onion seeds

[zxcvbob]

Anybody up north ever try planing onion seeds in the winter right before the ground freezes? I never have much luck growing onion seeds (I always get them in the ground too late if I direct sow, and planting them in a flat doesn't work well for me) but I often get volunteer chive seedlings in the flower beds and they do just fine. Maybe onions are like dill and like to overwinter before they sprout.

I've collected seeds from my red onions this year and thinking about planting them out in November and see what happens.

Bob

[rossr35253]

Certainly worth a try. Let us know how it works. We start our onions indoors in individual paper tubes set in a flat. Usually start them in February and set them out in mid-May. By planting tube and all they suffer absolutely no set back and we have good luck with that system. It's easy to make a form for wrapping the newspaper tubes used in the system. If anyone is interested I can post short instructions.

Ross.

[CanopyCo]

I would. Is it basically just a peace of news paper wrapped around a wood dowle, then bent over at one end?

[rossr35253]

Snipped for brevity.

Yes, that's about it. I use about an 8 inch length of 1-1/4 inch diameter dowel so there's a bit of a handle. I counterbore a 1 inch diameter hole about an inch deep in one end. Just wrap the newspaper pieces around, with about an inch extending over the conterbored end. Fold the paper up into the counterbore which keeps the tube from unraveling then set them in a flat and fill with seed starting medium. I use a photo paper cutter to make hundreds of uniform sized pieces of paper.

Ross.

[CanopyCo]

Sounds like a peace of iron or PVC pipe would work. Maybe even copper tubing.

I see what I will be doing over the winter. ;-)

[rossr35253]

PVC or ABS would probably work OK. I'm not sure about iron because you want something that the finished paper tubes will slide off of easily. Then there's the weight thing, you don't want to end up with carpal tunnel syndrome just from making seed starting tubes ;-).

Ross.