AKgardener wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:10 pm I have been itchen to start onions from seed and I just started mine on February 13th shallots leeks yellow onion and purple onion

Hope you're successful. I've been on a quest to grow colossal onions from seed. I was able to grow them last year but had to use Dixondale plants. The ones I grew from seed were baseball sized or smaller.

Where in Alaska do you live? I have fond memories of our visits to Anchorage, Kenai penisula, Kennicott Copper Mines, Denali, etc. We went there twice and will have to go back. The thing I remember most is having so much energy at night time because of how much light there exists. I also remember how expensive produce is in the grocery stores and how poor the quality can be. Hopefully that has changed.

Getting good onion seedlings is quite tricky. You need a sort of greenhouse/tunnel. Because you need to grow them outside for quite a long time (like 3 months). Growing them inside didn't go very well for me, but depends on your conditions. If it's too warm in the first months, they will not sit straight and will not be thick, will be a mess. Also, cut them regularly, especially if they start drooping.

mama_lor wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 7:12 am Getting good onion seedlings is quite tricky. You need a sort of greenhouse/tunnel. Because you need to grow them outside for quite a long time (like 3 months). Growing them inside didn't go very well for me, but depends on your conditions. If it's too warm in the first months, they will not sit straight and will not be thick, will be a mess. Also, cut them regularly, especially if they start drooping.

My seedlings that I grew by the window and outside were just fine. The only issue is that they were not colossal sized like Dixondale. I did trim them but I think a bit too aggressively.

As for seedlings standing straight, I think that is helped if one buries the seed under 1/4" - 1/2" of soil. If they're dropped on top of the surface, they tend to not have as good of a root system.

I start onion seeds in the house in a large bulb pot, but as soon as they start to emerge, I set the pot outside in the sun on our deck as long as the temperature is above freezing. Tucked against the brown wood siding next to the house, the warm micro climate provided is better than any artificial light in the house, plus some breeze to strengthen the stalks. They come in at night and go under lights only if there will be a longer period of cold cloudy days.

ddsack wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:08 am I start onion seeds in the house in a large bulb pot, but as soon as they start to emerge, I set the pot outside in the sun on our deck as long as the temperature is above freezing. Tucked against the brown wood siding next to the house, the warm micro climate provided is better than any artificial light in the house, plus some breeze to strengthen the stalks. They come in at night and go under lights only if there will be a longer period of cold cloudy days.

I agree that outside direct sunlight is the best. What do you mean by a bulb pot? A one gallon container? So you sprinkle a bunch of seeds on top and grow them as a big clump? Then separate them when you transplant to the garden?

Here is a picture from last year after they went out to the greenhouse and had a trim or two. The pot in the upper left is a normal pot, the other three "bulb pans" are shallower and wider. They come in two sizes, I like the larger 5" tall, 10" diameter. The pot size really does not matter, but I can get more seeds of one variety sown in the wider pots. Yes, I grow them to transplant size in these pots, fertilized as necessary since they are crowded.


I don't claim to be an onion expert, but this works for me. The blue pot has early radishes that I grew to eating size in the pot. I did thin them some for bigger radishes.

ddsack wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 4:06 pm Yes, I grow them to transplant size in these pots, fertilized as necessary since they are crowded.

Do you recall the size of your seedlings at transplant time? Mine were the size of a thick toothpick. I'm trying to get them to be closer to pencil thickness. How often do you fertilize the seedlings and the name of the product?

ponyexpress wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 3:58 pm

AKgardener wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:10 pm I have been itchen to start onions from seed and I just started mine on February 13th shallots leeks yellow onion and purple onion

Hope you're successful. I've been on a quest to grow colossal onions from seed. I was able to grow them last year but had to use Dixondale plants. The ones I grew from seed were baseball sized or smaller.

Where in Alaska do you live? I have fond memories of our visits to Anchorage, Kenai penisula, Kennicott Copper Mines, Denali, etc. We went there twice and will have to go back. The thing I remember most is having so much energy at night time because of how much light there exists. I also remember how expensive produce is in the grocery stores and how poor the quality can be. Hopefully that has changed.

I live in wasilla but I really miss my hometown sitka to it’s the most beautiful place miss the ocean the most

ponyexpress wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 8:36 pm

ddsack wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 4:06 pm Yes, I grow them to transplant size in these pots, fertilized as necessary since they are crowded.

Do you recall the size of your seedlings at transplant time? Mine were the size of a thick toothpick. I'm trying to get them to be closer to pencil thickness. How often do you fertilize the seedlings and the name of the product?

