Shallotts turning yellow and dieing

[seniab]

Hi all,

My first year as an allotmenteer and one of the first things I planted were shallotts (Golden Gourmet). They came up absolutely fine and developed lush green tufts of foliage, but from that point on some have begun to die off.

The problem starts with the outermost leaves yellowing, then shrivelling up. Eventually this happens to all of the leaves and then the bulb dies. Am I doing something wrong? Is this a sign of poor soil fertility, or have they been attacked by a pest/fungus?

Any advice would be gratefully received, as I'm stumped as to what I'm doing wrong.

Cheers,

Seniab.

[jacob marley]

It would seem that there is some thing about your plot that do's not like Shallots when did you plant them and have you planted onion set's as well and are they ok jacob

[SarzWix]

Have you pulled one of them up to look at the roots? If not, I'd do that, there may be some obvious cause like the bottom rotting (could be poor drainage) or the roots eaten away by a pest, or the soil very dry (unlikely, I know!).

[zazen999]

Hi

How deep are they planted? are they in a particularly wet/damp patch of soil?

Is it the smaller ones that are dying, or are they varying sizes?

How many have you lost so far; remember that sometimes not every plant makes it - which is why I asked about the size.

[rustylady]

Went to my lottie this weekend and some of my shallots are showing the same symptoms. Didn't have time to investigate. Only the first leaves yellowing at the moment. Overwintered garlic and onions nearby doing fine, so I don't think it's pests.

[seniab]

The ones I pulled up were showing signs of rot, though why I don't know. They are in a bed next to my onions, and the onions are doing absolutely fine with no signs of disease/pests. I dug that part of the plot in one go, and there was no noticeable difference in the soil, so I don't think it's a drainage problem.

I suppose it's possible I just got some dodgy sets, and they are beginning to give up the ghost.

[BulgarianBev]

Yellow garlic

my garlic is showing the same signs. This was planted out in late november as advised by my BG neighbours - soil very clay-i, is this possibly the problem?

[Snadger]

White rot only attacks the plant when it establishes a few roots. White rot is a fungal disease and can be brought in on sets. It's the allium equivalent of clubroot so you don't want the spores in you soil as they can linger for numerous years!
I have allium white rot in various areas of my allotment and I am trying Golden Bear onions this year which are purported to be white rot resistant.

Not saying it IS white rot........... but by the symptoms it could be?

[selfraising]

I had the same on my garlic but only the outer leaves. The central leaves seem to be doing fine.

[RobintheBobin]

I'm growing Echelons (sp) Grise shallots which I planted last autumn. Like Selfraising's garlic the outer leaves are affected but the inner ones still seem okay. Have you tried feeding them?

[Two_Sheds]

here's one I hadn't heard of before: Onion Yellow Dwarf Virus

[Snadger]

here's one I hadn't heard of before: Onion Yellow Dwarf Virus

Me neither TS!

[Anemone]

This happened to my shallots a couple of years ago. I had planted them in February in heavy clay soil and basically they rotted in the cold and wet.

Ever since I make ridges in the soil where I'm putting garlic, onion and shallot sets and the sets go in on top of the ridges. This allows for better drainage and I've had great results. I even planted over wintering onions this winter this year and they've come through really well.

[geoff]

Could be something very simple, like - have you watered them?!
Even though it's late winter/spring, it has been quite dry recently

[Two_Sheds]

Mine are doing it too.
They aren't wet, they aren't dry ... and the onions next to them (see pic) are perfectly alright.

I'm wondering if there's a virus in the sets? (Wilkinsons)