birmingham allotments

[tomatoada]

Has any site been told not to grow onions and leeks because of disease?   A private site near me has banned them.    On our site we have agreed to stop growing them.   Any comments please.

[tomatoada]

[Robert_Brenchley]

We've been warned about disease, but we certainly haven't been asked not to grow them. There are two problems; onion fly, which is prevented by fleecing small plants, and white rot. I have a little of the latter, but I'm managing to keep ahead of it so far. Why have you all decided not to grow them?

[tomatoada]

We have all had failed crops.   Twisted leaves.   White rot on the bulbs.  Brown streaks in the leeks. 

[Robert_Brenchley]

Onion fly, probably with a bit of white rot as well. It's endemic round here since the last few years, but as I say, it's easy to prevent. It's the young plants which are vulnerable, so fleece them in spring. If you grow overwintering onions, you'll probably find they're unaffected as they're big enough to manage it by the time the fly is active. White rot is another matter, but I imagine it's been around a lot longer.