Sunday 21 December 2008
Exhibition onions sown
Managed to find time today to sow the first batch of Medwyns re-selected kelsae Exhibition onions. Only about 50 seed in the packet so I hope they germinate at 5 quid a packet. Again I used chestnut compound just to be on the safe side, and I have placed the trays on my warming cable beds. As soon as they germinate I will leave them in the main greenhouse with a minimum night temperature of 50f. I will leave one tray under lights as a test but I'm sure my light is to strong for onions, the rest will grow in natural daylight which will produce big bulbs anyway and is probably a safer bet for now. I will plant my next batch of onions in about 10 days time.
Spent Saturday cleaning all the pots for my shallots and preparing the compost. I have gone for 4lt pots and just a general multipurpose compost with added calcified seaweed. A small indent is made in each pot ensuring I don't compact the compost in anyway and the shallot is just placed on top. I suppose I have about 90 shallots this year in pots which are sitting in my smaller polytunnel, all I need do now is keep the frost off them with some fleece and keep an eye on pests and watering. Aphids can be a problem even in winter so you really need to keep your eye out for them.
My leeks have now rooted well and the roots can be seen in the pots, so they have got off to a good start. Bubils should be pearly white at the base and I'm always slightly concerned when I receive mine from Medwyns as most have a brown colour on them, but he knows what he's doing right?, so I hope I don't have any problems with them as they receive the most care and everything is so clean and sterilized the greenhouse stinks. I have now also removed the split canes and supports because at this young stage once rooted they don't need them and will actually grow straighter without them. Sometimes the support clips can actually hinder them to one side and I like to take them off at this stage because they won't fall over now and should grow naturally straight, The support clips are replaced once I pot them off into 3inch.
Spent Saturday cleaning all the pots for my shallots and preparing the compost. I have gone for 4lt pots and just a general multipurpose compost with added calcified seaweed. A small indent is made in each pot ensuring I don't compact the compost in anyway and the shallot is just placed on top. I suppose I have about 90 shallots this year in pots which are sitting in my smaller polytunnel, all I need do now is keep the frost off them with some fleece and keep an eye on pests and watering. Aphids can be a problem even in winter so you really need to keep your eye out for them.
My leeks have now rooted well and the roots can be seen in the pots, so they have got off to a good start. Bubils should be pearly white at the base and I'm always slightly concerned when I receive mine from Medwyns as most have a brown colour on them, but he knows what he's doing right?, so I hope I don't have any problems with them as they receive the most care and everything is so clean and sterilized the greenhouse stinks. I have now also removed the split canes and supports because at this young stage once rooted they don't need them and will actually grow straighter without them. Sometimes the support clips can actually hinder them to one side and I like to take them off at this stage because they won't fall over now and should grow naturally straight, The support clips are replaced once I pot them off into 3inch.
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3 comments:
How are your show onions coming along ? mine just don't want to grow.
Cheers,Dan
I have 20 under the grow light which all have 4 leaves now and are looking good, planted about 7th January. My first batch that are growing on in natural daylight have just about got 3 leaves, planted 21st December and are also looking strong and healthy.
I'm yet to pot any into there 3 inch pot as I'm growing them on slow this year to minimize the risk of everything going tits up.
Investing in some new energy efficient grow lights soon as mine cost's 9 quid a day lol.
Still not 100% how well onions grow under this light as I have never managed to get a decent result from them, hence why I'm only testing 20 this year under the lights.
In the last week they have really started to move on, not concerned about them should make a good size.
I see you have had problems with the compost you have been using which is probably why you have struggled to get any results. You must have used J arthur bowers compost lol.. Honest got a bad rep last year with many growers.
Shame my leeks are yet again full of problems, hope my Peter Clarke leeks catch up as I'm going to throw them away this weekend.
May not be to late to order some onions from Medwyns or Exhibtion seeds.
p.s I see you are using two x 125watt cfl grow lights. To be productive you really do need to have these as close to plant as possible. Do you have Vegetative (blue spectrum) bulbs?. Your onions from seed don't look to bad, behind mine but I'm sure they will be fine.