You planted at the right time, and they look quite fine to me - perhaps a bit crowded, but should do just fine. Onion plants tend to start slowly as they establish a new root system but will pick up in May. They are quite tolerant of frost.

TomNJ

Thanks for the response, what a relief :) My plans are to thinned them later and eating some as green onions. So I dont need to fertilize them?

Please visit my new blog: http://lagunites.wordpress.com/

i agree with tomnj. i plant my plants 6" on center, they create a bigger bulb and are easier to weed. i used to plant 4" on center.

i fertilize 3 weeks after planting out as that is a critical time. i then fertilize 4 weeks later and again for the final time 4 weeks after that. i use neptune's harvest fish emulsion or fish and seaweed emulsion. i water it in as onions tend to shed foliar feeding.

i add compost and bone meal at planting. onions don't require a lot of fertilizer but need 1" of water per week and full sun.

tom

Yes some fertilizer would help. Onions like nitrogen at this stage to develop strong green leaves. A little plain lawn fertilizer works well, say a small handful for each 10 foot row, or two handfuls of blood meal per row if you are going organic, or the fish emulsion Tom mentioned above. Avoid letting lawn fertilizer touch the plants, and scratching it into the top layer of the soil is better. Repeat fertilizing in mid to late May, then stop if you are using a slow release type like urea or blood meal. Fish emulsion I believe you can continue with into June.

TomNJ

thanks everyone,

I added some fish emulsion, 1/4 strenght, yesterday to them. Hopefully that will help getting them stronger. I will fertilize again at the end of May and June as you suggested.

Thanks so much.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Lagunites Gardening Experience

i'd use full strength as per directions. these are plants not seedling that just emerged.

tom

I'm looking to grow big tasty onions this year. I live in zone 7. would anyone please advise how. Do I need bulbs or plants, what fertilizers will I need will peatmoss work in the soil as a compost...please help.

Just want to get the best out of this growing season...Thank you in

I find my onions grown from plants far outperform those grown from sets (bulbs). Candy is a fine variety for your zone, producing large juicy sweet onions. I buy my Candy plants online from Dixondale Farms and plant them out around April 1st (Zone 6b). Fertilization recommendations are shown above, and there is a lot of good information on growing onions on the Dixondale website (dixondalefarms.com). Peatmoss should be okay but I have no experience using it as a soil amendment.

Thank for your response.I used dixondale farms last year they did ok,but not like what I want from my gardening, I simply need more Experience growing onions..this year I will add Mycorrhizae Fungi for the roots any Thoughts?

My Candy onions average about 3" and some top 5". I don't use any fungicides, herbicides or insecticides, just lots of organic nitrogen rich fertilizer such as Harmony and bloodmeal. The key is grow the green, and let the green grow the bulb.

It's also important to grow the right variety of onion for your region, such as short day, intermediate day, or long day varieties. Candy is an intermediate variety but also does well in much of the short day and long day regions. The Dixondale website has a map showing the regions for each variety. The regions are based on day length, not zone, as day length triggers bulbing and different varieties need different amounts of sunlight to complete green growth before bulbing.

Onions also need a fair amount of water, especially during bulbing. I mulch my onions with about 3" of grass clippings after the plants are established, usually three weeks after planting. They also do not compete well with weeds since they are not very tall and have little leaf surface area, so be sure to keep them well weeded. Mulch helps with both weeds and moisture retention.

Since my 15 day forecast looks good here, I will be planting my 450 onions early this year, probably next week when my plants arrive from Dixondale. Harvest begins in July as the necks get mushy.

Tom

Thank you Tom, I haven't bought the Mycorrhizae yet so I will take you advice on the high Nitrogen to grow