They were nowhere near pencil thickness, partly due to crowdedness, but mostly due to my not starting them until March. The sizes were not uniform, because they had about a two week span before all the seeds in the pot germinated. They were the thickness of a phone charging cord, some of the smaller ones may have been toothpick thickness. I am always late in getting them in the garden, so I don't expect them to grow to giant size. Actually, medium sized bulbs are more useful in the kitchen for me. I don't have a preferred fertilizer, I just use a generic store brand that dissolves in water, maybe once a week, or later when the roots have filled the pot with every other watering in a more dilute form.

Here they are in the garden on June 11th of last year, can't remember when they were planted, probably only two weeks earlier since they tend to go into whatever leftover space I have, after the tomatoes go into the ground. I also crowd them more than ideal.

ddsack wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:53 pm They were nowhere near pencil thickness, partly due to crowdedness, but mostly due to my not starting them until March. The sizes were not uniform, because they had about a two week span before all the seeds in the pot germinated. They were the thickness of a phone charging cord, some of the smaller ones may have been toothpick thickness. I am always late in getting them in the garden, so I don't expect them to grow to giant size. Actually, medium sized bulbs are more useful in the kitchen for me. I don't have a preferred fertilizer, I just use a generic store brand that dissolves in water, maybe once a week, or later when the roots have filled the pot with every other watering in a more dilute form.

That's they way they are grown by Dixondale. I get a bundle of plants. Most of them are pencil sized. Some are bigger and some are smaller. Have you seen this video that shows how they are harvested for shipping? Very fascinating.


I agree that medium sized bulbs are more useful but I still like the appeal of growing a giant vegetable.

Do you recall the spacing between your plants in a row? I plant mine 4" apart with each row a foot apart. It looks like you have tighter spacing.

[mention]ponyexpress[/mention] , I did see that video from Dixondale a while ago, it does not seem to hurt the onions to be crowded up to a certain stage when grown for transplanting. My planting spacing is just eyeballing and imagining the size I would like my mature bulb to be, and spacing the next onion seedling so that the imagined mature bulbs would just barely touch each other. I grow in raised beds, so it pains me to see much open ground that is wasted. Of course weeding is a pain because I have to delicately get in between the onions with one of those forked stick hand weeders. I enjoy a few huge onions too, I may just tuck in three or four singly elsewhere in the garden and give them extra room and fert if I happen to not have room for all in the onions beds.
I probably will need to order some Blush F1 plants from Dixondale this year. They are my favorite pinks for flavor and decent storage, everyone else has been out of seed stock this year, and now that Johnny's has some, they are not accepting home gardeners orders unil March 3. By the time seeds arrive in a couple more weeks it will be kind of late, can't decide what to do.

I realize that everyone wants Dixondale-size plants. I have seen Dixondale bundles with over 75 plants no bigger than a matchstick. That was the case last year. There were only 48 Patterson but at least 75 Redwing. All made the advertised size. Key factor has always been to get them into the ground as soon as possible. Biggest onions that I ever grew were Ailsa Craig from single-leaf toothpick size. With such small plants, there is virtually only the original tap root. Minimal root shock and they take off quickly.

My onion bed was prepared last fall and all I have to do is poke holes for thee plants. Unlike most of you, I won't have to rely on someone in Texas to pick out the bundles I want. There will be full cases of at least a dozen varieties in the Jung's store. (That's why I can get Patterson plants which are not in the Dixondale catalog.) I will avoid any bundles with big plants as anything thicker than ¼" will often bolt. Last year, the store manager pulled the bundles and delivered them. Patterson plants were bigger than I would have liked and some did bolt. Not a single Redwing bolted. Nig plants look nice but maybe not the best idea in the long run.

Oh, I doubt if many here have neen growing Dixondale plants as long as I have. First was 1983 and every year since.

Martin

ddsack wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 2:37 pm I probably will need to order some Blush F1 plants from Dixondale this year. They are my favorite pinks for flavor and decent storage, everyone else has been out of seed stock this year, and now that Johnny's has some, they are not accepting home gardeners orders unil March 3. By the time seeds arrive in a couple more weeks it will be kind of late, can't decide what to do.

I grew Blush last year and they turned out well. Just used a couple tonight for the chili I made. Blush & Copra are both holding up in storage, no sprouts yet.

Paquebot wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:05 pm
My onion bed was prepared last fall and all I have to do is poke holes for thee plants. Unlike most of you, I won't have to rely on someone in Texas to pick out the bundles I want. There will be full cases of at least a dozen varieties in the Jung's store. (That's why I can get Patterson plants which are not in the Dixondale catalog.) I will avoid any bundles with big plants as anything thicker than ¼" will often bolt. Last year, the store manager pulled the bundles and delivered them. Patterson plants were bigger than I would have liked and some did bolt. Not a single Redwing bolted. Nig plants look nice but maybe not the best idea in the long run.

