Thread: taking chances with early plantings
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Old 17-03-2012, 02:32 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
songbird[_2_] songbird[_2_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,072
Default taking chances with early plantings
wrote:
....
I am really trying to resist the temptation to plant. Our actual frost
date is April 15 but I am usually planted by the 1st.
Onion question, I put out a bunch of sets. They have grown well for
the amount of time they have been out there but the few I have pulled
are mush. It has been very dry so I don't know what would have made
them rot.

sorry, i cannot claim onion expertise as
this is the first season i am trying to
grow them from seed.

usually we put rooted plants out (not sets)
that are in a flat at a time, like plugs,
around the last week of May and have nice big
fat onions by mid-summer that we pull up and
eat as needed. we know they are done when
the tops start falling over.

i've wanted to try onion sets (the small
bulbs that are dry with no roots or green on
them) for several years now, but haven't yet.
we'd like to grow more than one variety this
year.

is the whole plant mush or just the bulb
part?

my guess (hey, this is usenet ), is
that you have green on top and roots below.
the bulb has served it's purpose and will
degenerate until the leaves and roots can
form the new bulb. so unless you are really
wanting a green onion for eating this isn't
the time to pull them yet.

if they've fallen over early, then
something else is going on. if the complete
plant is mush then i dunno what has happened.
we haven't had that trouble here yet. the
trouble we have is with the raccoons digging
up the plugs of soil the plants were grown
in because the greenhouse must have used
a fertiliser that smells like food to a
raccoon...

planting the seeds and sets, we hope,
will eliminate the problem, but we'll still
likely put in the plug type onion plants again
as they have been good for us.

oh, and i'm planting bunching onions for
green onion eating too as we do like them but
i've not put them out before. package says to
plant them after danger of frost so that will
be a bit yet.


songbird
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