Rotten onions

[bearded bloke]

Could it have been moisture in the pallet that started the rot ?

[binley100]

I spread mine on the racks in my blowaway, cover keeps the rain off but it's still draughty enough for no condensation. They seem to be fine, they're now in trays in the conservatory.

[Snadger]

Now why haven't MY onions dried properly?
I left them in a bucket on the allotment last week. Bucket has since half filled with rain. Onions are floating. Oops.

Is that not the little known aqua method of drying? lol

And......I bet they haven't rotted!!!!!

When you think about it, onions are a biennial so should be able to stay in contact with damp soil for TWO years and eventually run to seed at the end of it,............. not rot!

[Shadylane]

Some of mine were going a little mouldy under the first layer of skin which was a bit wet. Maybe take off the first layer of mucky damp skin and soil before laying out to dry (if you didn't already). Mine are in the garage and seem to be drying ok. Try ebay for string sacks if you haven't got any old seed potato bags.

[Tuffwood]

Had the same problem with my onions, when lifted they looked fine, but as they didn't seem to be drying out very quickly because of the odd shower I brought them into the greenhouse and they started to dry out nicely, unfortunately we had a bad period of rainy weather and my greenhouse went from warm and dry to warm and damp, ideal for mold and rotting, by the time I realised I had lost half of them. Going to plant earlier next year so they can spend more time in the sun, plus fix my greenhouse its forever leaking.

[Snadger]

I needed some onions for a soup I was making last night. I gathered a small bunch I've had hanging outdoors (on my pergola) since July in all sorts of inclement weather including rain,hail and frost.........they were all fine.

Still think that onions had been subjected to some sort of rot prior to being lifted rather than blaming the storage method to rot in such a short time!

[Two_Sheds]

a small bunch I've had hanging outdoors (on my pergola) since July in all sorts of inclement weather

they had good airflow round them then?

[Gwyndy]

I have had exactly the same problem. Onions and shallots were lifted and dried for some weeks in a sheltered outdoor area. Onions were trimmed and transferred to a string bag in the garage and around 75% have rotted. The only shallots that I have managed to keep are those that were pickled once they were dry.

I have had white rot again this year - the onions that is, not me - and although I thought that I had thrown out all the affected plants, I'm guessing that this was the cause of the problem. I also lost most of my garlic!!

That's life!

[Snadger]

they had good airflow round them then?

They were soaken wet and in moisture laden air!