Unexpectedly Large Onions From Seeds
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- I finally grew onions from seeds this year, rather than relying on the easier option of planting gonion sets, which is what I have done for years. I was prepared for a lower yield, but was surprised by the size of a lot of the onions that grew, even in the large variety trial, though I am still not sure why the plants in two of the gardens bolted.
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I love these videos. Every time you put out one, I click, and I've got an *extremely* minimal garden to work with. It's just so interesting
Thanks! Glad you get something out of my efforts!
In Japan, we use garden lime (100～150g per 1m2, a week before planting the seeds), to prevent the bolting from happening along with some other soil control. It works well.
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Incredible and valuable information. I hope you are writing tesis on your crops so, maybe later you can write books for us, that will help so much to the world.
Thanks! I think there is at least one book in me, but need to get more regular with the videos first!
Two RED Garden videos in one week, what a treat! I've really enjoyed the change of background in the last few videos compared to the usual polytunnel, the Irish countryside is beautiful. Keep up the inspirational work, Bruce. Cheers from Aus
Thanks! I am trying to work through a backlog of content after a busy summer. I filmed this one in Canada, where I was visiting family, and had some spare time to get out another video.
@@REDGardens This episode's forest and glacial erratic boulder backdrop took me for a loop: thought you found a spot near your gardens that closely resembled New England. Mystery solved. Thoughtful insights as always and very helpful as my success with onions has been limited. Thanks Bruce!
Just a little trick I use when planting onion seeds. I use plastic cells that are about 2 inches by 2 inches (5 cm x 5 cm). I sprinkle many seeds in each cell, roughly 15-20. I plant them about 2 months before I plan to put them in the ground. As they grow in the cells they may get long leaves that hang over. I trim this extra growth like 'm giving them a hair cut back to about 3 inches so the flopping bits are not in the way.. When it comes time to plant them I submerge the 2 x 2 inch clump in a bucket of water and give it a shake to remove all the dirt off the roots. This allows the seedlings to be separated easily. Each seedling is popped into a trench or it's own hole and watered in. In a couple of days they have recovered from the experience and stand up like little soldiers.
I did two seed-based plantings this year. My early planting all bolted. The later planting did well with massive bulbs as well. I believe if you plant them early they believe they have gone through a "second" season and that leads to bolting. Luck would have it that all of mine are heirloom, so I have restocked my seed bank!
That is interesting. I am definitely delaying the sowing this season. Last year I sowed earlier thinking that the plants would need a lot longer to grow big enough, and that could have been part of the problem.
Congratulations, you must have done *something* right to have these giant onions!
🙂
You said “delayed planting in the extensive and poly culture gardens,” and later “none in the extensive and poly culture gardens bolted.” The earlier plantings of the onion seedlings experienced a frost and thought they had overwintered.
that’s what happened to mine too, planted a little too early
I have also read the same and that is why I always plant my sets after there is no chance of frost at nighttime (in Estonia it could easily be the beginning of June).
That is a possibility, though it was only a week or two, and we had a few late frosts after all the plants were in the ground. But the plants in the Simple Garden went in at the same time as the plants that bolted, so I don’t think that was a factor, or the main factor.
I disagree, because in Italy onions are traditionally sown in August / September and they spend the entire winter outside in the ground, and yet none of them usually bolts.
@@OrtoInScatola good to know. I am starting to do experiments with onions regarding sowing time and had been considering august-september, next to late december and februari.
Now obviously Italy is a very long country with Rome 41 degrees latitude just at the border of intermediate to long day onions so i was wondering if the August/September sowing goes for entire Italy?
We've never had much success with growing onions from seeds, they were usually so small that we used them as sets the next year. We've been direct sowing them at the same time as we've been planting onion sets though. I might just try it the way you did, hopefully with comparable results.
That is interesting, such different results. After this year I really wonder what our local community farm is doing, or not doing, to get such a poor crop for the effort.
I started my onions from seed for the first time this year also. Overall, very happy with the results.
Good to hear!
A follow up video on how they stored and a taste test would be interesting.
I need to figure out how to do that, how to keep track of 15 different onions in a roasting tray, or how to sauté 15 different batches of onions, and then to be able to taste them all.
@@REDGardens onions are great fresh too. Looking at the sizes you got though I'm not even sure how to line them up with a recipe that calls for one or two onions. Looks like they're all like the equivalent of 4 supermarket onions.
Good video.
Looking forward for an update on how they store.
And maybe next year i also will plant from seed.
😀 I do wonder how different they will store.
Excellent as always. We're growing in a similar zone to yours - if a bit wetter - and I always appreciate the insights, attention to detail, and thoughtfulness that your bring to your work.
