Challenges to overcome when direct seeding onions.

Achieving the planned onion population and bulb quality requires precise seeding, especially in summer rainfall areas, writes Bill Kerr.

- BILL KERR

Direct onion seeding does save a lot of labour, but it requires attention to detail and discipline to be successful and provide a significant advantage to the farmer. When doing transplants, there is no issue with achieving the planned population, but with direct seeding there is no guarantee. If the stand is too sparse, the yield will suffer; if it's too dense, you'll require additional labour to thin it out, and seed will be wasted.