Onions & a Useful Chart

AlittleSalt · July 11, 2016

October 2015 was my first time to plant in a tray. Before that, we always bought sets in January, and that meant growing whatever variety we could find. There are many things I like more about planting in trays.

You get a wider choice of what varieties you want to plant.

It's a little cheaper than buying sets. Onion seeds packs have a lot of seeds in them - or at least the ones I bought did.

You can also save seeds from those that go to seed. I think growing seeds from plants that produced in your own garden do better, but that's just my thoughts on that.

They are growing inside under lights a lot like tomatoes and peppers. The lights don't have to be so close to the plants, so there's a lot less moving the lights up.

You are still gardening while it's cold and snowing outside.

I grow them in our home, so there's no extra heating cost, and you get to watch them grow. You can even give them a haircut - sort of like pruning a bonsai tree. I really enjoyed growing them this way.

I also planted sets we bought. Both ways produced well and at the same time. So far, I haven't found any differences between growing hybrids verses OP - other than saving seeds.

About that not so good place because of the extra shade. I'm going to plant onions there and in a much sunnier area to compare. We like onions of all sizes. It nice being able to pick the size onion you need for whatever you're using it for. We like that better than cutting a huge onion and using part of it and then it sits in the refrigerator for days or weeks.

July 11, 2016	#32
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	October 2015 was my first time to plant in a tray. Before that, we always bought sets in January, and that meant growing whatever variety we could find. There are many things I like more about planting in trays. You get a wider choice of what varieties you want to plant. It's a little cheaper than buying sets. Onion seeds packs have a lot of seeds in them - or at least the ones I bought did. You can also save seeds from those that go to seed. I think growing seeds from plants that produced in your own garden do better, but that's just my thoughts on that. They are growing inside under lights a lot like tomatoes and peppers. The lights don't have to be so close to the plants, so there's a lot less moving the lights up. You are still gardening while it's cold and snowing outside. I grow them in our home, so there's no extra heating cost, and you get to watch them grow. You can even give them a haircut - sort of like pruning a bonsai tree. I really enjoyed growing them this way. I also planted sets we bought. Both ways produced well and at the same time. So far, I haven't found any differences between growing hybrids verses OP - other than saving seeds. About that not so good place because of the extra shade. I'm going to plant onions there and in a much sunnier area to compare. We like onions of all sizes. It nice being able to pick the size onion you need for whatever you're using it for. We like that better than cutting a huge onion and using part of it and then it sits in the refrigerator for days or weeks.