Allotments 4 All

Hi all

I have just came back from a great holiday in Torridon and noticed two of my onions had flowerheads.  Is there any way to spot this before the bulb at the end develops.

i have the same question, but know that last year my onion leaves started to  lie down by themselves.  this year i have had some make flower heads so have laid them all down.  is this the right thing to do.  why are they flowering this year and not lying down like last year.  they stood for another few weeks last year with no problems.

Alit

I presume we are talking 'setts' here.

If so I would guess they have had some sort of check at some time e.g. sometime between them being lifted and replanting and possibly since planting, so there is not much that can be done about it if this is the case.

TG does this mean we should lift them now or are they completely unuseable?  I noticed about half a dozen of ours had developed tall central spikes with flower heads (unopened) at the weekend.  We just nipped the flower heads off but if the crop is wasted we'll lift & bin them.

Sorry to hijack but i'm worried now! x

You can still eat them Kitten but they will not store... a great excuse to make French Onion Soup and freeze some for later... ;D

If you can catch the emerging flower stem very young you loose less of the bulb..
::)

As Saddad mentions they are OK for eating but not storing.

What you will find when you cut open the onion that the core goes right down to the base plate.

As with the other thread about leeks this makes the centre a bit tough/hard but as was said there you can still cook them in soups/stews or any form of cooking that renders them down.

All I do when I see the flower stalks is just nip the top off and leave the bulb to to swell as usual.

Oh, ok thanks tg & saddad - now i'll have to remember which ones they were so don't try to store them  ::)  ;D