Oh, I doubt if many here have neen growing Dixondale plants as long as I have. First was 1983 and every year since.

Growing them since 1983, wow, that's impressive. This is my second year ordering them. I'm the onion coordinator for my community garden and the local Facebook gardening group. Had enough interest that we're getting a full case! So I'll have the pick of the litter. Thanks to you mentioning Patterson that I contacted Dixondale via FB. They said that I could request Patterson even though it's not in the catalog. I did request one bunch. Next year, I'm going to ask what other varieties they carry in their secret catalog. Apparently they are looking to replace Patterson & Copra with a different variety in the not-too-distant future. They are currently trialing some new ones. I would be interested in testing them out myself.

Being the local community garden coordinator has been fun. Besides the onions, I also coordinated seeds from Fedco, Raspberries/Blackberries from Nourse, Strawberries/Asparagus from Fedco, and Texas Tomato Cages.

Pony, you will not be disappointed with Patterson. When I started, with them First Edition was the best keeper that Dixondale had. Copra replaced that. Now I think that Patterson is better than Copra. Can't imagine anything currently in the US beating Patterson. Makó, from Hungary ,would beat them all but not likely to be available in the US.

Martin

Now that many have the idea that bigger is better for onion seedlings, and how some get great results from small ones, you need to know why.

When one buy a bundle of plants from Dixondale they arrive with dry or dead roots. One standard advice with onion seedlings is to trim the roots to no less than ½". Doesn't matter if the plant has 2 roots or 20. If the roots are bare, one can assume that they will die. If only 2 roots, the plant needs only regenerate 2 replacements. Does not have to draw on a lot of energy that it has begun to build. But if 20 roots are involved with a pencil-thickness plant, it takes a lot more time and energy. Just about everything above ground dies and must must be replaced. The more that needs to be replaced, the more time is needed. Hence there is little to gain by aiming for bigger plants.

Martin

Here are mine this year. I think I'll plant them in the ground around April 1. This is the first time trying to grow leeks.

I'm chronicling some of my gardening on YouTube so my mother can enjoy it virtually since she can no longer garden herself and really misses it. I'll try to remember to record them at plant out and at harvest.

Paquebot wrote: ↑Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:44 pm One standard advice with onion seedlings is to trim the roots to no less than ½". Doesn't matter if the plant has 2 roots or 20. If the roots are bare, one can assume that they will die. If only 2 roots, the plant needs only regenerate 2 replacements. Does not have to draw on a lot of energy that it has begun to build. But if 20 roots are involved with a pencil-thickness plant, it takes a lot more time and energy.

What you said is true for Dixondale varieties but the ones I grow, I did not trim at all. They were healthy and took off growing. Dixondale needed at least two weeks to get going. I carefully plant mine in the ground and water heavily afterwards. They seem to do ok.

zendog wrote: ↑Wed Mar 03, 2021 9:54 am
I'm chronicling some of my gardening on YouTube so my mother can enjoy it virtually since she can no longer garden herself and really misses it.

Wow, that’s a lot of leeks you are growing. One suggestion I have is to bottom water your trays. Fill another tray with water and put the pots in for five minutes and then take them out. It’s the recommended way to water once the plants have established themselves.

ponyexpress wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 5:58 am Wow, that’s a lot of leeks you are growing. One suggestion I have is to bottom water your trays. Fill another tray with water and put the pots in for five minutes and then take them out. It’s the recommended way to water once the plants have established themselves.

Lol, yes it is a lot. Way more than I would ever plant myself in my suburban yard and community garden plot. When I buy the seeds, there are so many in the packs and I know they don't have great germination after a few years so I basically plant half the year I buy them and half the next year and just give the hundreds of extras to other gardeners at the community garden, etc. I think I had 20 other gardeners growing "my onions" last year. It is actually really interesting to see how others do with them based on different spacing, different fertilizing, etc. I have the space under the lights before I need it when I'm starting my peppers and tomatoes, so it is just a bit of soil extra. I find many people have extra tomatoes, etc. to share, but few around here start any onions or leeks indoors so these are very welcomoe, plus they are generally the less available varieties, except for the ubiquitous Walla Walla.

While I always bottom water inside, I was thinking that top watering might not be as much of an issue for onions especially out in the breeze and sunlight, but maybe that's not true?