These seedlings will remain in the greenhouse for another four to six weeks until they are ready to be separated and transplanted into the ground. He’ll give them a good drink and then cover them with plastic humidity domes until germination begins. Once the seed trays are done, Ryan will take them to the temperature controlled greenhouse where they will get ample light and heat. Fortunately, my greenhouse is large and can accommodate lots of seed starting. These ‘Megaton’ leeks have upright plants with beautiful blue-green foliage. Ryan also started some leeks – leeks have a mild, onion-like taste. He does this carefully, so as not to move any of the seeds in the tray. Ryan uses the scraper again to level the soil in the trays. Doing this saves time and simplifies the process. When possible, prepare several trays in an assembly-line fashion, and then drop all the seeds. Be sure all the appropriate labels are inserted, so there’s no confusion later. Once the seeds are dropped, Ryan adds an additional light layer of soil mix, so the seeds are completely covered. We grow several varieties of red, white and yellow onions every year.
This process eliminates the weaker sprout and prevents overcrowding, so seedlings don’t have any competition for soil nutrients or room to mature.īlackie loves to watch gardening tasks from the table. One to two seeds are dropped into each compartment and will be selectively thinned in a few weeks. ‘Pontiacs’ have very large sized onions and strong, bronze-colored skins that protect the bulb well in storage. Smaller onions can be planted directly into the ground. It is good to start larger onions from seed, so they can be harvested the same year. ‘Cabernet’ produces medium-large globe-shaped onions with deep red color.
If preferred, you can also use your hands. Here, Ryan begins to drop onion seeds evenly into each compartment. Just pour a generous amount of seeds into the center dish and then screw the plastic top back onto the hand seed sower and adjust the amount of seeds that will be released at one time. This is a hand seed sower from Johnny’s Selected Seeds – it is one option to help drop the seeds into the trays. These observations will help organize a schedule for the following year. It’s also a good idea to keep a record of when seeds are sown, when they germinate, and when they are transplanted. Onion seeds are very small, so be sure to take your time dropping them into the tray cells. Once he is ready to drop the seeds, Ryan places a marker into one of the cells, so it is clear what variety is growing in what tray.
Ryan labels the seed markers and keeps them together with the matching packets. Our onion seeds are started in February every year, which is about two months before the last frost in this area. Once the trays are all prepared, it is time to drop the seeds. This can be done pretty quickly especially if only seeding one or two trays. This is a great method when planting multiple trays.Īnother way to create a quarter-inch deep furrow in the middle of each compartment is to press fingers gently into each cell. You can see the small indentations in each compartment – this is where the seeds will be planted. To create a quarter-inch deep furrow in the middle of each compartment, Ryan places one tray over another and presses down lightly, so the bottom of one tray makes indentations in the soil-filled compartments of the other. The soil should be level with the top of the tray. Ryan uses a scraper to level off the soil mix in the trays. Seed starting mixes are available at garden supply stores. It’s best to use a pre-made seed starting mix that contains the proper amounts of vermiculite, perlite and peat moss. Ryan fills the seed starting tray with mix and pats it down lightly into each compartment. Because I use a lot of onions for cooking and for sharing with my family, we plant many trays of onion seeds. We use trays with shallow compartments for planting onion seeds. Seed starting trays come in all different sizes and depths.
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