Yup, you've got it. Variety had no bearing. July is far, far too late.

I started my seeds indoors in January and planted out in early to mid May up here in zone 2. They bulbed up nicely.

Macky,

Any tips on starting onions from seed? My seed sprouted real well, got about 3 inches tall and then all died. All of the rest of our seed started plants (tomatoes, broccoli, peppers) that we have done for years did fine.

I want to try again next year, but don't want to repeat my mistakes (whatever they were).

There are much more expert onion growers than I on the board. This is only the second year I've successfully grown from seed and the first year I've gotten them to size up like they're supposed to. Last winter, I sat down and read everything I could on growing onions because at the time, I just wasn't getting it. I hadn't grown anything (edible) before which was sensitive to daylight hours.

Onion seed needs to be as fresh as possible. This was the second year that I planted from the same seed packet. I'm planning to buy fresh every two years, no longer.

I gave my seedlings more space than others might because I was so determined for them to work this year, lol. I used regular black cell packs (whatever size it is that fits 72 per plastic flat). One seedling per cell. As they grew, I kept trimming them down to about 4 or 5 inches, as tall as they could be without falling over.

Fertilized with a balanced, soluble synthetic, half-strength every other watering (from the bottom). They didn't get any special attention other than the trimmings. The were under the same florescents as everything else. They went out in the cold frames as soon as possible and out of the cold frames as soon as possible (a while before the garden was worked even). They were the first transplants to get planted out.

The goal, as I understand, is to get as much growth as possible before the solstace. The bigger the tops, the bigger your onion bulb will be after all the energy goes down into it. Each leaf feeds one layer of the onion. Fewer leaves equals fewer layers and a smaller onion bulb. Plenty of big juicy leaves equal a big juicy onion.

Thanks for the excellent response. I seem to have pretty much followed your regiment. It appears to have been a fluke. That's one thing about gardening--there's always next year.

O'course, you could push your dates back even more and grown your own sets. That's essentially what you're doing. I'd let a few plants go and see if they divide and then bulb next year.

So you never had onion root maggot problems by planting onions after garlic? They'd fine me sure as shootin. I switch to either beans or winter squash after garlic for that reason.

Definitely always next year. :) I lost all of my tomato seedlings this year to some sort of wilt before they even got outside. I've been growing tomatoes for years and have never had that happen before (nor with the subsequent, late batch I started after those were disposed of). Best of luck next year!