Growing Onions from Seeds: A Quick Guide to Starting Onion Seeds

[@robb5984]

Hi Steve! Got my onions and leeks started just after you did. They've germinated nicely and seem to be going strong. Got pepper plants started too. Cheers!

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Sounds good Rob. The 2 pepper plants are just some I started extra early. Most of them will be started in March. What variety of onions are you growing this year?

[@robb5984]

Just doing some big box store spanish yellow and bunching onions here. The leeks, Ive cultivated for a few years from some I found growing wild near here. They do well and they are tasty!.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

@@robb5984 Sounds good. Last year I got some Spanish Yellow from HD but the germination on them wasn't good. Very likely the seeds were over a year old. 😅 They were just some extras so it didn't matter.

[@MrWookie21]

Hi Steve, here we go again! Well done! Gathered also seeds from my best seed-carrier bulbs last year (2022 seeds - 2023 bulbs) I sowed some directly on September the 11th 2023 inside the polytunnel for experiment. It was a little tricky this late Summer to keep the soil moisture regularly constant ; but now they look fine. I trimmed them already once before Christmas. Btw do you know which type Stuttgarter onions are? Short, intermediate or long day ones? Thanks & Happy new croppings year Steve!

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Hey MrWookie, how have you been? I show Stuttgarter as being a long day onion that produces a flatten style of onion. You had a really hot summer in France from what I remember. Since your seedling made it through the early fall, they should should make it through your more mild winter. Direct sowing onions here isn't really an option with any expectation of consistency. It just gets too cold. I have been -15 to -10 F (-26 to -23 C) the last 2 days, right after getting dumped on with snow. Yesterday's high temp was -5 F( -20 C) Thanks for watching.

[@MrWookie21]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 Fine thank you ; I hope everything's alright on your side?! I saw you've been quiet busy in your garden ; the garlic harvest looked awesome, Steve : 2023 was a very favourable year for garlic croppings. I gathered maybe a hundred of them ...! Some say _Stuttgarter Riesen_ onions have a round or a flat shape ; I sowed the round shaped one that might be as big as an orange when grown in its full size. Oh yes, I recall your climate is much harsher than Burgundy... Here we had some mild frost periods around -6°C with light snow falls. But Wednesday temps will grow up to +8°C and fall down again to -7°C the day after... This is it. My pepper, egg plant, chili & basil are already on their way here. I started them from germinated seed transplant this year to prevent germination issues I had last year. Take care!

[@brianseybert192]

Terrific tutorial for anyone growing onions from seed. It is so much more cost efficient than buying starts, buying sets in the spring, you can get some, or a lot go to seed. Still have not gotten my onions, leeks or celery started yet, hope they forgive me. Doing the farmers market this year, thought I would do some 5" pots with about 15 to 20 plants to sell for $5.00, see how it goes. Weather events like these remind me I am no longer 30. All day yesterday and most of today played with a foot of snow. It would not have been so bad if I was not helping neighbors. One thing for sure, I know I will sleep good tonight. Stay Well my friend, excellent video!!!!!

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

You will want to get the onions started pretty soon. 😀 The farmer's market will be a different experience. You planning to sell there all season? Sounds like you got more snow than I did. I got around 8 to 10 inches between yesterday and overnight. I hit it with the snowblower last night after work then again this morning after I went grocery shopping. Needed to get it cleared out before the Arctic cold snap comes through and freezes everything solid. Thanks for watching Brian and have a good weekend.

[@brianseybert192]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 11 below on our thermometer this morning, burrrr! Have to keep the bird feeders full for sure. Think I will have enough to make the farmers market worth while. Seedlings, bird house gourds, some produce and I have a lot of worm castings. More than anything, give me something to do, plus I enjoy interacting with people. Onions, leeks and celery go in today! Colleen and Jason are below zero also, do not think they got the snow though. Stay Warm my friend!!!

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Nice one Steve, great advice! My onion seeds sown on 4th Jan are just poking through this morning - time to put the lights on! LOL

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Good to hear Steve. How many varieties are you growing this year? I should have re-setup my grow shelf a bit sooner and started the onion on it instead of the window shelf but it all worked. 😀

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 Just a few sown so far LOL Ailsa Craig Fletch's White Mammoth Improved Paris Early White Red Baron F1 Red Flash F1 Senshyu

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

@@DigwellGreenfingers yeah. Just a few. 😗 🤣

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 I really am trying to concentrate on the veg I like and use the most, for this year. Too often in the past I have grown to please others! No more LOL

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

@@DigwellGreenfingers I can appreciate that. We want to get the most out of our time in the garden. Sometimes that means we scale down to focus on what we like the most. 😁

[@lispottable]

Hey Steve great video. Question. Do you get gnats and aphids in your plants? If so how do you control them?

