Author Topic: White rot  (Read 2621 times)

Borderers1951

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White rot
« on: May 18, 2017, 16:48:44 »
Another problem on my new allotment.  I planted garlic, shallots and onions and was planning to plant leeks, too.  However, my neighbouring plot-holder has told me that the chap who previously held my plot had white rot on his onions.  It's too late to do anything this year but for future reference, I have a bed of about 12ft square at home which is doing nothing.  I was thinking of a new rose bed but perhaps I could use it for onions next year.  That's fine for one year but not for crop rotation in future.  I have heard that keeping the bed just for onions year after year is possible.  Has anyone else heard this?  I presume that I would have to keep it well fertilised  and I could use all the spent compost from my containers, plus the produce of my wormery and compost bins to keep the soil in decent condition.  If anyone has ever done this, I would greatly appreciate any tips.

Plot 18

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Re: White rot
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2017, 18:18:01 »
The 'old boys' on the plots keep an onion bed, but they also use either Jeyes fluid or Armillatox to sterilize the soil each year  :icon_cyclops_ani:  Not something I'd even think about, so I just don't grow onions :(

I do grow decent leeks though, I think the cooler weather later in the year ( I plant them after the early potatoes come up) makes the rot less active.

Vinlander

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Re: White rot
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2017, 14:03:09 »
There is a better solution...

Unfortunately the A4A search engine is going doolally and only finds the most recent post - I needed to open a fresh A4A window to get sensible results for "onion rot" - and I can't get back to it without opening yet another window - so I had to cut&paste what I was looking for from March 2015:

BarriedaleNick: Yes..

There is a thread somewhere about this - I think I may have even started it!  AH found it..  http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,78156.msg792062.html#msg792062

I tried a small patch last year with great success but empirically it isn't significant as I need to replicate it this year.

I used garlic powder and liquidised onion and watered into my test bed. Previously the test bed had produced onions with white rot but not all were affected so I think it was a decent enough test.  I didn't get any rot at all - not a smidge.  However several fellow growers didn't get as much rot as previous so maybe it was a dry year or something else was affecting the amount of rot.  So not at all conclusive but well worth a shot.

Small: I was delighted with my first year trial of mashed up garlic watered in, barely a sign of rot and a really good crop of onions, shallots and leeks. Did the same again for last year, and lost at least half the crop, had to pull the rest early and freeze rather than store the usual way......I don't think I did anything differently, but I couldn't bear risking the disappointment again so I'm afraid for me it's Tesco from now on. Good luck if you decide to give it a try, let us know how you go on.

Check out BarriedaleNick's  link.

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

laurieuk

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Re: White rot
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2017, 12:58:55 »
When I took on my plot I could not grow any onions  because of white rot. I read an article about garlic powder being used to control it. I use garlic powder that is intended for horses and last year won the local cup for the best onions. It does mean you use the same space for onions each year but I did this previously for about 14 years as it was such a good site. I but the powder online ad it is quite cheap I use 500g which covers an area about 6 feet by about 25 feet sorry but I am too old to use metric. I put the powder on as soon as I lift the crop while the soil is still warm and the spores alive.

Borderers1951

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Re: White rot
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2017, 10:16:29 »
When I took on my plot I could not grow any onions  because of white rot. I read an article about garlic powder being used to control it. I use garlic powder that is intended for horses and last year won the local cup for the best onions. It does mean you use the same space for onions each year but I did this previously for about 14 years as it was such a good site. I but the powder online ad it is quite cheap I use 500g which covers an area about 6 feet by about 25 feet sorry but I am too old to use metric. I put the powder on as soon as I lift the crop while the soil is still warm and the spores alive.

I'm going to try that.  I am still finding out about my new allotment/new site and there seems to be a few problems here I did not encounter at the previous plot so I'm making a list of all the advice I have been given.  Many thanks to all who have replied on this and other topics.

 

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