Thanks for that comment! Glad you find value in the work I do and my videos.
Thanks Bruce. I have also tryied seeds and sets. Mixed results, and I do find sets less hastle. But as noted availability of sets and variaty does make seeds a better option. I may just continue with both for now, but I am interested in the stats of variety once you have these, including best storage. Thank you so much for the valued information and work 👍
Yeah, I find sets are less hassle, for the most part, but mainly because I am not great at looking after seedlings. I plan to put out another video once I get some data on yield.
Your detective work and reports are fantastic!!! Keep up the excellent work.
Thank you! Will do!
i’ve NEVER been successful with onion seeds, makes me so sad. Yours look beautiful btw! Maybe i’ll try onion sets! I’ve since done really well with shallots!
Hope you have more success next time.
I seem to have more luck w shallots sets than onion sets, so decided to get some seed this year. I still need to figure out my planting window for seeds though. I have direct sown leeks w great success. So maybe you might want to give that a try 😏
Thank you so much for very good informative. I very enjoyed watching and learn a lot from your video thank you again for sharing 😊
🙂
I live in a climate where we have to start onion by seed in February. For my first try, a good portion were very large!
Good to hear about your first success.
Hi, bolting depens on if you transplant the seedlings befor frost. If they get frost they beleve it is the second year and there for its natural for the seedlings to bolt. Best wishes from Sweden /Annika.
That is something that I considered, but all the plants would have got the same frost experience, but some bolted and some didn’t, so I don’t know how much of an issue that would be.
Interesting. I have saved seeds from some old red onions I planted. I enjoyed the beautiful flowers. I want to see if I can grow a new generation.
The flowers are so beautiful! Hope they grow for you,
I decided to try onions from seed this year too and it turned out well- I want try more varieties next year- yours look stunning! I love the look of the tropea so I’ll try that next year.
Thanks for putting out these videos!
Thank you! Hope you have a good crop next year.
Onions! my fav! I have been doing bought plants for some years now with great sucess, but tried seeds for 1 var this year and found this to be an improvement over the same var from boughten plants. This year I grew a short day var (Bermuda) in my long day zone to try to get pearl onions. I worked out great, planted late march and harvested early june as they were tipping over, they were a great onion and still storeing well. this allowed me to follow with beets in this spot ,and then when up and going well I planted acorn squash with them and had a tripple crop out of that space.
That sounds great, thanks for sharing your planting strategies. I am still trying to get my head around the short vs long day onions, as none of the onion varieties I can get over here are labelled as either. Something I need to look into some more.
@@REDGardens It may be, that in your area either long or short day will grow well. You can always ask Google! For example Google just informed me that Ailsa Craig is a long day variety, and also good for longer term storage. I suppose that also depends on one's ability to store. As here in my region of Texas we do not have basements, nor root cellars, and also have high humidity year round.
Bruce, rather than prepping & roasting the onions for a taste test,, maybe you could donate an assortment of onions to various local restaurant chefs & let them decide which ones had the best flavor over your various growing mediums. Although I imagine they are all extremely good as they are organically grown! I am certain they would be delighted to try them out and then you will also get to know which ones seem the most common to them. P.S. there may be a future idea for a cookbook as well ( perhaps with a portion of the proceeds from sale going to a seed savers exchange group. Just a thought!! )
That would be a cool thing to do, if we had any local restaurants, or at least any close enough for me. I did pass a few of each variety to 4 different houses of friends that I knew were 'foodies' with the request of sending feedback.
I rarely comment, but this time I would like to express, that I really like the style you present information: articulate, straight to the point and providing data. Your videos are really enjoyable to watch! As for the onions: I used sets of Stuttgarten Riesen and Sturon (sown 2-4pcs) - Sturon gave more stable result in terms of size, BUT on the other hand it is useful to have different sizes of onions in the kitchen. The fist size ones are ideal for pickling cucumbers, making potato salads etc, but the smaller sized ones better for fresh salads, gravies etc.
Ah, thanks for that comment! It means a lot! I agree that it is nice to have different size onions in the kitchen. A factor I didn’t think about in this video, but you are right that diversity of size is good.
Hello from Latvia :)
@@REDGardens I really appreciate a variety of onion sizes at the market as well. As a single it is sometimes difficult to use up a huge onion in one go, however at times that is all I seem to find in the" by the pound" bins.
Has nobody mentioned the squirrel at 3:26? What a nice little surprise in an already great video 🙂
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Beautiful onions! I grew Alisa Craig and globo onions for the first time this year and will definitely be growing them again. Looks like I'll need to try the Alisa Craigs in pots too. Very impressive!
