I had a very good crop of onions this year, with only one or two getting the white rot. But we're now finding that lots are soft with smelly grey interiors. I've been keeping them in the greenhouse to dry off but I guess they were too wet initially and the foliage didn't dry properly. I did harvest some off them between showery days so those were a bit damper than they might have been.
Any advice?
Take them home now, indoors, and really let dry what is left.
Alternatively, chop and freeze right now. You can buy frozen chopped onions commercially, so you could do it yourself to preserve the harvest if you need to fear that more will start rotting. :wave:
Or soup them and freeze that... that's what we do with any showing signs of rots
I too would freeze or puree as much as I could salvage.
Last year most of our garlic rotted off so this year I've used Tee Gee's system of a wooden pallet with wires across to suspend them upside down in a cool, airy place to dry and they're perfect so far. We have a handy old metal table base that's a perfect support for the pallet.
So pleased I've done the same with the onions and it's working a treat and I'll be planting twice as much garlic this autumn and more onions next spring.
Thanks Tee Gee.
I also suffer from White Rot .It has decimated my garlic but not touched the Elephant Garlic in the same bed. My main bed of onions has been pretty much free of the White Rot where I have been growing Red Barron and Cupido but I do not think the Red Baron will keep. In another part of the allotment i have tried Golden Bear with limited success against the White Rot and hopefully they will keep. Because the main bed has been free of the disease I have decided to do what my dad used to do and that is keep the onions in the same bed year in year out. Robinsons have used the same bed for 100 plus years. As an extra precaution now that I have harvested the main bed I have raked in garlic powder in the bed and will follow that with a layer of well rotted manure during the winter and possibly water in Jeyes Fluid in the spring before planting. I have also decided to grow all my own onions and not use sets. I also had that on our site we also suffer from Allium Leaf Miner and Downey Mildew so I have to grow under nets and hope the Downey Mildew does not come which this year it has not.