Well, yet again this year I'm trying to beat my personal best weight of 6lb 10 oz for an onion and hopefully given a lot of luck break the magical 10lb barrier.

The photos above are last years efforts,which after an invasion of Thrips in my Polytunnel only managed to be around the 3lb mark and the one in the centre is my biggest to date of 6lb 10 oz.

This year's Giant Exhibition Show Onion attempt !!

I'll be sowing my seed in early January and also getting some plants in early April but I have just received some pips so I'll be starting these off today.

October 30th 2008

OK.I know it's not 2009 yet but today I received some Onion Pips from my Giant Onion Growing Expert in the North East which he has got from one of his monster onions from last year.

So I have decided to set them off today as advised like you would grow an onion set only a lot earlier.

As you can see they look like small sets and are produced in the seed head at the expense of numerous seeds so you apparently get a few pips and very few seeds but the pips grow away readily.

So I've planted up 20 and once they take root I'll pot them on and then grow them under artificial lights in my new growing chamber.

If these grow well given how early they've been planted then I might be in for a surprise next year.

This is the light chamber I have made to grow the onions in this year to give them extra artificial light so I can sow the seed earlier and hopefully get a bigger plant to plant out come April.

That's about it for now,I'll show any pip action should it happen.

Nov 8th

Well, the pips I planted earlier have started to take root and sprout leaves,so I've re-potted them into 4 inch pots.

I'm going to grow them on a cool window sill for now with a small fluorescent light about a foot above them for a while and then probably put them in the growing chamber under the stronger lights later on.

Nov 13th

After putting my newly sprouted onion "Pips" under the new lights for just 2 days all I can say is WOW !!!

They seem to have grown about half an inch already.

As I don't really know how to grow under these lights I'm keeping them 6 inches above the plants and on for 8 hrs a day.

At this rate they'll be 2 ft tall by Christmas !!.

Nov 19th

I can't believe how quickly these pips are growing,possibly too quickly,but as I've never grown any before I really don't know.

I'm going to have to give them some support soon by way of some split canes an plant clips to stop the leaves from flopping over.

I've got 15 plants growing now in total and  if they keep on growing at this rate I may have to abandon growing any from seed as I'll be short of room under my lights.

I could however get my homemade grow lights out of retirement that I made yonks ago from 6, 4ft fluorescent strip lights,and use these as well,but they are a real hassle to use due to the size and weight of the damn thing.

Nov 20th

Well as I said yesterday I'd neet to support the seedlings,so I've pit these handy little plastic clips around them to stop them flopping over and continuing to grow upright.

They're handy little clips and you can just keep adding more,the taller they grow.

Dec  2nd

Well I'm having a few problems with the onion seedlings.First of all the tips on some started to shrivell and go white and now the tops are starting to flop over once they get to about 4 inches in height and go yellow.

I don't have a clue what's causing it.I've decided to put them in my propogator bottom to give them a bit of bottom warmth and see if this perks them up.

I've ruled out any fungal problem as it doesnt spread down the leaf but merely affects the top cm or so.

I am at a loss to what's happening so I'll just have to wait and see how they get on.

So this is how they all are now,with some around 5-6 inches but then the tops flop over ??????????

If anyone has an idea I'd love to know your thoughts.I know these pips were only an added bonus aside from my other Onions I'm going to grow and get but I would like to see them grow well just out of curiosity.

Dec 12th

Still having mixed fortunes regarding the growth.Some are thriving where as others are still suffering from some tip damage and wilting which is strange as they are all being grown in an identical fashion.

So here's the evidence,the one on the left growing strongly with 3 leaves on and knocking on for 10 inches in height with absolutely no tip damage,and the other one only about 3 inches tall with the tip damage.

It's a mystery.

Dec 21st

Well today is the shortest day so I've decided to sow my seed.

I'm a lazy sod and personally I consider life too short to prick seedlings out so I'm sowing mine into modules of 18 and 24 with 2 seeds to each module.

I'm giving Unwins exhibition a try,wow ,you don't get many seeds in a packet though.

So that's about it,I sowed them about 5mm deep 2 to a module and now I'll just keep them at around 60f until they hopefully germinate in around 10 days time.

Over on the continuing Onion Pip saga, they are still growing with varying results.

Some are starting to develop their 4th leaf and I have one which is about a foot tall with 5 leaves.

Whether I can keep them all growing is another matter, but I'll do my best.

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