Thanks! I was quite impressed by it all, and plan to save seeds from some of the Alisa Craig onions next year.
Squirrel at 3:25 is like "Oh, don't mind me, just keep talking"
I was aware if something scurrying behind me, but didn’t think it had got in the shot!
Fascinating experiments, thanks for posting. It's almost too much data to make sense of but, no doubt, initial ideas will be clarified in future years.
Thanks. Yes, there is too much data even for me, and more coming in about taste, usability and storability! In some ways it is just easier to pick a few that are good enough, or to at least drop a bunch to narrow the field.
im still eating last years sets, the hilariously expensive F1 Jagro and the dutch no1 commercial variety F1 Cupido. They grew well and had very few bolters, no disease was seen. good storage, and were ready late july in UK. After watching this video i want to try seeds though, some of these onions in this video are far far larger than anything i have grown
Your channel is amazing and an invaluable research resource, you're the America's Test Kitchen of gardening. On your next onion trial I would urge you to experiment with pruning the stalks at various growth stages to test their effects on bolting. I've read this is one of the keys to getting the big ones. We really appreciate all the work and science you put into making these outstanding videos, thanks Bruce.
Ah, thanks!!
Very nice background. Such a lovely location.
So much nicer than a rained on plastic hoop house interior.
Still loving your videos from having stumbled upon the very first one so long ago.
Nice to see a real scientific following of actual gardening
Thanks! It is a lovely spot in the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada (visiting family).
Really enjoyed earlier onion video and this one does not disappoint! I look forward to growing large crops of onions in retirement and your videos are the primary reason (even though I remember my grandfather's onions from many years ago). And grow bags...I must try!
Awesome! Thanks for watching, and happy growing!
Hello from Florida. I am a new subscriber and love growing onions, nice big sweet ones are my favorites. Never could grown an onion up until 2 years ago when I saw a video that purchased the plants from Dixondale Farms in Texas. So I did some reading to learn that the little bulbs I was planting wouldn't work for me. I never used to get anything of size. So I planted the ones from the farms and they suggested for my area to plant beginning December. They were ready in May and they were beautiful. Did the same last year too. They're called Texas Legend and I still have so many left after harvesting in May. This year I did decide though to also try the seeds. Texas Sweets is the name. I started the seeds 2 days ago and they're already popping out. I have some big hopes for these. I would like to be able to do my own and save some money also. I will still buy the plant starts this year just in case the seeds don't work. Your harvest was beautiful.
Florida Gardener
Zone 9a
Hello there in Florida! Thanks for sharing your experiences. Sounds like you have a type of onion and a timing that works well in your climate. I wonder what the effect of different sowing/planting times Would be here.
I've always found planting onions too early leads to bolting. Much easier to make that mistake with sets because it's tempting to order them early and chuck them in when they arrive with the excitement of a new season (I'm like a keen child every Feb and can't seem to shake the impatience to get going). I get plenty of bolting with seed grown ones too though. I'm pretty sure it's from them going in too early or there being a cold/hot alternating snap in early spring. I noted that the only year I had no bolting at all was when I'd planted both sets and seedlings in early April and we had a mild/consistent spring.
I always do sets AND seed because I like to thin spring onions down to one I leave to bulb up and I grow some huge 'exhibition' ones for an annual competition with my neighbour (bit of fun).
Having said all of that, I still planted my onions weeks ago here lol. I just can't stop myself! If we get any really cold weather now I'll be cursing myself and expecting a lot of bolting this year ;)
Just LOVE your videos RED. Please don't ever stop! You do a great job. It's so fascinating to watch ppl like you and Charles with your different approaches and characters shinning through in your gardens. I suspect you are just about to hit the tipping point of popularity on youtube this season. 250k subs by the end of this year, mark my words ;)
We have also been getting later frosts in the uk which I wonder would cause extra stress, which in turn causes bolting.
Good one Bruce. I've got my onions going this year from my OWN seed! It's only spring here and I put the seedlings out a week ago. When you save your own seed, my advice would be to choose one variety. I put out my best five from three varieties and got some totally frankenstein crosses. They were non-hybrids, but I put out reds and yellows and got lots of beautiful seed but many crosses. It wasn't a huge drama but I got less of our best storage variety in Australia - Creamgold. I reckon this is the only way to go...
Thanks for sharing your experiences. The Frankenstein crosses sound fun, but something I want to avoid for a while. I will definitely only be trying to save from one variety a season.
