Onion Spacing

I'm a first time SFGer, and first time gardener in general. I planted some carrot and green bunching onion seeds the weekend before last, and was so excited when I noticed the teeny little sprouts popping through last night, I couldn't believe anything actually grew! haha

Anyway...I apologize if this question has been asked to death (I'm sure it has) but I did a search of the forum and couldn't find anything that gave a straight forward answer. I received my baby Walla Walla and Red onion plants yesterday and transplanted 16 of them in 1 of the SF. I stopped when I saw how close they were to each other and just have to question if it shouldn't be more like 9 to a SF. I know I know, trust the process. But it looking at it I just can't see how I could hope to get anything bigger than golf ball sized onions even under the most perfect conditions.

Does anyone have personal experience with success in growing reasonable sized onions with 16 to a SF?

I can't help with the spacing because I grow my onions in containers, but I do know that Walla Wallas are a "long day" onion. That means they don't bulb in our area. Are you sure you can grow them where you live?

Did the onion plants come with any spacing instructions? If so follow those instruction.  Last year I planted my onions at 16 per square. To be honest I have great success with the green bunching onions but onions planted from sets don't grow very big for me. Multiplier onions have done well and I use the spacing instructions that come with the sets. My climate does not seem to be good for growing big onions even though I try the recommended (for my area) long day onions.

I do not always follow SFG spacing so beware of my recommendations.  But I would not plant 16 per square if you are looking for big to medium size onions.  16 per square works for small green bunching onions but not onions which will bulb up in my opinion.  So, if you are using small bunching onions, then start with 16 per square and harvest some early if you feel you need more room.  If you are trying to grow bulbing onions, I would try for 4 per square as a final number.  You can always plant more per square and thin some out to use as green onions and then leave 4 per square to bulb up.  The largest onions I have ever grown were spaced at 6 inches apart in all directions.  I have never grown Walla Walla onions so I do not know the spacing for those.  Trolleydriver's suggestion to look at the packing instructions, if any, will help.  Here is my largest onion I ever grew (last year planted 6 inches apart in all directions).  It is also the first decent sized onion I have ever grown so I think I might have figured out what works in my garden and my climate.

I believe that sometimes, depending upon what we want to grow and our own conditions, some experimentation with spacing is appropriate.

As to onions, I've yet to have a successful crop, either.  I tend to think that either 4 or 9 bulbing onions per square is about right, probably more like 4.  Also, I've read that starting onions from seed is the preferred method, although putting in existing plants is also a good option.

Just checked the spacing instructions on my yellow onion sets. For early green onions the spacing is one inch .That is a whole lot of onions per square. However, for cooking onions the spacing is stated at 3 to 4 inches.  So that would be either 16 or 9 per square. That again is for yellow onions.

Welcome to the Forum.  I'm going to suggest planting 9 onions per square for your first year. If you grow giant onions, next year you can try 5 and 4 every other square or just 4 per square. Keep us updated. And, we love photos! Hint.

sanderson wrote:Welcome to the Forum.  I'm going to suggest planting 9 onions per square for your first year.  If you grow giant onions, next year you can try 5 and 4 every other square or just 4 per square.  Keep us updated.  And, we love photos!  Hint.

I corrected a mistake I made. For some reason I said 8 when it should have been 9.

Hi Afrat. Welcome from Atlanta, GA!

I'd also suggest no more than 9/square...

I realize this is an old thread, but I noticed it while making my plans for the winter schedules.  We like fresh green onions for salads in the spring, so I start my onions from seed in January and plant in the beds in April.  Since the bunching onions we use in spring do not have time to form bulbs, they can be placed close together.  So, I plant the seedlings close together in April, and then pull every other plant until the remaining onions are 6" apart to grow through the summer for winter storage. This results in me planting the seedlings at 16 per square, and eventually thinning to 4 per square.

This year I am trying something new - I purchased pelleted onion seeds so that I can actually get one seed per cell in the starter trays.