Red Onion Seeds

Red Onions can be sown directly from seeds or can be transplanted into containers or garden bed.

How to grow Red Onion from Seeds:

Introduction and Uses: Indian Cuisines are incomplete with Onion. It is used to thicken the gravies. Onions add flavor to the dishes without increasing their calorie content. Most of the onion cultivars constitute of 89% water, 1% protein, 4% sugar, 2% fibre and 0.1% fat. Red Onion is used particularly in salads to add a tinge of red color to the green palette.

Botanical Name: Allium cepa

Sowing Season: Throughout the year. Best grown in winter.

Sowing method: Transplantation
Because the seeds are small in size, Red Onion plant is grown by transplantation method. Seeds are first sown indoors in seedling trays or outdoors on seed beds & later the seedlings are transplanted into the containers or in raised beds.

Sowing container: Seedling trays/ seed cups/ small polybags/ Seed bed.

Sowing medium: Coco Peat (indoors), Fine soil(outdoors)

Steps for seed sowing (Seed starting) in a container:

Take a seedling tray with medium sized cells & drainage holes at the bottom.

Fill the cells/cups with a moist coco-peat medium.

Hold the Red Onion seeds and sow 2-3 seeds per cell/cup. Since Red Onion seeds are small in size, do not sow them deep.

Sowing Technique:

Just put the seeds on the surface of the medium & push each seed a little inside the medium by using pencil tip, so that seeds are not visible on the surface anymore & cover it with more coco-peat.

Or make small, shallow depressions on medium with pencil bottom. Put the seed on that depression & sprinkle more coco-peat on the top to cover the seed.

Keep the seedling tray indoors till the seeds germinate.

Covering: Keep the seed tray in a box or cover it with paper for first 4-5 days to encourage faster seed germination.

Watering:

Water the seed cells with a spoon in the first week. Provide two tablespoons of water every day. Or keep the seed tray in another tray full of water for half an hour so that the water will be absorbed by the seed cells from the bottom, via drainage holes.

If seed beds are made outdoors, protect them from heavy rain or direct sunlight. Use well sieved fine soil as a sowing medium & make a nice raised bed from it. Cover the bed by making a temporary roof of a plastic sheet. Water it in the form of a light shower using a watering can.

Growth stages of Red Onion Plant:

Sprouting Stage: Seeds will germinate within first 6-8 days & tiny sprouts will be visible. Once seeds germinate, put the tray on an open partially sunny spot near the window. Don’t cover the tray anymore.

Cotyledons: The first two leaves will emerge in the second week of germination. These are false leaves called as cotyledons.

First leaves: First leaves will emerge above cotyledons at the end of the second week.

Seedling stage: Second week onwards, seedlings will start growing into a small plant. At this stage exposé the seedlings to more & more sunlight for leaf growth.

Thinning: After the second week, keep only single seedling per cell/cup. Cut off the weak, small & lagging seedlings with a pair of scissors.

Transplantation: 30 to 35 days after the seed sowing, your seedlings will be ready to transplant in container pots or raised beds.

Container:

Choose a container with a minimum depth of 12 inches & bigger spread area (according to available space & your requirement) like big Trays or crates.

Ideal planting mixture for Red Onion: 2 part garden soil & 1 part Organic Manure. Or,

1 part garden soil, 1 part coco-peat & 1 part Vermicompost.

Transplant the seedling along with root ball of a medium, without disturbing its roots.

Spacing: Plant the seedlings minimum 6x6 inches from each other on raised beds or in a container.

How to take care for Red Onion Plant:

Sunlight: Red Onion grows well under full sunlight in winter. So place your containers accordingly.

Watering: Water your potted Red Onion plant every alternate day in winter. Water at the soil near the plant. Use a watering can and make sure that the plants get water in the form of the shower & not by a single flow. You can also make provision for watering by watering by drip irrigation system for your raised beds. Avoid overwatering.

Note: Stop watering Onion plants 2 weeks before harvesting when leaves start to turn yellow.

Manuring: Add good quality organic manure in the soil with 2:1 ratio before transplanting the seedling. Organic fertilizer can be well rotten cow dung manure, farmyard manure, compost or Vermicompost.

Top Dressing: Apply balanced liquid fertilizers or handful of vermicompost to each plant, every 15 days after transplantation.

Plant care: Always look for the early signs of any insect/fungal/ any other infections. Spray appropriate medicines as soon as any symptoms of such diseases are spotted. Watch out for snails & slugs.

Harvesting: (130-150 days from seed sowing) 100 to 110 days after transplantation, Onion bulbs will be ready to harvest. Uproot the onion bulbs & let them Sundry on field for a week before storing them.