Thanks for another great video! We grow onions and shallots from seed as well now. If we can get the seedlings strong and keep them happy until the soil warms we too have been shocked at the size of the crop even when they are planted densely. We haven't noticed a difference in storage ability with various sizes, but have found that shallots seem to last the longest, with few of them spoiling or sprouting for up to 9 months; and we do not have a proper cold room for storage.
That is interesting, thanks for sharing your experiences.
Would be fascinated to hear a taste comparison between the 15 varieties
Yeah! I am liking forwarded to trying them but not sure how I can do a proper taste comparison! That would be a lot of frying pans or raw onions to eat!
After watching 5 back to back videos, that were pretty much infomercials slinging products for a buck instead of actual gardening, today before youtube brought to yours in my subscription chain, I want to thank you for not littering your channel with affiliate links, product name drops, and bad advise in the name of making a buck. Just pure gardening with a scientific look at methods, an optional patreon link if anyone wants to use it and no speeches about how we should tithe. Thanks for making great content!
Thanks for that comment. It means a lot. I work hard to avoid all that, as it annoys me as well. And I suspect it reduces my credibility for some people. Good to get confirmation of that.
Seeds are definitely the way to go. Onions are biennials and sets will often go to seed whereas seedlings won't. Seedlings also grow, in my experience depending on the seed you use, bigger than sets.
The size of those is crazy. I’ve tried growing onions forever but they rarely get bigger than a shallot size. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. They are the correct varieties for our area. Maybe we just have too short of a growing season.
Have you trimmed them while they were growing? Remember, they're medium to heavy feeders and need to be regularlar since their roots are shallow.
Love it. I've done Ailsa craig the last couple of years from seed on the smallholding, and this year they were pretty large if I say so myself - but also a fair few bolted. I put it down to seeing if they could survive without a single watering, which they did (SW Scotland). But having watched this, there probably are a lot of factors at play.
I grow 8-10 per cell in a 40 cell tray, and leave them in the tray until they're really starting to look pretty cramped, and then tease them apart after a heavy soaking, keeping roughly the strongest 2/3rds. It probably is pretty stressful on them, but from a labour perspective it seems to be the right balance and I only have to find homes for a few trays. After transplanting, they all perk up pretty quickly.
Next year will be trying a couple of densely sown rows in a nursery bed in the polytunnel as well as the module tray approach.
Your sowing and transplanting technique is interesting, especially for how much space for trays it can save.
I really want less work, and your comment sounds very interesting!
Do you transplant your seedlings into a second tray? Rather than directly into the ground?
@@itsmeraz3008 I've done a couple of approaches - direct into the ground, 4" spacing, 6" between a triple row in the bed.
Second approach which was also used for the leeks was planting the module cells still as clumps into a small trough in the polytunnel, to let them grow on a bit more before final transplanting.
But I'm still experimenting each year! That's one of the joys of seed being pretty cheap, can try a few things.
Thank you, that's very interesting.
I have successfully ish done leeks in clumps, but onions for some reason haven't seemed to work for me. I'm inspired to try again.
I think I'll try Ailsa Craig and see how I get on in Yorkshire.
dam red ..those onions look great ..
something I tried last year was cutting off most of the tops before the bolt ..
not to low just above were they were starting to bend ..and we used the tops for onion top pesto ..
it seemed to work well ...didn't notice any difficulty in size ..I will find the you tube Chanel I learned this from ..and repost to this comment
It was a lovely crop! Interesting approach, cutting them off early. Something to try in the future.
I was typing the words save your own seeds just as you said it.
🙂
WELL DONE! I am in New England, across the pond from you, similar latitude. for me, my experience:
I planted from seed White Sweet Spanish, Red Beard Bunching, Red Burgundy, Ruby Red Long, Pompeii White, and Utah Yellow. All from seed, all started Feb 15th. I transplanted outside into 25 gallon Grow Bags, March 17th. In addition to the 25 gallon bags, I would transplant an onion or two into any of the 7 gallon grow bags for a Pepper, and 10 gallon bags for a tomato. Soil: One third is a rich compost (my own from years' past), next third is reused soil from year's past, and one third is new bagged soil. I use a granular fertilizer mixed, and then, once a month a liquid fertilizer with higher nitrogen and phosphorus. I have always done this: way OVER SEED, then, after I start seeing small bulbs, I start harvesting/thinning and use that for cooking in early summer. This past couple of weeks, I have been harvesting the onions for storage and drying. Any of the damaged (but usable) onion I chop for dehydrating. Also, dehydrating the Red Beard Bunching Onion.
My first year or two, I simply had no idea bout long day v/ short day, and once I understood that, my yields were both larger bulbs and more successes.
Thanks for all of that detail. Very interesting!