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Last year I had fungus gnats for the 1st time after using some peat moss in my seed starting mix. I should have sterilized it 1st with boiling water. Anyways.... I bought a bunch of yellow sticky traps from Amazon and put them around all of the plants and around the computer monitors (The light they give off also seems to attract them) That made a huge difference. Getting the plants outside in the sun on warmish days (above 36F for plants that can take cool weather) finally got rid of them completely. Also, I have a few indoor plants that I covered the top soil layer with 1/2 to 3/4 inch of play sand. Sand dries out quickly which is not a favorable environment for fungus gnats. I never had aphids but maybe some lightly diluted hydrogen peroxide would take care of them. Another option for aphids would be to spray them off the plants with a stream of water. Either down the washer tub or outside. Here are the traps I bought from Amazon (not affiliated) www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B1D4X1FG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 Hope this helps

[@lispottable]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 great ideas. Thanks.

[@clivesconundrumgarden]

I remember this from last year, awesome tutorial, as usual Steve !! We'll get on sowing this month, just a ton going on atm. Have a great week!! Cheers J&C 🌱🤞👍

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

I'm using a different tray this year and will be handling fertilizing different. I had germination issues last year when I mix a bit of balanced organic fertilizer in with the seed starting mix. Hopefully the mortgage interest rates will start to drop around May as the Fed begins reducing the rates. There has been a bit of a drop already as the bond market is anticipating the rate cut. That will make your house hunting more affordable. Thanks for watching and have a great week.

[@AJsGreenTopics]

Steve do you use a chart on when to plant your seeds?

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

In the trays, I use plant tags. I use a spreadsheet to plan out the garden where each square represents 1 sq ft. It's arranged so each bed is represented and what I want to plant in it. Other tabs hold qualities, varieties and planting/seed starting times....etc. Thanks for watching AJ

[@WhatWeDoChannel]

I enjoyed that! Alas onions don’t get a spot in my limited garden space but watching you and Lazy Dog, I’m pretty sure I could jump right in to onion growing! I used to grow leaks successfully before I became a garlic fanatic, now all my allium space goes to garlic 🧄! Speaking of garlic, I’m excited about a new to me variety I planted in the fall, my sister got Big Boy from John Boy garlic farm, she grew them last season and hers were huge, she gave me a couple to plant.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

I'm reducing my allium space to just one 20 ft bed this year instead of 1.3 beds. I looked up Big Boy and it sounds great. Also says it's very cold hardy which is perfect for your location. If they work out to your liking, you can expand seed garlic of them this season. Thanks for watching Klaus.

[@franksinatra1070]

I do something very similar to you but with a 6*12 cell tray. Since onion seeds don't last long I sow 4 or 5 seeds per cell to ensure each cell has at least one seed that germinated and then thin as needed. Last year I did let some cells go with two onions and planted out that way as multi-sowed and that worked out well giving me more small to medium sized onions which usually works better in the kitchen for me. Good luck I'll be planting mine today.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Planting them out as multi-sown does work. I did some like that 2 years ago and like you, ended up with medium size onions. If that works better for you in the kitchen, then go with it. Plant out some doubles with the singles. 👍 Good luck to you as well as you get your onions started and thanks for watching.

[@JeanneKinland]

Good Morning Steve. I've been watching your growing tips for onions and I have to tell you we had the best success ever last year. We just ate the last of our onions in time to start planting again. I've ordered the same seeds from the same place as last year. Unfortunately, they have not arrived yet and didn't think to save any seeds. Did you get that 162 tray from Hoss? I'm guessing they don't come with a dome so that's why you had to use a sheet of plastic. Good Luck and I'll be watching. Thanks for all your great growing advice and tips.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

I ordered my onions seeds the end of Nov to make sure there was enough lead time for them to come in before I needed to start them. (Didn't want to repeat a late start situation like I had 4 years ago when shipping got delayed) I got the Proptek tray from Greenhouse Mega Store. (not affiliated) They have much better prices for the cell tray and bottom tray. You are right, they don't seem to sell a dome that size (or if they do, it wasn't obvious) but the sheet plastic ended up working well. Kept the moisture in without issue. Thanks for watching Jeanne.

