Onions and Garlic ??

[Normylass]

 ???
Been to the allotment today and found something has eaten the green sprouting tops off my overwintering onions and garlic!!

They were becoming nicely established as well, I suspect pigeons?? There was a feather stuck in the green netting covering the spring cabbages! right next to the onions.

Does this mean they will become weakened and die? I have covered them now with some fleece just in case?

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

Normylass

[Normylass]

[KathrynH]

I guess it could be pigeons as they'll probably eat anything they can get at this time of year but I've never heard of it before. I'd be intrested to hear if they pick up now that you've covered them.

[Normylass]

Hi There Kathryn

Thank you for your reply. No sign yet of regrowth, a friend suggested we just now dig them into the ground but I want to wait it out and see waht happens.
I've got to be hopeful as mother nature is an amazing thing.

Normylass

[shaun01]

[I suspect pigeons?? There was a feather stuck in the green netting covering the spring cabbages! right next to the onions.

iv got a bottle of milk in the fridge it don't mean iv got a cow in the shed  ;D

[saddad]

They should recover if covered up Normylass...  ;D

[star]

If the inner growing tip hasn't been damaged they should be ok ;)

[Hyacinth]

Agreeing with Star and certainly no harm done covering them and waiting. I've had onions 'attacked' before. I grow in my garden and the suspected culprits were pigeons there too :-\

[Mothy]

Last winters onions were pecked to bits and we had a poor crop.

This tear covered with a net and they are going well....so far!! Good luck!

[Normylass]

Thank you for the replies.

Still nothing to report, have to wait I suspect a month or two to see what happens.
I just did not expect onions/garlic to be eaten, well as I'm a newbie I've  still a lot to learn!!    :)

[Lottie103]

Oh no, trauma  :o. I hadn't even considered netting my onions & garlic! I hope yours recover (and mine are still OK this weekend....). Good luck!

[Normylass]

Hi just wanted to update this thread.

The onions and garlic have come through the winter and appear to be fully recovered from their 'attack' and doing well.
During the snow last month DH and I went up to the plot to find.....very large paw prints from rabbits...loads of them, so I guess they could be the problem. They must be big bunny's as the jump span was very wide!! We had decided already to chicken wire the fence to prevent rabbits/rats etc getting in but this definitely spurred us on, only one side of the four left to do now!! We have buried the wire to prevent digging and added stones to the buried wire to help deter digging too. I guess this was an added cost, but as we don't have other expensive tastes  we thought it would be worth it. Being on the plot keeps me out of the shops ;)

[Tee Gee]

Have you considered rabbits/hares getting under the net.

Pigeons are a wary bird when it comes to nets. Their first objective is a quick escape plan if disturbed by a predator such as a cat.

Meaning if they get under the net they will remain in the vicinity of the hole they got in.

If they don't find the hole then their chances of survival is minimised.

Whereas a rabbit will burrow under the net or squeeze under it to get in / escape ( much like the cat would if going after the pigeon.)

So my vote is rabbits/hares.