I grow quite a lot in large containers the onions do particular.y well,but need water daily in dry weather,I use rochdust and biochar in my compost bins,and use liquid feeds,seaweed etc.
That is interesting to hear that you also got good results from containers.
What AWESOME information. Thank you very much.
Glad it was helpful!
The bolting is such a mystery ! Thanks !
Still haven't figured that one out.
What a great experiment. Awesome how everything works out.
Love it, this year I did eden style onions with seeds too for 1st time. I used a johnnys seeder though to direct seed the onions in, made it super easy.
I should try direct seeding.
@@REDGardens Seeder made it easy, funny I thought I should try some blocks this next year. Mine didn't get as big but I didn't do any thinning either.
mine grown in the same plastic bag as yours gave me 7mm onions
Another fantastic inspiring video thanks.
🙂
Thak you for your canel. /Annika
🙂
For future plantings of onions from seed be aware onion seed does not keep well for over a year. The germination rate will be severely affected on seed over 1 year old.
I was concerned about that, as some of the seed packets I had were several years old, but was surprised how good the germination was.
I always have good luck growing from seed, never tried sets before. Except this year. I think it was because i tried direct sowing, that was a first for me. In South Africa we have hot summers and must only start the end of summer seeing as our autumn is like the perfect weather. Hot at day and cool at nights. It is devestating. Having no onions this year and last year I gave away because I had wayyyyyy too many. Almost like squash, if you catch my drift. Your onions are exceptional. I also appreciate your tests, as I also practice solely no dig. I also suffer of excessive bolting, that is why I planted too much last year. What I did different last year, I started to push the tops down when it was more or less time. I had significantly less bolting. That was a tip uncle Charles Dowding gave on his channel, and we all know he is the Father of no dig. Like you are the king of no rules compost. My go to video when I get depressed and want to recycle failed crops.
Thanks for the comments, and for sharing your experiences!
Another great video , full of all the information any grower could want
Thanks!
I love onions you did well, very impressed, may have to try growing them closer than the recommended spacing.
It seems to be a crop that I need to experiment with quite a bit more.
I live in the desert and my favorite onion to grow is Egyptian walking onions instead of seeds they produces small sets on top that start to grow and sometimes produce more sets that can be popped off and planted.
I am in the prairies of Canada and also favor the walking onion, I read they are most closely related to Welsh bunching onions and garlic. This year I'm treating them exactly like garlic, plant in fall then I'll harvest the sets at same time as garlic scapes, cure them together and see how that turns out.
That's a nice experiment, growing on grow bags,you can really see the difference in each variety because there's no competition 😉
Yeah, there are definite benefits to using grow bags like that. I am looking forward to using them to try out a lot of little things, though they do take a lot of watering.
I’ve tried both.
Sets are by far easier but you do get better results with seeds if you look after them properly and get a little bit of luck,
After this season, I agree with you.
What’s your plan for next season? Seeds again?
I’m going back to seeds after sets this year, I got some good results but also some disease and bolting. I liked how easy they where to grow considering I was just setting up a second allotment plot but seeds are the way to go I think.
@@mikeybyrne5806 Yes, seeds again, though might grow sets as well as a side by side comparison. I am also thinking of doing a trial of sowing at different times, to see how that changes things.
I was happy when I switched to onion seeds to
It was a nice switch to make!
The advantage of saving seeds is the naturalizing and selection of disease resistant plants as well. The advantages outweigh the hassle. Can you remove the flower head on onions without harming the plant?
I wonder how long that process will take to make a noticeable difference.
So many onions...onions store great a very useful crop I say
Yes, very useful.
Great !!! Congratulations....
🙂
In southern Germany I had a good year with my onions, Stuttgarter Reisen. Planted sets and had maybe 3% bolted.
Sounds good, even in the heat Europe had this year!
@@REDGardens Yes, I was surprised as well. 3 yrs ago; first attempt at onions, pretty good, 2 yrs ago; decimated by the allium leaf miner, Last yr; did not plant to avoid the fly, which I suspect prob came with some store bought compost. This year; my plan worked, only 2 plants out of about 75 hit by the fly and I promptly tossed them. And, with the lack of rain and minimal watering, they did surprisingly well, which kind of goes against what I had read about onions thriving in moist soil. Love your work, thanks.
Try growing onions the way it’s traditional done in Italy. Sow the seeds in September after the full moon, plant in November/ December.
By the way, awesome Cipolle di Tropea! You should be proud of growing such beautiful crop in Ireland! That’s a southern Italy type of onion!
I do want to explore different sowing times. And I am quite pleased with the Cipolle di Tropea, and looking forward to trying them!
3:31 a little squirrel!!!
I love your honesty.
