This year Carol will try starting onions from seed in our house. Julie suggested this last year. They will be Walla-walla and Cortland onion seeds. Last year we had poor quality live starts and it's expensive ($10 seeds vs. $100 for live starts and bulbs).
Some details gleaned from several websites:
- Plant seeds 8-10 weeks before last frost (early March should be ok for us)
- Plant in clean flats of moist potting soil, ~1000 seeds scattered across a 10X20" flat. Drainage holes not needed, but if there are holes can be covered with newspaper. Cover with 1/4" soil, pat gently, water gently.
- Cover with plastic top until ~ 50% have germinated, then uncover. Generally poor germinators, about 75%.
- Keep warm, 70-80 degrees is good, they'll germinate slower in cooler temps.
- When tops get tall they can be trimmed to about 4-5", use tops in cooking
- Keep slighlty watered.
- Start to harden off when several inches tall, or at least match stick diameter, but bring them in before it gets cold at night.
- Can be transplanted after most frost danger is over. Well fertilized soil, well drained, consistently moist, weed free.
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