[@CrocGardener]

Gonna have to try this! I bought starts last year! Great info! Thanks! Subbed!

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Sounds good. I used starts for 3 years before I started growing from seed. I had good harvests with starts but it has been even better when starting from seed. Thanks for watching CrocGardener.

[@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951]

Excellent Steve. Great growing area and the seeds are looking good. I see a bumper crop of onions for you this year. Seeds are fun to grow. On your pepper plants, will you see if the old saying is correct? If they grow in a clockwise direction, more peppers. If they grow in a counterclockwise direction, fewer peppers. I bet that would make a great video. I am hoping that J&C does the experiment also. Happy growing!

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Thanks Tom. I'm not sure how I could tell the difference? For the most part, the peppers grow symmetrical. The 2 peppers in the video were just some extra early plantings. Most of the peppers will be started in March with tomatoes being started in April.

[@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 As the pepper plant grows you have to look from above and then straight down at it. You will see the rotation.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

@@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951 Once they double in size, I will take a look and see if I can see a pattern. I will do an overhead look in an upcoming video for you. 😁

[@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 Great! I have checked them out at the Home Depot and seen a couple of left or counterclockwise spirals in some of the pepper plants being sold. Once they get about 4 leaves you can start to see the pattern. A Lot of clockwise pepper plants though.

[@cowboyblacksmith]

Good timing, I just started my onion seeds here in New Hampshire. The store bought packet seeds came up pretty decent but I'm excited to see if the seed I saved from last year, first time doing that, will germinate. I'm babying those on a heating mat. I think I left an onion or two in ground to have seed for this year. It may not be a bad idea to tuck a few onions away in the corner of the garden just as dedicated seed onions to overwinter. The seed packets I buy at the stores aren't cheap and the amount of seeds in them is pathetically few.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Onion season is starting up for most of us. I got my onion seeds from Johnny's (not affiliated and they are close to you) Each packet came with 250 seeds for about $5.80. Since onion seeds rapidly decline in germination with age, buying locally can be hit or miss for me. Most of the time you don't know how old the seed is. If you got good germination though, then they must be still fresh. 😃 I haven't tried leaving onions in the ground overwinter. With as cold as my winter can be, I'm not sure they would make it. The seeds I did save last year where from some bulbs that had sprouted while in storage. I simply planted them in the garden in spring time. I would like to get to a point where most, if not all of the onions I grow are from my own saved seed. I am interested to know if the onions you left in the garden make it through the winter and start growing again. If yes, then you will be on your way to having your own supply. Thanks for watching.

[@cowboyblacksmith]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 I have had onions survive the winter in years past Steve. They were all ones about the size of the planting sets you buy. They were too small for me to deal with so I just left them. I even had a few I dropped right on top of the ground that started growing again in Spring. I didn't know they could survive winter and I'm almost in Maine so we get wicked cold snowy long winters. They froze solid as a rock on top of the ground and in spring started growing green tops. I swear you can't kill those things. Kind of like my garlic, even mulched it's in a solid block of frozen ground and ice but sure enough every year come spring they grow amazingly.

[@IsaSab]

Do you up-pot them or you keep them in 200 count trays until you transplant outside?

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

I keep them in the Proptek 162 cell tray until I plant them outside. I did the same last year when I used the Proptek 242 cell tray. (even though the cells are smaller) Onions are a bit slow to size up early on. I plan on planting them into the garden the weekend of 3/23 this year.

[@righteous1229]

Helpful video

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Thanks for watching.

[@GardeningwithBarchuckin]

I’m green on the chart. I would like to see how the seeds you saved how they do throughout the growing season. I love to save seeds from the garden to reuse.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

We will see how it goes. No idea what to expect and each plant could show different traits. Maybe next year (2025) I will try some OP onion seeds and see how they work out. That way I can save the seeds from them. Are you or your bother growing any onions? Thanks for watching Rick.

[@GardeningwithBarchuckin]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 I will plant some onions soon and probably give some to my brother (he doesn’t like onions) I know onion seeds have a short shelve life.

[@dnawormcastings]

Great information video can’t wait to see the results 🇳🇿

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Thanks for watching. 😀

[@gpswatching]

Is is necessary to use a fan on these?