😀
Nice harvest, even with the bolting issues you had.
I started several hundred onions from seed in December, giving them haircuts along the way, when they got leggy, until I could get them in the ground in late March. Unforeseen though, was that I used autumn leaves as mulch - the robins and grackles were all over the place digging in the mulch. What they didn't pull out of the ground looking for worms and insects, they mangled or covered up with mulch. Got a total of 4 onions from all that work. It was rather disheartening. Going forward, I won't be putting onions in beds that are mulched with leaves.
Ah, those can be tough lessons! I’ve had a fair few of similar lessons. I like the idea of starting early and giving ‘haircuts’, and thinking of trying it for next year.
Experimenting is indeed always good if you have the time for it.
I seem to have the time in the spring to start, but. It necessarily the time to keep track of everything in the busy part of the summer!
@@REDGardens that's why I experiment with the question of how far can I take the plant and forget style... :) I don't need the biggest harvest if I don't need to put in effort. (I have the land but not the time)
I’ve had first year bolting when the plant is stressed before they start to bulb out. One year it froze for several days in late spring, another year it was too much rain in early summer. I’ve heard bolted onions don’t store well, is this true? Edit: I do hope you’ll revisit the storing ability of the different types too!
I usually don’t store bolted onions, so I don’t know how long they last. Hope you have a better crop next year.
Very interesting video. I live about an hours drive from you, I grew Globo individually from seed, none bolted and got some huge onions, some over 2lbs in weight. I also grew Ailsa Craig, multi sown. I would say about 15% bolted but the rest were good size onions. Stronger flavour than Globo. All in raised beds.
That is interesting that the Alisa Craig bolted, especially as we would have had similar growing weather. Can I ask when you sowed them, transplanted them, and how far apart they were planted?
@@REDGardens I'm afraid record keeping is a severe weak spot for me but Globo were sown on Jan 9th and Ailsa on Feb 13th. I would have planted out based on size rather than weather conditions, sort of pencil like stems. Planted in rows, Globo about 2 inches apart when fully grown, rows about 6in apart when grown. Ailsa was slightly farther apart to give them more room as planted in groups of 3 or 4.
It's my 2nd year growing Globo, great results both times. My extended family absolutely love them so I haven't had any stored for long, but I've read that they store well.
@@philipfurnell7047 I'm planning to grow Globo next year and would love any information on how they store since all the local seed producers state that they grow huge but store poorly...
@@kubaistube Unfortunately I haven't had any in store for a prolonged period as they get eaten but I thought one of the seed companies said they store well
3:30 squirrel
I appreciated that you have shown the onion varieties in alphabetical order
Haha, that is the only way I can make sure that I don’t mix up the varieties. When I can I plant them in alphabetical order, and then when I am labelling the video clips, they end up the same order. So just easier to keep it that way. Glad you appreciate the result of my laziness!
3:33 - Hello squirrel! :)
🙂
Here on the west coast of Canada I have found that onions growing from seed are so much better than onions grown from sets that I no longer buy sets. My seed comes from Italy, Cippola, which I have found excellent. I find that I get bigger bulbs and fewer problems such as bolting by not being too greedy. I use 5 cm cells, and reduce to only one plant per cell. I also use fertile soil, not starting mix. I don't find I need to start them earlier than mid April - since I am growing mainly for storage I need not be in a hurry, and I thus avoid the growing problems that early spring often provides in this part of the world.
That is all very interesting. I am looking forward to exploring the varieties and timing of the different crops for different purposes. Including, as you mention, sowing them so that they can avoid issues at different times of the year. I am a bit annoyed that I let the poor crop that the local Community Far always produced, put me off trying seeds for so long.
Thank you for another great video. The sets I buy bolted terribly this year. I think I will try seeds next season and see if they form better bulbs. The background for this video looks like you could be out in the woods here in Virginia.
I filmed this in the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada (I'm visiting family here).
Hi Bruce, another interesting video. I’ve been experimenting with onions and in particular seeds for a couple of years.
I have to say I am scratching my head at your experience this year, I’ve never had any of my seed onions bolt. The only thing I can think of which I don’t think was mentioned was watering / drainage?
I always sow on New Year’s Day or even earlier for shallots and it’s not been a problem. This year I might do some staging experiments by sowing nov/Dec/Jan etc and note the results.
You seem to have access to a lot of varieties so I need to do more research. I’ve always been pleasantly surprised with size but some of yours are incredible!
It is a strange one. We have been fairly consistent with watering across the gardens, so I don’t think that is an issue. One of the gardens that bolted has firm in tilled soil, but decent drainage still, and the other is double dug to produce a loose soil, but they both bolted.
