas to bring them around. Maybe I should plant them some cucumber since I know they like those! Thanks again Travis!
We will be direct-seeding carrots in a few weeks.
Travis do you or should we mulch our onions during cold months. What to use for mulch? Upstate sc. thank you. Love your videos
You can mulch them with wheat straw if you'd like. I don't mulch mine, but we don't get as cold as you guys.
Great video...very helpful! Question: We planted the Texas Early Grano 502 here in FL, zone 9b, 2 weeks ago. They are growing fine, about 3 inches tall, but they are drooping over, not standing up. Any idea why? They are on the front porch & are put outside several hours every day.
Sometimes onions do that. They should be just fine as long as the stems aren't breaking. Once you put them in the ground, they'll recover and stand up.
@@LazyDogFarm Ok! Good to know. Thank you so much for the info. I've looked online all week for that answer and couldn't find it. I really appreciate it!
Just great. In southwest florida I will try this year. Now everything is soaking wet. My compost is mud. Had to move soil inside to dry out
Sheesh. The drought will start in 1 month. South Florida gardening is not for sissies
Haha. It's raining again here today. Was trying to get some stuff done in the garden, but those rogue showers will get you every time.
I start my onions in a community pot then transplant into individual cells with good success
That's a good way to do it too!
I might have missed it, but how long till you can harvest short day onions? I'm getting a late start and will not be planting seeds...just a bunch of onion sets. Tks for your very informative videos..
Seems like it usually takes ours about five months when we overwinter them -- planting in Nov and harvesting in early April.
You can't go wrong with neseeds. I get all of my onion seeds from them. They have a large selection of short day onion seeds.
I really like their packaging and selection.
My longest day here in June is 14:20 and we break 12 hours in mid March. If not overwintering do you think I should look at intermediate day onions?
I'd at least try some to see which does better.
My first year starting onions from seed. Using Texas Sweet 1015 from Hoss. They came up quick and easy but got very leggy. Could be my lights are getting dim? Put them outside 1 hour, then 2 hours, then 3 hours, then 4, etc. in my greenhouse with shade cloth. Finally left them out all day for 2 days in greenhouse. Moved them outdoors and left them a day and some of them look burned. Can you do videos showing how to harden, fertilize and water through first few weeks? thanks BTW. We've been growing for 25 years in our back yard and do very well with tomatoes, peppers, cukes, etc. as well as Dixondale plants. This is first time trying seeds for onions. Thanks
I use that kind of sprayer just to water seedlings so you don’t flood the seed too badly
Not a bad idea!
Travis you can grow Walla Wallas and candy onions you have to over winter them I do it all the time I have also herd Elliot Coleman talking about growing short day granex onions through the winter in his field with protection.
Try growing Walla Walla and candys. You'll be surprised. Besides it's cheap fun. John S.
I was worried they would never bulb due to the fact that our days don't get that long here. If they do bulb, how much later it is than the short-day varieties?
@@LazyDogFarm
Last year I planted Seed Jan first wall as and Red Wings but diddent get them in the ground till the end of April thinking Green onions but they still bubbled buy JULY 4th. The year before over wintered wallas they did send up some Seed stalks
It didet effect size or flavor.
Why doesn’t the seed vs transplant thought process carry over to carrots? They take longer to germinate than onions do. I’m in zone 7 in Middle Tn and have started overwintering intermediate day onions with pretty good success. I’ve had them survive a week of night temps at 10 to 15F. I don’t cover or mulch. The carrots get a rubber core so I stopped trying to over winter them. I get them in the ground 1st of sept and pull about Christmas. Man are they sweet.
Carrots are planted much thicker than onions. So although they take a while to germinate, we leave them planted dense. Onions on the other hand need to be spaced farther if you want a decent-sized bulb.
1) there is a guy in England (charles dowding) that purposely plants many of his seeds in multiples & doesnt thin. He especially does it with roots, like beets etc definitely does it with onions. he says its great because you get 4 plants from the same effort essentially & you just harvest the strongest/largest first & get a staggered harvest that way. I havent figured that out cuz beets & chard have those spiky seeds that send up 5 sprouts from 1 seed anyways...
