Topic: Onions looking sick

[petefj]

My onions look as if they are starting something.  On some of them, the foliage has gone very soft and limp, and dark blotchy patches are starting to appear on the limp foliage.

I can't find any maggots on the bulbs and generally they seem healthy, but these blotches are worrying me.

Could it just be the start of the ripening process and I'm worrying for no reason?

Peter

[Tee Gee]

Have you actually pulled up an affected bulb to have a good look at the base of it?


They blotches could be the onset of rust or mildew but what's in my mind is ' White rot' and you need to lift a bulb to see this.

Similarly; If it is onion fly there is unlikely to be much of a root system so the bulbs wil lift very easily!

Let us know if you have lifted one and what did you find?

[delboy]

Down here in Surrey we now have a new addition to the onion problems usually faced - alium leaf miner.

Leaves curl up and go wavy and/or twisted. Sometimes with blotches on them as well.

Onions are kaput.

[Hlomos]

I have a problem with some of my onions as they have a white gooey substance at the base near the roots. Is this white rot, mildew or what?  The affected ones come out of the ground easier than the others.
Can any one help please?

[goodlife]

I have a problem with some of my onions as they have a white gooey substance at the base near the roots. Is this white rot, mildew or what?  The affected ones come out of the ground easier than the others.
Can any one help please?

Ohhhh deeear...sounds like white rot...see couple of other posts we've had about it recently...

[davyw1]

I would say it is definitely White Rot. Lift them peel back to the white cut of the roots and use them they wont store.

[petefj]

I lifted four of the affected onions and cut three of them into quarters looking for maggot.  No sign of any maggot in any of them.
The foliage is looking very blotchy, limp and in some cases dying back fast.  The root systems look good on all of them.

I've uploaded three photos of the affected crop to.:

http://imageshack.us/ and under account peter@pfjames.co.uk.

I would be grateful if someone would look at the photos and if possible identify the disease for me.
Many thanks,

Peter

[davyw1]

Cant get into your photo,s Pete you will need to copy the image code and paste it onto here
If your onions are failing fast it could be Downy Mildew
Symptoms. Downy mildew is identified by a purple-brown mold occurring in irregular shaped patches on onion leaves. The mold represents thousands of spores produced by the fungus in wet or humid weather. Severely affected leaves collapse and die in a few days.

[petefj]

It's taken me some time to sort these pictures out, but the sick onions can be seen at:

http://imgur.com/a/kEWQW

The ones growing in the allotment are now looking very sick indeed.

Peter

[Unwashed]

I'd say that's downy mildew Peter, defo not white rot.  If the onions have bulbed up already then they should be OK, but they won't get much bigger now so I'd think about cutting the foliage off and taking it down the tip.

[chriscross1966]

Another vote for downly mildew, the roots look fine and that's what white rot kills...  Cut off and burn the foliage in an incinerator...

chrisc

[Hlomos]

Thanks for the info about the white rot. About a quater of the onions are affected. I have lifted all the onions and are keeping the white rot ones separate. Will this be ok?

[Hlomos]

Been thinking about this white rot and had it in two places miles apart. Could it have been the onion sets I bought?

[Unwashed]

Hi Hlomos, welcome to A4A.  Your question might be getting a bit lost in petefj's thread.  I hope you don't mind me making the suggestion, but if you start a new thread your question is sure to get a bit more attention.  Cheers.

[Fork]

Defo downey mildew.Noticed it on mine this morning and have spent some considerable time lifting all my onions and trimming back the foliage to about 6".They are drying now.

Foliage has been bagged up and will go to the local tip tomorrow....would like to burn it but we are not allowed fires.

Have had mildew before and left it alone...the tops died back and the onions did not keep very well at all.Most went rotten and stank to high heaven.

[petefj]

I'd say that's downy mildew Peter, defo not white rot.  If the onions have bulbed up already then they should be OK, but they won't get much bigger now so I'd think about cutting the foliage off and taking it down the tip.

It would seem that mildew is the consensus.  Thanks for all of the advice I'll cut the tops down and destroy them.

Peter

[Fork]

I'd say that's downy mildew Peter, defo not white rot.  If the onions have bulbed up already then they should be OK, but they won't get much bigger now so I'd think about cutting the foliage off and taking it down the tip.

It would seem that mildew is the consensus.  Thanks for all of the advice I'll cut the tops down and destroy them.

Peter

If the bulbs are big enough I would lift them and not just rely on cutting back the tops.