I suspect too much fertility, or an imbalance of fertility, combined with some other factor like sowing time and density.
The only other possibility I can think of is the plants that bolted are in more sheltered locations, so may have been affected during the hot and calm weather we had earlier in the summer.
This was an awesome video. What a wonderful and indeed inspiring piece of work
Thank you!
Awsome info, thanks for sharing!
🙂
I've always planted from seed because i can't get sets here in Australia. In autumn I plant seed densely in rows in the garden bed, like a little onion nursery, and replant them in their growing spots at the end of winter. It's pretty mild here though, we don't really get frost. I found that so long as they get enough water through summer, they always do pretty well on neglect
I'm really interested in growing garlic from true seed though. I learnt that it's a trait that's been bred out of modern garlic, and I haven't found any seed for sale, or managed to save any viable seed. I'll keep trying because I think it would be interesting to see their true growing cycle.
Interesting idea to transplant seedlings from a seedbed, similar to leeks. I have not heard of anyone growing garlic from seed, but that would be interesting.
@@REDGardens yes just like leeks. I'm pretty useless with seed trays because I forget to water and they all dry out. In the ground the little plants can get what they need even if I forget, for the most part. Onions are so hardy. Even if they lose most of their roots they still bounce back so well.
Mine were a failure this year :(
Unfortunate. Hopefully you were able to determine what the problem was. That way it won’t happen again!
Ah, sorry to hear that. I had a really bad crop a few years ago.
I know the feeling my friend. Very sorry to hear your disappointing season.
Mine too, I do seeds as well but this year a poor harvest. Other things flourished so I can deal but always expect at least one crop will humble me each year.
There must have been significant cost savings of using seeds rather than sets
3:25 yay bonus squirell :D
🙂
You didn't mention, or if you did I didn't understand, if it was particular varieties that bolted, or if it was across all the varieties. I'm sure you know this, but my first thought was that you had some varieties that were bred for further south. Onions of course are photoperiod sensitive and varieties are bred for a certain range of latitudes. As far north as you are you need to be careful about which types you select, although it looked like those Italian varieties did surprisingly well.
I am surprised how well the Italian types did. The three varieties that bolted in two gardens didn’t bolt in the other gardens. I expect some varieties may be more prone to bolting, as you suggest, but that doesn’t seem to be the full reason for the difference between the gardens.
3:25 🐿
🙂
Would it be convenient to grow some onion seeds into sets for yourself?
I've heard of someone making a small, rich bed to sow seeds very closely near the end of the season, letting the bulbs grow to inch or so size, then knocking over the leaves to halt their growth so they would harden into sets. He said they grew into lovely onions the following spring.
I'm not sure what advantages that may have over directly sowing as seeds in the spring. But he said it was great for him to have sets of varieties that normally are not sold as sets.
I wonder if that would help any. I have heard the the sets we buy have some kind of treatment to reduce the chance of bolting, so I wonder if the tiny sets I grew would be more likely to bolt. It would be interesting to try.
The bolting in two of the gardens may have been due to micro climates caused by exposure to wind
That is an interesting thought. The crop that bolted the most is perhaps the most sheltered, so I was thinking the opposite, that it got too warm when we had a bit of a heat wave, but the other gardens were able to cool down a bit more.
I let my garlic go to seed and nothing came up my neighbor asked me what the weeds were in her yard. Turns out the strong cross wind sent the seeds to her yard and her neighbors yard. Not the first time this has happened last year she got onions, mint, amaranth, marigolds, basil, rosemary and cabage.
have you done a video on where and how you store all these things you produce? I'd like to see the canning room you must have.
I haven’t yet, but might do one next year.
I always do from seed. Always get big onions, they almost always last until the next year is ready and take up no space until planted. Like 30 seeds to a 3" pot and planted individually. Mine are curing now in a setup l made that l got the idea from you! I want to try multisown, or multiplanted rather since my sowing method l like.
Interesting that you have not had any issues with bolting.
@@REDGardens Not a single one bolted this year! Usually l get maybe 3-5% max but no, not an issue l have with seed.
Quality video as always.
🙂
size really is king with onions imo, most veg I'll always prioritize density of flavor(not that they're mutually exclusive ofc), but onions get so consistently finely processed in the kitchen that the workload of peeling many small just sucks, it also exponentially increases knife work. these do look fine though.
I agree! In the kitchen, a large onion is so much easier, though the smaller ones are better if quartering for roasting.
great video top shelf channel thank you. bolt? cold.
Thanks. If cold was the issue, then why in two gardens and not in the other three, they all experienced the same temperature range. So cold might be a factor, but only in combination with something else.
squirrel at 3:33 !
photobomb
I think part of it might have been climate, sounds like you had a very good (albeit hot, hence some extra bolting) onion year.
