giant onions

hi everyone, newbie Dave here, from devon,
after growing a few large mammoth onions last year i am hooked, and want to grow the biggest and heaviest onion i possably can, so i have invested in some grow lights, but cant seem to find any information on how long to keep the ights on per day, any advice from other growers would be very welcome,

 

Hi Dave. Welcome to GC. Don't know much about onions but the general advice for grow-lights is no more than 17 hours of daylight a day. Someone is bound to disagree. That is the fun of gardening.

 

Never used lights, but I have grown some largish onions in the past, had a late started attempt last year.
I would guess any extra light would be beneficial at this time of the year, but I would say that its probably best not to overdo it.
The growth goes on day length and if they think its mid summer now they MAY end up bolting later in the season, when the day length appears to them to be shorter.
So I think I would be wary of going above 12 hours at the moment, if left on all day when its dull they are more help than actually increasing day length.

BTW, I 've found Kelsae seed to be better than Robinsons Mamouth, for the big ones.

 

hi Dave welcome to Gc don't know much about anything but hang in their some one will now have fun mary :D

 

Hi Dave welcome to the forum I'm pretty sure soemone will be able to help you out on here.

It does indeed seem as if you are hooked on achieving a monster onion and I'm pretty sure you will be able to top last years crop.

I just thank goodness you're down in Devon and therefore a good distance away from me as I would hate to be down wind from you if you eat all your onions! :eek:
Good luck Helen.xxx.

 

Hi Biguns welcome to g c, I agree with Pete I leave my growlights on for 12hrs per day it supplements the meagre light we get at this time of year,it will be mid to late march before natural light intensity is ok for most things.

 

thanks everyone for your welcome and response to my Q,every comment is valued, however if anyone has any personal experience i,would love to hear from you, Great site by the way,Dave.

 

Walnut, what are you growing under your lights, just out of interest. as i have never used them before. I have a big interest in Fuchsias by the way and have grown and shown for years now.

 

Some of the stuff I start in the box (apart from the roses)herehttp://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=000522;p=3
plus brugmansia seeds and cuttings,daturas cuttings of anything the bottom heat plus the light starts them off a treat.

 

That link doesn't seem to work go to the members gallery section there's a few pics.

 

Hi Dave
Mammoth onions sounds a good idea.
We have tried growing large pumpkins but always end up giving them away and they never got that big anyway!

If we try the onions at least we can make a lot of onion soup! :D

I shall be watching this thread with interest ...

 

walnut, hi, found your thread, particuarly interested in your Fuchsias, how do you utilise your light box for these.

to all, still looking for lighting guides for the onions, i just want to know how long to leave them on, and over how many weeks, i seem to have dran a blank,