This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Onions sets in modules
Tonks
Posts: 54
in Fruit & veg
Hi all, hoping for some advice. I have planted 100 onion sets in modules in the green house and they have just started showing green shoots.
At some point in the spring I'll need to transfer them to the veg patch but do I pull just the onion out and transplant or see if I can gently remove the whole 'module' with soil and onion before transplanting?
Also, do I need to wait until the soil is warm or can they go out any time?
Thanks!
0
Posts
I would remove the whole module. How wet is your garden? Wouldn't want them to rot. I don't plant my onion sets until the end of March, or even early April, straight into the ground in the veggie garden, you will have onions earlier than me, but mine ripen when the weather is warm in summer and they store very well. Didn't need to buy any onions last year.
I do this every year with great success. By the time it comes to plant them, the whole module will be filled with roots so there is no decision to be made.
I have grown mine in 5inch deep paper home made pots, as it is newspaper, the whole lot will be planted out, no root disturbance.
Busy Lizzie, my garden in sodden at the moment, no chance of them going out for a while!
Bob, thanks for words of advice, now you mention it it seems obvious but has put my mind at rest.
Good idea Lyn, you must have more patience than me, I'm not sure I could make ten paper pots let alone 100!
I have one of those gadgets calles a Potter, very quick and easy, made a hundred in no time.
modules for me too. As others have said, once they're a decent size, they come out nice and easily ready to go in the ground,and the birds tend not to pull them out so easily, but they do try.
Setton for whites and red baron for reds, scroggin. Both do well here but the reds do seem a bit slower to get going - I always start more than I need so the weakest don't make it to the beds.
That's the ideal, Mike. However, some soils don't warm up fast enough to give a long enough growing season for some crops, so the choice is to either give nature a helping hand or not grow certain crops and I would miss the onions!