After my best results ever in 2011 I'm going to try to repeat the feat or try to go one step further at Harrogate in 2012 in the 5 onion class,and I fancy a crack at the set of 3 or 5 large exhibition onions class too if I can grow some larger ones than normal.

And hopefully this year I can finally grow a 10lb+ onion for the first time and beat my 9lb 2oz one above, as I'm supposed to be getting the odd plant grown for me by Paul for next year which will have been grown from the same seed that the World Record one was grown from this year.

So If I can't do it this time I never will.

November 27th 2011.

So it all starts here.

This year I've decided to grow a few Kelsae Onions from seed quite early on so that I can hopefully get some to weigh around the 5 pound mark by August.

I usually start with small plants I get delivered in mid April but these are hard to get above 3-3.5lb by Mid August.

So the variety I'm growing is Kelsae,I grew some of these to over 6 pounds later in 2011 but too late for any shows.

So I'm hoping that sowing earlier will mean I can get some 5 pounders around August time.

I just sowed them 2 to a module,with the modules being quite deep as onions have an extensive deep root system early on.

Most people sow in trays and prick out but I'm just too lazy !

So I'll pull out any weaker seedlings should 2 germinate and leave 1 per module.And if I get any blanks then I do have a spare tray sowed to fill in any gaps.

I'm only hoping to grow 20 maximum in the polytunnel so it'll be a bit of re-potting and rejecting the weaker plants as time goes on.

I put the 72 cells in propagators on my aquarium which gives gentle bottom heat of about 70f which should see them start to germinate in a couple of weeks or so.

Then they'll be going under the small CFL grow light for 12hrs a day or so and we'll see how they get on.

December 10th.

Well,2 weeks after sowing I've got around 50% germination with 38 seedlings through and hopefully will get around 80%+ eventually in another week.

                 

I've lined my little grow chamber with foil to maximise any light and reduce light loss.

I ordered a light meter to see how strong the intensity was,but It's not arrived yet.

Just a bit of name dropping here,I asked Peter Glazebrook what he aims for as far as LUX (light intensity),and he kindly replied telling me he aims for a minimum of 15,000 at the top of the pot level.

So when the light meter arrives I can see if I have sufficient with the lamp I have,otherwise I'll have to get a highter wattage bulb.

One thing I do seem to have right is the temperature which is 16-18c during the day and around 10-12 at night.

Any higher and the plants will just get too leggy which has happened to me in the past when growing in the house and the temperature hitting 30c during the day and not falling below 16c at night.

So at this very early stage things seem to be doing fine.

December 14th.

My light meter arrived all the way from Hong Kong in less than a week today.

                  

I was after a minimum of 15,000 Lux as a reading at tray level and luckily I was bang on,well actually 20,000 when the reflective curtain was replaced.

The light did decrease towards the edge of growing area to around 15,000 but it's still about right.

And only about 16 seeds have failed to germinate so I've got 56 up and running so far.

Dec 19th.

Just about got all 72 seedlings up and growing now.I decided that I needed a little more light so I rigged up my other lamp alongside the other and this seems to be giving the desired effect.

                         

I'm now getting around 20,000 lux in the centre and around 18,500 at the edges.

Also some of the earlier sprouters are starting to grow their first true leaves now.

                         

The modules that they're growing in are about half the size of a 3" pot but the same depth,I'm hoping to grow them on in these for about 3-4 weeks and then once they have about 4 leaves on I'll pot them on into 4" pots and reject the weaker ones and just grow on about 36.

Dec 26th.

I've decided to try to get some seed from this years onions that I got a 2nd place with at Harrogate.

They were the best shape that I'd grown so I thought I might as well give it a go and try to get some seed from them.

                         

I'm not sure how it's done but It seems that you simply plant the bulbs in a pot and next year hopefully a seed head emerges and hey presto ! Seed.

I've seen people strip the bulbs right back of any soft or mouldy skins, but as these are still firm I'll just cut the necks off to help any shoots grow out of the top and only strip back if and when they do decide to go soft or mouldy.

I tried this before but I put them in the tunnel the year it went down to -15c and they just froze solid and went to mush.

This time I'll be leaving them on a window sill at home and putting them in the tunnel later on after all risk of severe cold has passed.

                         

Over on this years Kelsae seedlings,a month after sowing,I have 70 out of 72 growing with most now growing their 1st true leaf and a few just starting to grow the 2nd.

So still doing OK.

January 2nd 2012.

Just a quick update.

                  

Plenty now growing the 3rd leaf,so hopefully in about 2-3 weeks I'll be potting up the best 30 or so into 1litre or 10x10x10cm pots once they have 4-5 leaves on.

Then hopefully this should give me 20 or so good ones to grow on in the tunnel in April.

I'm watering them with a weak solution of Maxicrop Seaweed Extract with no feed mixed at 1tsp to 2 litres at every watering,this just adds extra humus and makes the plants more resistant to diseases.