2) my step dad makes pickled red onions although they are more like refrigerated short term, but uses some white vinegar, orange juice, bay leaves, oregano, s&p, maybe something else? With red onions & lets it sit for a day or 2 before using & he makes cochintia pibil (this is all a Mayan dish) then you either make tacos (corn tortilla, meat & onions) or sandwiches from it. It is fantastic, so good.
3) Jim K. over on green dreams channel, said maybe elliot Coleman does it, but when you transplant the leeks to get a super long white stem instead of constantly hilling. Poke a deep hole like 8-10 inches & drop the transplanted leek down there (maybe after trimming the roots a vit so they arent wild). Then when the leeks are ready you have this super long white part instead of the 3 inch white that is typical.
1) Most beet varieties are multigerm, meaning each seed produces several sprouts. There are a few monogerm varieties that the commercial guys use to get more consistently sized beets. We used to transplant and thin our beets when we were selling our veggies, but now I just direct seed them because consistently is not as important when we're just growing for ourselves.
2) Pickled red onions are great. We water bath ours to give them a longer storage life.
3) I've done that with leek transplants in the past and it worked well. I used a broadfork to poke deep holes in the soil and stuck the plugs in those holes.
Another good video Travis. Question - Can you provide the link for the bottom trays for the 162 cell seed trays that you got from Greenhouse Mega store please sir? Thanks!
Right here: www.greenhousemegastore.com/containers-trays/trays-flats/maxi-garden-tray?returnurl=%2fsearch%3fq%3dmaxi
@@LazyDogFarm Thanks!
Great content as always! Wasn’t going to mess with starting from transplants this fall but I only got two out of 10 collards by direct sow. Yup, in the seed tray all came up. I can be taught…
Travis, I have to ask. Watched a garden show on Thursday and I got the impression they were knocking Vates collards. I bought them at HD cuz that’s pretty much all they had variety wise. Won’t they work okay as a cut and come again same as any ‘new’ variety? I like cutting younger more tender and using them raw versus waiting til they’re huge and using them all at once.
Also excited about doing onions again this year! And I didn’t get mine in the ground until maybe February cuz I never thought about trying them. I still got onions of course none bigger than a ping pong ball but I wasn’t unhappy! Still cool! And I’ve heard good things about pickled red onions.
I've never grown Vates personally. But I would assume you could crop the leaves just like we do any other variety. I do know that's the variety that most of the "truck farmers" around here use for single cut collards. It's an older, less improved variety than some of the hybrids. It's also more readily available.
So… I’m in zone 8a so right temperature to overwinter but I’m in the North… if I grow a short day onion will it bulb up in the spring while the days are still short?
I'm guessing you're in the Pacific Northwest? That area is always an anomaly for me because our first and last frost dates are similar (that's how the zones are determined), but you have a much different climate than us down here. I can't say with extreme confidence that short-day onions will do great up there, but the only way to know would be to try. I'd do a small trial and see how it goes.
Serious greenhouse envy. We are still having such heavy summer rains here in north central Florida, that it's not safe to put tiny seedlings outside. Mine have been in the back screened porch under the roof, and they are getting leggy. *sigh*
Since onion plants pull apart so easily I start mine in small mushroom boxes from the grocery store; easy and cheap.
Speaking of mushrooms, I've always wanted to do a woodpile mushroom grow. Have you ever thought of doing mushrooms at Lazy Dog Farm?
I'd like to try the mushroom thing.
I've never had an issue germinating snapdragons. In fact they're a garden staple for attracting pollinators to my other veggies. I start them under lights in the spare bedroom at about the same time as I start herbs in the early spring.
I sprinkle a small amount, maybe a pinch because they're too tiny to count into seed starting mix, in the same type of cell trays you use. I usually use the yellow bagged Jiffy mix, but I don't cover with pearlite. I just cover with a tiny amount of the Jiffy mix to get good soil contact.
You're the only person I've ever seen cover with pearlite. I'm curious to see if you try again without pearlite, what you're results would be.
They might have been covered too much. All the commercial greenhouse and produce operations (and there are a lot of them) around here top seeds with perlite. That's where we got the idea.
In your area when will the leeks be ready to harvest?
