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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Multi-planting onion starts

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Multi-planting onion starts
  • Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:46:00 -0500


On Jan 25, 2010, at 12:09 PM, Robb, David wrote:

Hello.  Great list!  I just joined.  I work for a large mental health non-profit that has just established an organic produce farm to provide employment (and therapy) for our clients. 
My Question:  We grow many thousands of storage and sweet onions which we start inside in non-plug trays.  I came across the idea of putting 4 to 5 onion starts into a single plug of a larger plug tray (say a 24 count) and then transplanting those out when the time is right.  Coleman says they will grow in a clump and develop normally.  Anyone out there try this?  Seems like a time saver…
 
David R - Indiana  
 

I do this all the time (and I did indeed get the idea from Coleman). I seed about 5 seeds per cell into 72-cell flats (8 seeds per cell for pearl onions), and plant each cell 12" apart in the row. Much faster to plant, to weed, and to harvest than single plants on 3" spacing. 

I used to try to carefully thin them to 4 plants per cell for bulbing onions and 6 for pearl, or to start them as a thick row and then transplant them over into the cells as the right number of plants per cell; but I quit doing that; I decided it was an unnecessary waste of time. If I seed 5 seed per cell, most cells will have 3 or 4 plants, and I don't worry about the occasional one that does have 5, I just go ahead and plant it like that; if an occasional cell only has one or two, I'll plant those together in one spot so as to have three or four plants at each planted spot.

If you want the absolutely largest possible onions, this might not be the way to go; but most of them come out quite decent size.


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale






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