Onions dying! (pics)

[oakley]

I don't see mention of controls. Potassium bicarbonate? Copper?

[TomNJ]

Originally Posted by GoDawgs

Have you sent these photos to your extension service? They're usually pretty good about identifying stuff, at least ours is.

Yes, and I am awaiting their reply. I know the man in charge and if I don't hear from him soon I'll drop by his office in town.

[TomNJ]

Originally Posted by PureHarvest

Maybe this?:

Page 37: https://www.seminis.com/SiteCollecti...ease-Guide.PDF

white tip

I thought of white tip, but these white patches started at the base of the plants and I don't recall seeing any "water-soaked spots that expand into lesions". I'll look closer.

[b54red]

Tom I had the same thing around 12 years ago and it hit both my onions and garlic. I lost almost my whole crop. It returned the next year and I sprayed with the diluted bleach spray and stopped the worst of it before it got too bad again. I did notice that it started soon after or during periods of heavy rain with lots of splash back. I now make sure my onions are heavily mulched with bark fines or cypress mulch and it hasen't happened again. I also now spray my onions with Daconil a few times and with the diluted bleach spray if I am spraying anything else with it. I also will spray them with a copper spray if I am using that on something else.

I feel for you because it was a horrible experience for me and turned my beautiful bed of garlic and onions into a stinking mess. Hopefully you won't have it as bad as I did. It seemed like the plants just melted and became a soupy, rotting, slimy mess.

Good luck.

Bill

[TomNJ]

Hallelujah! My onions have risen from the dead...MIRACLE! Praise the onion goddess!

Only about 10% are dead or doomed, and another 15% are significantly affected but putting out strong new growth. The great news is that some 75% have recovered and appear to be growing on schedule!

Our local Cooperative Extension agent diagnosed the malady as a fungal disease, likely initiated my the 5" rain storm we had a couple of weeks ago during some cool weather, causing some water soaked lesions. Lately it has been warm and dry, which has helped the onions recover. The agent said they may very well grow out of it, but also said not to plant in the same location for the next two years. I can manage that!

Dixondale was so helpful and reshipped the order for free, but since these are now some six weeks late I wouldn't expect full sized onions from them. Nevertheless I'll plant them, and hope my main crop continues to recover and yield larger ones.

Garden back on track. The cellar seedlings are all in the hardening off process, and all warm crops will be out within a week.

[Worth1]

Great news.
Let the late ones die back and then when it cools off this fall let them start growing again.
Pick as desired after that if you want.

Or just have a crop of big green onions.

[bower]

They're looking great Tom. Some fungal diseases just need one set of conditions to flourish and when the weather changes they're done. Glad to see it.

[MissS]

I'm so glad to hear that the crisis is over and that things are back on track. Hopefully you will have two nice crops of onions this year.

[PureHarvest]

Tom, I noticed your garlic next to the onions.
You’re seem to have the yellow tips that mine do.
I still can’t figure that out. Dry, wet, to little or too much of a nutrient.
Every year it happens. They say it doesn’t effect yield. But I always wonder what it is.

[TomNJ]

Originally Posted by PureHarvest

Tom, I noticed your garlic next to the onions.
You’re seem to have the yellow tips that mine do.
I still can’t figure that out. Dry, wet, to little or too much of a nutrient.
Every year it happens. They say it doesn’t effect yield. But I always wonder what it is.

Yeah yellow tips on garlic come and go, I don't worry much about them. Sometimes a dose of nitrogen seems to green them up, but mine get a lot of nitrogen throughout the growing season so I doubt they are ever nitrogen deficient. The Estonian Red are more prone to this than the other varieties.

[GoDawgs]

Super news, Tom! I'm so glad they're recovering. Sometimes miracles do happen.

And that's some good sturdy garlic you have there.

[jmsieglaff]

Glad to hear the recovery is in full swing. Nice looking garden too!

[b54red]

Glad to hear the weather dried up for you and you were able to get back on track. When it hit mine the rain didn't let up for two weeks and by the time it stopped it was all over but the crying.

Bill