I find growing starts works for me if I want bulb onions. I have tried sets and obviously didn't get results I wanted. Planting seed does work if the weather and temps play nice. My area has snow for a few months. I have bought Wall Walla and Candy onion starts. The WW produced decent bulbs, but they started sprouting after being stored for a couple months. The Candy (white variety) onions are a long storage onion that I like because of that. So I will have to replant the writing WW to get green onions until they die or go dormant. At least I will add to my free seed collection if they do survive and produce seed. It makes me wonder if anyone has tried to use Allium seeds for a seasoning.
Never heard of using onion seeds for seasoning. I've never heard of anyone getting big onions from planting sets. I think starting from seeds or buying plants is a much better option if you want big onions.
Your doing great Travis. I need to get my seeds going also.
Thanks Imma!
I've heard celery likes it wet wet too.... can't wait to see how that turns out
Maybe we'll get enough to germinate so we can have at least a row of them.
@@LazyDogFarm I wanna see how you do ….. let me know
Greenhouse mega store has so many different kinds, which ones do you have?
These are the ones I used for the onions, the 231 deep cell variation: www.greenhousemegastore.com/10-x-20-proptek-propagation-trays-cn--ptk--1020
I planted a tray of two kinds of onions two days ago. Texas grano and a short day burgundy variety. I haven't done very well growing onions in the past but I'm going to keep trying. I am wondering how often you fertilize your onions and what you put in the ground with them when you plant them. Great video, thanks for sharing. Texas 8b
I'll put some Nature Safe 8-5-5 in the ground at planting. Then I'll switch to a straight nitrogen source once they get up and going and usually try to fertilizer at least every 3-4 weeks.
@@LazyDogFarm Do you switch to a different fertilizer when they start to bulb, or stop fertilizing or what? I think you did a video on this already. I'll go look there too. Thanks for the reply. I'm tired of growing small onions.
@@singncarpenter6270 We stop fertilizing when they start bulbing.
@@LazyDogFarm Thank you!
I grow more shallots (Zebrune variety) than onions. Pretty much only option is seed or sets. I prefer seed as 1st year shallots taste better vs. the 2nd year sets. I direct seed in five to seven gallon pots in the spring and leave in the afternoon shade of citrus trees until harvest in ~Aug. Pretty much ignore all season except routine feeding. Use some fresh and dehydrate some. The flavor of shallots in soups and similar has a nicer flavor than just using some onion. Not sure you can grow them in your zone.
We tried shallots for several years and they never really did anything. I do like the taste of them, just haven't been successful growing them.
@@LazyDogFarm The only way I have been successful with shallots is deep pots with very loose potting soil and managing shade in the hot afternoon.
I grow my onions all together in a tray and separate them for planting with no problem.
That's an easy way to do it as well!
Awesome
Thanks Laurel!
First time onion grower with question: I live in central AL zone 7b. Ordered onion plants from Dixondale. Asked for immediate delivery but they said they would ship 1/24, six weeks before last Frost. Should I wait till February to plant or risk overwintering them now? Thanks!
North Alabama. Also 7b. I have the same question. Thanks.
Use the 20 degree benchmark to determine if you can overwinter them. We might hit 20 degrees once a year, and some years we never get that cold. If you're regularly getting down to 20, you'll probably want to wait.
@@LazyDogFarm thanks for responding. Guess I’ll try to grow some from seeds now and wait on plants when they think the time to plant is right. We’ll see which survives and does better.
Can you plant garlic in the early spring with your onion plants or is it best to wait until the fall.
I've planted elephant garlic in January and did okay. Not as big as when I plant it in the fall though. I think fall is best.
Dixondale farms has been good however I might seed my own.
Worth a try just to compare.
Hey Travis we’re did you order the garland trays from.
www.greenhousemegastore.com -- they have several different sizes.
I tried to grow onions from seed but I didn't have much luck with them so I order from Dixondale I think I heard about from you on a different channel. There is a limit to the varieties and maybe I will try again sometime.
Dixondale has great plants. They should do well for you.
@@LazyDogFarm I did get a fir crop for a first year.
i have planted onion seeds 4 times cant get but 3 or4 to come up i tried putting my seed tray out side and inside away from the sun still no luck. from starting from seed. that is what i want to do . i do have good luck with planting onion from bulbs. but i am wanting to grow bunching or multiplying onion also so what am i doing wrong.
