A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 onion-prob

for the last two seasons my maincrop onions have developed a grey mould which ends up killing of the infected leafs,this also stops the growth of the bulb so i tend to only get them to reach two thirds of there full size! im not the only one who gets it everyone on the allotment gets it at the same time. any ideas???

Where is essex? YOur climate may be the main factor. If you are in the U.S., every county nationwide has County Extension Services where they keep abreast of all local problems, and their service is free.
I don't know about the U.K. or Canada, but I suspect they have similar services.

essex is s.e england, we dont have anything like you mentioned here. ive been back in me books and found a chemical that might work just got to find it now! rather have a more organic solution though

Try spraying with baking soda. Fungi generally prefer acid conditions and baking soda is alkaline. It may help stop the spread of fungus problems you already have, but it's best when you spray it as a preventive before the fungi gains a foothold. Seaweed foliar sprays or compost teas are also beneficial. I believe you use 1 tablespoon baking soda per gallon of water, but I'm not at home, so I can't verify that.

CHEERS i will give the baking soda a try, can u let me know if dosage is wrong when you can...... thanks.

Sure, markr; I should be home by Monday or Tuesday.

Essex is where the Romans used to grow saffron crocuses. LOL.

Anyway I think my fungal problems on onions have been due to planting them too deep and too close together. Gardens Alive has a product for onion neck rot but I don't know if that is exactly what you have. I have found that once an area is really fungusy fungal sprays only work nominally.

not sure about the romans, but the local council have planted thousands! must be trying to keep up with them. they left plenty of under me allotment too, cant dig to deep dont know what i"ll find?... thats the romans not the council neck rot isnt a problem yet

Markr,
Hi, can I ask what kind of soil you do have...
and have you ammended the soil in any way?
If so, with what?

How's the rain where you are???
Or do you hand water???

my soil is sandy and i think we have the lowest rainfall in england? i water by hand at least everyother day in summer

Mark,
Any of these pictures help in the indentification
of it???
ONION DISEASES

Please let us know...

it looks more grey like the 3rd picture, but by description it sounds like downy mildew to me, great to see it on a page like that, its better than my books! its a great help. be going back there again to see more,,, thanks

Mark, I finally got my computer fixed, so here's the recipe for the baking soda spray.

1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon horticultural oil
1 gallon water.

I have been known to substitute regular vegetable oil (canola) for the horticultural oil. I save oil I've used to fry fish etc. specifically for this purpose. The oil helps the baking soda stick to the plants.

so when is it best to start?
at first sign
before.
is it a single aplication, or will i have to use it weekly?

I would spray it as a preventative every week or so. You could also use a foliar fertilizer in place of the water--seaweed, compost tea etc. Both of those examples also act against fungi.

ok thanks again terry.

Hi Markr,
A spray of Jeyes Fluid may help,but first go to
Robinson &Son
Preston
Lanc
info@mammothonion.co.uk
they have information about Problem Solving and Cultivation of onions. Not sure if it was this compony that grew the 16lb onion.They answered me some questions last year.
Dave(used to live in Staffs)

This past fall I bought 50 lbs of onion and split it with my MIL. Normally they keep well through the winter, but with this batch, it's not so great, almost every onion bulb has this grayish or black powder on the skins, and when they are peeled, they are going bad inside. Over here in Canada, our summer was very wet, so I guess we can attribute the mouldy onions to that. Good luck in fixing the problem with yours.

Yeppers I got a bunch that was like that too. Fortunately not nearly as many as you did. Just 1 5 lb bag. I also notice that the onions were smaller than the norm.

Hi Limey
just read your post about jeyes,
dont think it will work because a lot of the
old boys over the allotment use jeyes,
and they seem to get it before me.
I think it may help for the white mould we get around the roots' which is quite bad because they wont store, just rot.
i will take a look at robinson's though!
i used to grow kelsea a few years ago,
used to get them upto 6lb.
miss growing them!
wanted to get them bigger, but theres no way until i cure my problem.

Thanks daisey
nice to know the big boys get it wrong!
i know they go like that if there not dried properly.
we had a wet spell when i tried to dry mine,
luckily one of my greenhouses was empty or i would have lost a lot by now!
still gonna beat it in the end, (i hope).

Mark,
Do you plant your crops in the exact place
every year or do you rotate them from year to year???

Weezie
i rotate all my veg each year,
except my runner beans.
just to put you in the picture a bit more,,,
where my veg plot is, i think there is something like 40 other plots around it, so if one person gets a disease or problem we all end up with it at some stage.
my garden at home is reserved for flowers.
keeps the wife happy that way!

Got it!!!
It's hard to have yours in check
if everyone else's isn't!!!

Do you have contact with everyone??
My one suggestion would be for everyone
to stop growing it for a year or two???

Might help???
Don't know exactly!!!!

Yeah it does make it difficult,
you never know where people source there plants compost ect.
i know most of them and im sure it would help to stop growing them, but i think some would prefer to chop off a toe than miss out on a few onions!
still even better when i solve it, they will all be standing there scratchin there heads,,,,
ive got a couple of things to try this year,
i will grow two seperate lots and treat them with something each, and see which come out best