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

I have done some years with a fan and years without. I haven't noticed a difference in the final harvest. The last 3 years, I have gone without using a fan and had great harvests of large onions. Once the weather starts to moderate around the end of Feb, I will set the tray outside for a few hours when it's above freezing. I really begin to harden them off in March for planting out the 3rd full week of March (depending on the weather). I live in the north Chicagoland area, you will need to adjust the planting schedule based on your location and weather. Thanks for watching.

[@gardeninjake]

Howdy Steve! Ive got my onions growin as well. I sarted some on Dec. 26th, Boxing Day in the UK. I watch Tony Smith and several other UK allotment holders over there and a lot of them usually start their onions on Boxing Day so I joined them. Im growing Walla Walla and a few Sterlings this year. I grew the Sterling and Ruby Red last year and wasn't too impressed with either one really. The size was good at 1 pound plus on several of them but the taste was lacking. Im only growing some Sterlings this year because my mom liked them. I have way too many onions growing this year. I bought new seed since the seed I had was going on 3 years old. So all the old seed I thew in 3" pots rather heavily just to see if they would sprout. I planted 200 new seed and Ifrom the looks of it, I think every osingle one of the old seeds sprouted and grew. I have at least 300 probably closer to 400 onions growing at the moment. I had planned on cutting back on my onion crop this year. Luckily I have some family who like planting onions. I told them I had plenty for them this year. What kind of peppers were those? I have some Tiny Tim tomatoes coming up that Im going to try and grow hydroponicaly this yerar. Never tried tomatoes before. Anyway take care and stay warm up there buddy. Its cold here right now too but no snow. Take care!

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

For some odd reason your comment got held for review. 🤔 Didn't see it until today. Amazing your 3 year old onion seeds sprouted. Definitely beating the odds on that one. 😀 I grew some Red Zeppelins 1 year. Those were good for use in making pickles. I used them in something else too but don't recall what it was at the moment. With so many choices of onion varieties, if you find something you don't like, there are plenty more to choose from. The family should be happy with you supplying the starts this year. The 2 pepper plants are some Steve's jalapenos 🤣 They originally started off as Jedi (F1) but I have been selectively saving the seeds for 5 or 6 years so have mostly stabilized the resulting variety. Large-ish jalapenos that develop corking as they mature and have a decent kick to them. Those are some extra early starters that I will need to up pot a time or 2. All the other peppers will be started in March. Let me know how the hydroponic tomatoes go. I haven't given that a try yet as it needs to different type of setup than what I use for the lettuce. Thanks for watching Jake. Hope you have a good onion season. It's been very cold here but that should be starting to break.

[@gardeninjake]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 Guess Im a bad boy if they're holding my comments for review. Aint no tellin why. I planted 4 of tiny tims and 3 came up so Im going to put them side by side and grow 2 of them in soil and one hydroponically and see what happens. Im also trying to germinate some 4 year old cayenne pepper seeds that were in my crushed red pepper in the freezer. Seed werent hurt so I figured what the heck, Ill try it. Im also trying to grow some herbs this year. Never grown any before. A few different firsts for me this year. Take care Steve!

[@peterwujek870]

Hi, Steve! Is it too late to start onions from seed in zone 5?

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

I would say most likely yes. If you start onion seeds now, you could still grow them this year but they will likely be small to medium size at harvest. At this point, you might be better off ordering starts from a place like Dixondale Farms. (not affiliated)

[@ludwigwillemse2433]

hi i use garden soil to grow my onions seeds

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

If you have good soil then go with it. No reason that would not work. Thanks for watching.

[@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951]

Steve. You have the planting bug in you for spring. I know how you feel with all the seed catalogs coming in the mail.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Thanks for watching Tom. The Johnny's catalog came in yesterday. Onions need a long lead time and go fairly early so, I found around that starting them between Christmas and New Years to be a good time.

[@chrisryan8894]

I had great success germinating, but none of my seedlings are standing up. Is this normal? It’s been 3 weeks, I’ve fertilized once and they are getting fairly long but all laying down. First timer here. Any advice

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

After 3 weeks they should all be standing up. The 1st thought that comes to mind is watering. The soil should be moist but not wet. If the weather is warm in your location and staying above 36 F, get the plants outside for some sunlight. Put them out in the morning with a watering where they will get morning sun but be in the shade by noon. The amount of direct sunlight they get can be increased each day over a 1 week time period. If it will be overcast all day, they can be placed in a brighter location. Give this a try for a week and let me know how they are doing.