Onions can take a little while to germinate, so they require a bit more patience. Also, be sure not to plant them too deep.
Had real good success here in zone 6 with Texas legend and candy onion best onions I’ve ever grown where in the world can I find Sir Lancelot leek seeds I can find the slips but not seed ?
Looks like High Mowing has the Lancelot seeds: www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-lancelot-leek.html
@@LazyDogFarm thanks
Do you cover all your starts with perlite instead of soil?
Yes I do.
I’m intermediate day. It’s so confusing because the seeds sold in local stores are long day🤷🏼♀️ can you recommend anything. Or can I just plant long day and short day? I’m in Delaware zone 7a
Most online seed retailers have their onion seeds categorized by short-day, intermediate-day, or long-day. I'd recommend ordering online to get what you need for your area.
Sup! Ha.
Watched ur father last night 🙃
The whole Hoss, family is great to watch.
Overwintering some onions here in Ohio this year! Walla walla and Texas Grano. Long day. Intermediate types!
Thanks for the videos! :]
I am also in Ohio. I overwinter walking onions, leeks, and bunching onions. Are they the healthiest they could be? Probably not, but I am lazy and love knowing I can go harvest some alliums any time the ground isn’t frozen. I have not tried a bulbing type.
@@amyschmelzer6445 I also have Egyptian onions and planted them for next year. I've never over wintered bulbing types.
You should check out Growfully with Jenna! She over winters onions in zone 6a Ohio.
@@annbrodzinski5707 Thanks for the suggestion. That’s my zone too, so she should have info that applies to my garden. I love watching Travis, but the timing is a bit different for a Georgia gardener than an Ohio gardener.
Thanks for watching Ann!
@@euphmom you have a good idea :]
Just make sure they are long day and intermediate types NOT short day in Ohio.
After you spray fertilizer on the leaves and dirt of the transplants do you use water to wash it of the actual transplants
That is correct!
@@LazyDogFarm Thank you
Questions for you, I planted my onions in the fall, there doing great, but noticed a few are sending up a seed head... not sure if the proper thing to do is just pinch it off, or not. I don't see any evidence of them bulbing, and it did just start getting warm here...
Thoughts...?
If they're going to seed, that usually means they're done growing. For bulbing onions, I go ahead and pull those that go to seed.
soak them gourd seeds in luke warm water for a day before planting
Thanks for the tip!
Snapdragon seeds need to be surface sown and need light to germinate. Could your perlite layer have been too thick?
Could have been the reason they were so slow to germinate.
@@LazyDogFarm It's super finicky but I start them on moist paper towel in a
lock n' lock container under lights. Once they germinate, I very carefully put them
in their own root cells. This needs good vision and super careful use of tweezers.
Travis, Do you ever run into issues with your seedlings getting leggy? If so, is there anything you do to supplement the amount of light your plants are getting in the greenhouse? I started a few trays at the beginning of September and had to scrap some because they were getting to spindly and weren't going to make healthy transplants.
I've never had any issues with them getting leggy in a greenhouse like ours. The only cases where I've seen them get leggy would be when they're grown indoors under overhead fluorescent lights.
@@LazyDogFarm Appreciate the reply. I made the mistake of assuming my trays were getting enough ambient light on my back porch. Learned my lesson Lol. Really enjoy the channel. Keep up the good work.
I ordered Texas Grano should be here tomorrow been looking for a red onion to try this year here in South Alabama also waiting on my bunching onion seed 😁thanks for the info .
Thanks for joining us!
Mega greenhouse is not conducive for the small scale grower. $26.00 shipping is very steep.
Anytime you buy just a single tray, you're going to get bit on the shipping. That may be built into the product price or you may see it at checkout. They do have free shipping over $100. That's why I said it's better to buy in bulk if you can.
Love Texas legend
Great variety!
Where did you get your shelving in your greenhouse?
It came with the greenhouse as an add-on.
@@LazyDogFarm can you provide the supplier of your greenhouse and the name of the shelves?
Mine sprouted in 3 days , maybe I didn't seed them deep enough ?
That's great! Sounds like you did something right!
Are you gone to sell the ferilzer on you hoss .that would be great
Not planning on it. We'll just have some merchandise on our site and links to some of the products we like to use.
Ok thanks