I leave the water bottle in the grow chamber so that it's the same temperature as the plants,you don't really want to get cold water out of the tap as this can be a bit of a shock to the young plants if it's really cold.

Jan 7th.

Seedling still look to be doing well,some now starting to produce the 4th leaf.

                         

Took one out of the cell to see how the roots were doing and they look pretty strong and white which is a good sign.

I think I'll leave them another 10-14 days and then repot them into 4" pots.

Jan 11th.

One of the onions I put down for seed has started to sprout.

                  

All three are firmly rooted so hopefully they should all start growing an I can try to get my first ever seed.

Jan 15th.

I decided,after checking some of the seedings roots that it was time to pot some on into 4" pots.

The roots had reached the bottom and were wrapping around themselves,so a bigger pot seemed to be necessary.

                         

This gave me the chance to get the new mixer up and running.

To be honest I'm sick of mixing compost mixes by hand for different veg like carrots,onions and parsnips,and you'll never get them mixed as well as you would with a mixer.

It wasn't expensive and as I do a fair bit of building work now and again at home it seemed justified to buy one.

Anyway,I decided to make 50 litre mix of 6 parts compost to 1 part Vermiculite and 1 part John Innes no.3.

My thinking being that adding a bit of John Innes adds some proper soil and hopefully a few trace elements and makes it a bit easier to transplant them into my final soil beds as they have been grown in a "stronger" mix rather than just pure compost.

The vermiculite is just there to aid aeration,open up the structure and add moisture retention.

To be honest,it's just a concoction I came up with as a gut instinct.

                    

So,yet again at this early stage I am happy with the progress,I have 24 potted into 4" pots with 3-4 leaves and the remaining 36 still in the cells.

Hopefully in a week I'll pot the remaining 12 best smaller ones and then I'll have 36 to go at.

It's amazed me how well they've grown and to be honest the plants that I planted out last year in mid April weren't much bigger than these are now.

So God knows what these will will be like come April.

Jan 18th.                      OH  B#LLOCKS !

Just as everything seemed to be going along nicely I find that I have got a nasty Onion disease.

                   

At a glance things look fine.

                         

On closer inspection I've found that plenty of my plants  tips of the older leaves starting to go yellow.

Then very quickly within a couple of days they turn white and shrivel,and die back down the leaf.

I've been reliably informed by a couple of fellow growers, one of whom turned 50 today that it is White Tip Die Back.

A fungal disease that affects many of the Allium family and having the latin name   Phytophthora porri.

So needless to say I'm not happy,so I managed to buy myself some Fungicide Spray today which after doing some research on the net is apparently similar to what is used to combat the problem in agriculture,given the active ingredient is the same in both,but usually used as a preventative measure rather than a curative one.

Anyway If it does stop the disease from progressing any further then they should recover somewhat,but to be honest I don't really know.

So It'll either kill 'em or cure 'em.....we'll have to wait and see.

Jan 21st.

Well,I've now followed the advice of two far better Onion growers than me and snipped the affected tips off all the onion leaves and sprayed them with two different types of fungicide and although it's only been 3 days there doesn't seem to be any more that are becoming affected.

                        

Also following tha advice of Graham below in the comments I have replaced some of the tin foil with a matt white board which by all accounts produces better full spectrum light reflection than foil.

                         

And finally,the onions that I've put down for seed this year are flying along and sending out loads of leaves,the roots are already coming out of the bottom too.

So hopefully later on these will produce some seed heads and I can get my own seed for the 1st time.  

Feb 4th.

Well on the Kelsae Onion Saga I'm not sure I've completely cured the problem but they do look a bit happier and are growing away well.

                   

I've thinned them down to the strongest 24 now too so they should get a little more light.

                   

As you can see they're doing OK and are as big as the ones I usually plant out in mid April already.

So hopefully by April they should be ready to plant out.

Feb 12th.

Things still doing OK.

                         

Seem to have defeated the fungal problem and the plants are now about 9-12" tall and starting to thicken up a bit.

                                   

The plants are now almost touching the lights,but as they are only warm it doesn't do them any harm.

And the onions I put down for seed are absolutely flying away.

Feb 18th.

Just a quick update.

                         

Onions starting to really thicken up quickly now and quite a few are about pencil thickness with 6 true leaves on.

I've been watering from the bottom to try to reduce the moisture and help the fungal problems from returning and it seems to be working.

                  

So here's a bit of a guide to the size vs a 2 litre bottle.

I've been watering too with a very dilute solution of lime,2litres of water to about 1/4 tsp of hydrated lime and a similar amount of sulphate of ammonia just to give a tiny amount of nitrogen and calcium which seems to do them no harm.

So given my utter despondency a few weeks ago I'm very happy with the progress now.

 

I've got myself a Facebook Page click the link if you're interested,Cheers.

 

 

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