Any trick to planting onion seeds?

[T]

Hi All,

I can't get onion seeds to sprout for my life.

I plant them about 1/4 deep, about 3" away from each other, and water them. Zip. Nothing.

Is there any trick to onions seeds?

Many thanks,

-T

[Terry Coombs]

  I think you might be planting them too deep . IIRC rule of thumb is twice as deep as the size of the seed , those are so tiny you might try just a very light dusting to barely cover them . I tried onions from seed one time , now I buy the bulbs or seedlings .

[Nyssa]

Are they fresh-for-this-year seeds or leftovers from previous years?

I've found that onion seeds usually don't work unless they're fresh.

Try planting them closer to the surface. Another trick I sometimes use with onions or carrot seeds is to cover them with a thin layer of peat moss instead of potting or seed starting mix. The peat moss retains moisture and is easier for the seeds to push through to the surface and light.

Nyssa, who needs to transplant a bunch of started red onion seeds later today or tomorrow at the latest

[songbird]

i've always just hoed and raked the soil well enough to make sure it is fine and then use a hoe to run about a 1 inch deep trench then i put my onion seeds on the bottom of that in a very thin line. cover with the fine soil and then use a four prong rake to cross hatch the area so it spreads the seeds out more than they would be otherwise. this changes the depth of many of them and makes it so i don't have to thin as much. water well and keep moist, but not sodden.

it may take a week or two before they sprout.

too shallow and they may dry out too much. an inch to half an inch depth is fine.

you should be planting them early as the soil can be worked if you are putting them in the garden directly.

the most economical method is to start them late winter inside because then you can determine how many succeeded or not and then plant them out when the ground thaws.

songbird

[T]

I bought them a month ago

[T]

I think that is what I am going to do too. Wally World sells the bulbs. They should hit the shelves any time now.

[T]

Going on week three

:'(

[Nyssa]

Good way to do direct seeding in the garden.

I start 'em indoors under plant lights, then transplant the little devils outside and keep 'em watered well until they settle in.

Nyssa, who has a small potfull of baby red onion plants that will be going outside this afternoon

[songbird]

seems like old seed or mistreated seed was sold to you.

sets and starts can be planted out weeks ago but we just get them when we pick up the rest of the later warm weather plantings.

i can't ever get Mom to understand that it is ok to get some things earlier and i forget myself to bring it up.

songbird

[T]

Got them from GrowOrganic.com

[T]

Spoke with the greenhouse guy about this when I picked up my tomato plants. When I told him I could not grow an onion from seed for my life, he told "and you never will." I asked him why, considering the farmers around here grew onions for seeds and are actually famous for it. He told me that it is a problem with the soil around here and that the commercial farmers are using special chemicals to get around the problem.

Fortunately the 100 bulbs for $3.00 from Wally World grow just fine.

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

which shouldn't make any difference for those you are starting in a seed starting mix or potting soil...

:)

let a few flower and drop seeds you'll get some to sprout eventually. somewhere in that place you call home is enough organic matter and soil that they'll grow.

they don't even need prime conditions to start as i've had them pop up in the pathways here which are mulched with crushed and rinsed limestone - whatever dirt is in there is what has blown in or fell in from various other things.

songbird