In article 5aedf848-5370-44bc-84ab-e729c2a58986
@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com, michael says...
I have seen one or two articles which suggest sowing onion seed in
modules as follows.Put four or five seeds in each module under
warm(55F)conditions,and when the seedlings are 3-4 inches high,put
into a cold frame for a couple of weeks,and then plant out in early
April as they are.The idea is that the onions will bulb up and push
each other apart.Seems easy enough but cannot see it working well
enough to provide reasonably sized onions.I am not intending to grow
onions for showing,but just for the kitchen.An alternative method
suggested is to just sow onions in a 5" pot,grow on and harden off,and
then separate the onions and plant out singly on the onion bed.I have
grown onions from seed before,and found that they do not bolt as
readily as onion sets.However,I have planted out singly into modules
when the onion seedlings are quite small(at the crook stage)and it is
quite a fiddly job and incurs e reasonable proportion of losses.I
cannot sow seed directly as the ground slopes and is very dry,so I
have been using sets.But I really wish to go back to seed if I can
find a good easy way.Michael

I tried growing from seed by planting seeds in seed trays
last Autumn. They germinated and put limited growth on. I
planted the seedlings out in April BUT the biggest problem
was weeds. As the onion seedlings were so small and
delicate it meant a lot of hand weeding as the hoe was too
clumsy to get right up to them. I also planted some sets at
the same time. The sets fared better than the seedlings.

Unfortunately I lost lots of ripe onions (both from sets
and seed) due to stem rot this year. Probably due to all
the rain. First time I've ever lost any onions in many
years of growing them.
--
David in Normandy