I'm not sure what to make of this business of growing onions from seed. Its my first time trying it and so far the jury is out. Germination was painfully slow, even under glass(though not with heat, I didn't see the point as they are a cold weather crop). Eventually they sprouted and grew, each wearing the distinctive little black cap that was the original seed coat. After a while a few appeared to keel over, or shrivel up and die despite good air circulation every day. More germinated later on. Now the seedlings are tiny, slim slivers of light green, it seems impossible that they could meet or pass out the sturdy onion sets from the co-op, yet that is what other gardeners say they will do !!
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| onion seedlings sown 15 January, variety Stamme |
Anyway I took them out to start hardening them off as its such a lovely day today. It was the first time I saw them up close and I realised something, the roots are practically on the surface! How odd. So it wasn't dampening off that took out the earlier few. As best I could I gently covered the little white roots and gave them a little misting with rainwater, later on I will start them on a weekly feed of maxicrop.Stay tuned and I will update you on how they are getting on.
O and just to say I tried three lots of onion seeds. Fresh seeds, and two out of date packs. The out of date packs (2007, 2010) did not germinate at all, so it goes to show that if you are trying onions from seed they don't remain viable for long. I wonder if its the same for other onion family seeds?
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| roots visible on the surface-WTF?? |
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