Time flies when you are sowing seeds! Can you believe it, it’s now 6 weeks that my onion seedlings have been sitting on the windowsill from a sowing on 8 January. So here’s why we should be potting on our Onion Seedlings.

The seedlings are looking a little tired, this will be because the compost has only enough nutrients for 6 weeks in these tiny cells, so now they will need to be ‘Potted On’.

What does Potting On mean?

It means to take your seedling out of a small container and plant it into fresh compost in a larger container. This gives the seedling a better chance to grow larger by having more nutrients and space.

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Signs your Seedlings need Potting On

1. Yellowing Leaves – Their leaves are yellowing instead of being green, this means they need more nutrients,
2. Bent or Floppy Seedlings – They are bent over, this means they haven’t got any more energy to grow, they need more nutrients.
3. Leaf ends drying out – They are drying out at the ends of the leaves, this could mean they are drying out I.e. not enough watering or not enough nutrients to keep growing.

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How do I Pot On my Seedlings?

You will need:

• Larger cell trays – plant one seedling to one cell,
• A tray to put the cell trays/s in,
• A small seedling fork – to make holes in the new compost and dig out the seedlings, being careful not to damage the roots.
• Multipurpose compost.
• A trowel or compost scoop, to fill the cells up with compost.
• A greenhouse or mini greenhouse with cover – to put your potted on seedlings in. Don’t worry they don’t mind the cold, just protect them from frost as they are still small seedlings.
• Seed Label and waterproof pen.
• Watering Can with water.

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To Pot on your Onion Seedlings, you will need to carefully dig the seedlings out of the windowsill cell tray and plant them into the new cell trays with fresh compost.

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Potting On Onion Seedlings Video

Here is my Video showing you how to Pot On your Onion Seedlings.

Runtime: 7 Minutes 44 Seconds.

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Your Potted On Onion Seedlings should now look like this:

You may be thinking:

• They look flat, will they stand back upright?
• They look a bit yellow, will they recover?
• I potted on some plants that didn’t have a lot of roots, will they survive?

Don’t worry I have the same thoughts every time I pot on seedlings.

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Transplant Shock

What your seedlings are experiencing at the moment is Change!

A Change of:

• Compost – they have new nutrients, but it will take time for the roots to take them up into the stem and leaves,
• Container – one minute their roots were all cosy, wrapped up in a tiny cell and now they can spread them out to grow in a larger cell, it takes time to get used to this,
• Climate – the seedlings will notice the temperature has changed, the nights are still colder than inside on the windowsill, it takes time to adjust to their new climate.

As we all know, it takes time to adapt to change. Seedlings feel this too. It might take up to 2 weeks in some vegetables for them to get use to their new surroundings.

All you can do as their carers, is check on them to see if they need anything like water, ventilation in the greenhouse and check they are in a sunny spot. They like a warm sunny spot, to get growing again!

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Next up

Did my Onion Seedlings recover from Potting On? Let’s find out in two weeks time. I hope to see you then.

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You will be emailed the next part of this story and every post (usually 3 times a week). The new growing season is about to begin so all new veg plot plans and more exciting sowings coming next month.

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Growing Onions is Easy!

See my 🧅 Onion Seed Sowing Video for how to sow seeds. There’s still time to Sow Onion Seeds –

• Sow Seeds: Jan to Feb, indoors on a sunny windowsill.
• Plant Onion Sets (small bulbs): March to April.

📒 Read my FREE PDF ebook – The Essential Guide to Growing Onions from Sets here.

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The Onion from Seed Story

1.Onion Seed Sow Along Video

2. Onion Seedlings 5-12 days

3. Onions from Seed – Seed, Germination, Seedlings – Weeks 1-6

4. Potting On Onion Seedlings at 6 Weeks.

We are with you every step of the way, showing you what steps to take next in your Onions from Seed Story.

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