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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: the_snail on June 11, 2015, 12:34:12

Title: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: the_snail on June 11, 2015, 12:34:12: Hello

My onion sets for some reason are showing leaves that are very curly and the bases are rotting. It has effected al of my onion sets but my onions from seed seem to be ok so far. Could this be onion fly or the dreaded eelworm?

Thanks
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: goodlife on June 11, 2015, 14:19:07: Is there any sign of fungal growth on the rotting bulbs...white/grey fuzzy growth?
Can you take a photo of the affected bulbs and show us what they look like?
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: the_snail on June 12, 2015, 17:32:51: Sorry for the late reply

Bellow are 2 pictures of the affected onions.

Thanks
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: Tee Gee on June 12, 2015, 19:31:23: These look like the results from setts that were missed last year and have grown on again.

Where did you get the setts from and when and how did you plant them?
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: the_snail on June 13, 2015, 00:12:23: I think these sets came from wilkos or homebargains.

These are not sets that where in last year as they where bought this year march and planted in March. It is only affecting the sets the seed onions seem to be fine.
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: Ellen K on June 13, 2015, 10:10:48: Judging by the curly leaves, it looks as if the dreaded allium leaf miner (or similar) got them, then they succumbed to a secondary infection. Mine were the same last year, lost the whole crop, this year I covered them with Enviromesh until the middle of May and they seem to be all right.

Another pest sent by nature to thwart us.
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: maureen.alder.9 on June 13, 2015, 19:45:00: my onions are not growing at all well they were planted on the 4th April but the leaves have grown but cannot see any other growth I am wondering if the soil is too heavy they did get blown about in the high winds that we had and I had them covered for about a month so the birds did not pull any out so will just have to wait and see
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: the_snail on June 14, 2015, 17:01:51: Thank you for your replies and assistance.
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on June 15, 2015, 21:58:44: Onion fly? Cut them open and see if there's a maggot or a pupa inside. They've been at a few of my potato onions and walking onions, but they've pulled through. A few years ago they were making it hard to grow 'normal' onions where I am, and they all had to be fleeced to keep the fly at bay.
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: antipodes on June 16, 2015, 16:34:56: I would lean towards onion fly. They look like mine did last year. Slice into the base - you will find small brown pupae within the layers...
For the affected ones that still grew large enough, I spilt them vertically, washed out the brown bugs and when they were all clean I chopped them and froze them. They won"t keep.
Title: Re: curly onion leaves and rotting on sets only
Post by: the_snail on June 30, 2015, 15:33:02: Thank you all for your replies. I thought I would update you and I am pleased to say that it is not the dreaded onion eelworm :blob7:

Instead it is the dreaded Onion leaf-miner fly >>> https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=643 :BangHead: :cussing: :angry4: :angryfire: :violent5:

What they suggest it to plant the onions towards the end of May as I did with my seed onions as they where sown in March. Hence those have not been affected :blob7: YET!!!!