Interesting to see how it averages out over a longer timespan, if we have the luxury of getting any non-heatwave years in europe any more.
It was a good onion year, and the trend seems to be warmer, but hopefully avoiding the intense heat. But we will have to deal with whatever comes.
My mother would bend and break the onion leaves that were bolting to force the energy back to the bulb. Have you heard of this?
I have heard of this but haven’t tried it.
Great content as always
👍
0:18 whoa whoa whoa -- when did you grow those cliffs?
Not in Kansas (Tipperary) anymore!
3:32 we see you little friend :D
Yeah, they snuck up on me!
I used to grow them from sets, too but 2 years ago I got onion rot and since I've never had onion rot ever before, nobody's growing onions around me for miles (I live in the middle of nowhere) so I have to assume that the bacteria came in on the sets - despite having bought them from reputable garden centres. Since that I only grow onions from seeds, and again no onion rot issues. Except for the beds I had the bad sets in, now I have to skip them for onions for 8 years... So defo no sets for me ever again. 😕
That is one of the reasons for switching to seeds that I forgot to mention. I would not want to bring in any disease on the sets. Apart from seed potatoes, onion sets are the only plants I import into the gardens, everything else I grow from seed.
Where did you film this video? It looks like you're in the woods in between St. Louis, and Kansas City in Missouri. ( I know you're in the U.K., but it does look like you're in the Mark Twain Forest).
One of the things that I have noticed about peppers, onions, and potatoes, are that they either are effected by altitude, average temperature, or soil. For instance, the major farms that produce potatoes and onions are in cooler climates like in Colorado, Idaho... (2 different hardiness zones), and the soil is silty/powdery light brown (Powdered chocolate milk but lighter brown). Which, I always associate with nutrient deficient soil. Sweet potatoes are grown in the South like Georgia, and Alabama, and their soil always looks deficient because of years of monocultures growing practices with cotton, peanuts, and the Vidalia onions (Sweet onion that is grown exclusively in Vidalia, Georgia. (Complete different hardiness zone and altitudes than Colorado and Idaho, but their soil is more reddish brown like it has a higher Iron content. So, my thoughts are that you have found a few varieties that do exceptionally well in your area.
Peppers are my thing nowadays. In New Mexico, they have Hatch chilies, which are also the same pepper as Pueblo chilies, but each are grown in either Hatch, New Mexico, or Pueblo, Colorado. in different altitudes, and hardiness zones and soils. I've tested this by growing in my own soil in my own state of Kansas in a complete different hardiness zone, soil structure, and altitude. My peppers are the same "Big Jim" variety that Hatch and Pueblo both grow, but somehow, my peppers are not like ones grown in both Colorado, or New Mexico. They are smaller, and they don't seem as flavorful as the others. Furthermore, I have had bad success with growing both potatoes, and onions in my area.
However, I do find it interesting that your largest growth success was in a tiny bag of soil with general store bought fertilizer. If you can grow clusters in tiny bags of soil, you could essentially go vertical with grow walls freeing up valuable real estate for other more valuable crops.
I like your channel because it makes the gears turn in my mind, and helps me to generate new ideas to try when I have all but given up on certain crops. I've had nothing but abysmal failures this year in the garden because of extreme high temperatures over 105f for consecutive weeks, which have stunted the growth of everything, and the production of everything.
Thanks for the upload of this video and your channel.
I filmed this at the site of an old abandoned quarry in the Niagara Escarpment, in Ontario, Canada (I am visiting family).
I was really surprised that so many of the onions did quite well, I was sure some would be really poor. Will see what happens next season.
Thanks for the comments, it is really great to hear that my videos prompt people to think about their own situation. Sorry to hear that you had a poor crop this year.
I think its the cultivar/genetics that your trying out. Some were better suited for your envrionment vs others being stressed and bolting. Some pest such as nematodes and/or microbes can affect your yields if you dont use crop rotation. Its always good to do a soil test to check your soil health.
I always use crop rotation with the onions and other crops to try to avoid those kind of soil issues, but perhaps it isn't enough. I am not sure why the 3 varieties bolted in two gardens, but the same 3 varieties didn't bolt at all in the other three gardens, so I don't think variety issues are the only factor at work here.
@@REDGardens Yeah its also been a weird year for weather for many across the world so I agree it can be many things. There is always next year to find out.lol I just started a bunch of cultivars indoors to have some fun with grafting. You should do some grafting content or series considering there isnt much content for it on youtube. Thanks for the content and reply. Have a great day!