[@CartersGardens]

I can't lie I have tried 4 times to get my onions to go and out of over 100 seeds I got 2. I can grow scraps really well but starting from seed has been a failure.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

hmm..What are you using as a seed start medium? 1 thing I found that had a negative effect on germination was having some kind of fertilizer in the seed starting mix. Also, onion seed germination rates drop off quickly with age. They need to be fresh seed stock. Seeds that are a year old (or more) will have terrible germination rates. The packet should have a germination testing date or a date for the year they were packaged for sale. I know it's frustrating to fail at growing something that we should be able to grow but does present a learning opportunity as well. I have failed at sweet potatoes for several years but I will make more changes this year to see if I can figure it out. 😀 Thanks for watching.

[@CartersGardens]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 I was trying to use my garden soil that I run threw a sifter it was primarily clay now its really fluffy with the compost I have put in it. Seeds were over a year old so that maybe an issue. Sweet potatoes are my jam lol. Best thing I have found is the milk carton and thin soil. They will come up awesome from that.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

@@CartersGardens I would try fresh seed and a soilless mix. I have some friends that have had success using a mix of fine sifted compost, leaf mould and 20% worm castings. (from their own worm bin). For sweet potatoes, I have no problem growing the slips but the harvest has been terrible. It's probably been my soil mix in the bucket has been too heavy. My experiment last year found that the looser soil without any fertilizer worked the best with almost useable tubers. This year I will try various combinations with sand and/or semi-finish composts..etc to see if I can find something that works. Funny, some friends I gave my extra slips to had a good harvest using just woodchips. 😅

[@CartersGardens]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 lol ya I've seen them grown in just straw and they did amazing. I was told 1/3 sand then 1/3 compost and 1/3 staw is the golden ticket but I haven't tried it yet myself. And onions I'm defintly getting new seeds and I got a ferry morse seed starter which I'm going to have to sift its got alot of heavy material in it

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

@@CartersGardens I'm sure fresh seeds and the seed starter mix with make a big difference. It would be great to hear back about your germination results. Have a good weekend Carter. 👍

[@Hana32690]

Sir my seeds dont germinating its been 10 days i've done it 2 times but somehow i am not able to grow them

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

hmm..How old are the seeds? The seed packet should have a date on it with either the date it was germination tested or the season it was packaged for. Onion seed need to be fresh as their germination rates decrease rapidly with age. Also, what are you using for the seed starting mix? Be sure you don't add any fertilizer to it. I found that having fertilizer in the mix will cause germination issues. Fresh seeds, a nice seed starting mix and steady moisture through the use of a humidity dome have been been the key to starting onion seeds for me. Sorry to hear you are having germination issues. Since it is getting late for starting from seed, you might want to buy some starts from a Dixondale farms (not affiliated) or another company. Save starting from seed for next year. I order my onion seeds in mid to late Nov then start them between Christmas and New Years.

[@roythompson6137]

I have terrible problems germinating onions from seed. I've tried getting fresh seed every year, not planting too deep or too wet, temperature around 70ºF and plenty of light..... no luck. Really don't know what im doing wrong. Just about every other vegetable germinates without problems...

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Here is something simple to try. put 5 to 10 seeds on a damp paper towel and put that inside a ziplock sandwich bag. keep it out on the counter so some place where you can monitor it and is reasonable warm. The seeds should germinate in 2 to 5 days. The seeds can then be transplanted in cell trays or another shallow container with your seed starting soil. (as a tiny seedling) See if they grow. Maybe leave a couple on the damp paper towel as a control group. This will help you determine if it's the seeds or the soil that is the problem.

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Also note, that while I use cell trays now, a shallow aluminum tray filled 1 to 1.5 inches deep with a seed starting mix will work also. Onion plants are pretty easy to tease apart come planting time.

[@roythompson6137]

Great, I'll give it a go. Thanks for the tip. ​@@stevefromthegarden1135

[@kutmulc]

18x9 is 162 (not 168)

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

That's true. 🙂 I put the correction in the video in the form of a text message after noticing the mistake at the 41 second mark. Thanks for watching.

[@kutmulc]

@@stevefromthegarden1135 Great video as well! Very helpful! I've been having a hard time getting my onion seeds to germinate. (Except for my bunching onions, they are doing fine)

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

@@kutmulc I hope you have an easier time this year if you are trying again.

[@stephenmoberg8807]

Poor germination- I put at least 10 per mid size cell - they separate very easily

[@stevefromthegarden1135]

Onions are easy to pull apart, so over seeding does not cause much of a problem. Thanks for watching.