Dealing with Fungal Infestations (Potato Blight and Onion White Rot)

[Rushton2010]

We've not been lucky this year with fungi this year.
We lost all of our potatoes to blight quite early in the year, and now the onions are just about ready we've found some have white rot. The rot doesn't seem extremely severe; a white foamy fuzz on the bottoms of a few onions, with the first layer of onion partially eaten through.

My grandad and google seem very doom and gloom about the situation suggesting there is nothing I can do and that it will stay in the ground for decades.
Please tell me they're wrong
Has anyone else had these problems and how have you dealt with them?

I read somewhere a bonfire will kill off fungus spores. It makes sense in theory but I'm not convinced the intense heat will penetrate far enough into the soil. (or that I could avoid burning down the shed)
Some where else advised covering the area with a plastic liner and building a raised bed over the top with fresh soil. Again I'm not convinced: we used those plastic liners underneath the driveway and patio and weeds have still found their way through.

So yes; help, advice and you're experiences really valued.

[zazen999]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ard_66233.html

We've not had it at all this year at the lottie so either the garlic or the mustard must have worked...

[salome2001]

I wouldn't rule out the bonfire. Last Guy Fawkes we had a moderately large conflagration on the end of the plot and this year DH has noted that that's the one spot no weeds grow. I think we sterilised the soil of weed seeds. However, i take your point about the shed

[binley100]

Worth it with the stinky garlic spray then Zaz........that's good to know

If you chop off the yukky bits on your onions and then slice them they'll keep fine frozen and be ready to chuck in your cooking....

[zazen999]

I wouldn't rule out the bonfire. Last Guy Fawkes we had a moderately large conflagration on the end of the plot and this year DH has noted that that's the one spot no weeds grow. I think we sterilised the soil of weed seeds. However, i take your point about the shed

Weed seeds yes, onion white rot no. Our worst case of white rot was where was had lit about 5 fires in previous years.

[Kirk]

Blight is annual and I think wind bourne so you get, or not, annual infections.
White rot is a fungal infection that stays in the soil and can or will be there for a number of years. No satisfactory cure, we cannot use the commerical products.

The watering with garlic spray/extract does not I suspect cause all the spores to die, which is what is necessary, and any remaining spores will get munching on the next lot of onions planted.

[realfood]

The garlic water spray is quite effective. I treated one bed 3 years ago, and harvested a white rot free crop of onions this year.

[zazen999]

Blight is annual and I think wind bourne so you get, or not, annual infections.
White rot is a fungal infection that stays in the soil and can or will be there for a number of years. No satisfactory cure, we cannot use the commerical products.

The watering with garlic spray/extract does not I suspect cause all the spores to die, which is what is necessary, and any remaining spores will get munching on the next lot of onions planted.

Well it seems to work and the research dept at work [whose job it is to research these things] tell me it does, so that's good enough for me. I have a new bed at the community gardens which seems to have it so I'll be testing it out again there.

[lottie dolly]

Like the sound of that,we have patches of it,at what strength,and when is best to apply to the ground please,

[muddyfeet]

Ive mouldy bottoms this year too

Would a fungal spray as used on apple trees work on onion white rot?

Also could it just be mouldy? and not necessarily the dreaded onion white rot?

[zazen999]

Like the sound of that,we have patches of it,at what strength,and when is best to apply to the ground please,

I clove per gallon of water, all ground or mashed up, and do it around now for a spring sowing/planting of onions. Just leave overnight to steep then water the soil well the next day. Probably not best to do it when it's due to rain.

[lottie dolly]

Thank you Zazen

[Two_Sheds]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ard_66233.html

We've not had it at all this year at the lottie so ...the mustard must have worked...

I was sceptical about CM, but tried it and was astonished at the results. I went from having virtually no onions (because of white rot in all the beds) to only having it in 2 short rows.

It needs to be "dug in" fresh, but as I'm a no-digger, I just put a handful in each planting hole. Brilliant stuff.
This year's CM crop is now drying off in a paper bag, so I have seeds for next year (it does self-seed too, I let it come up everywhere & just pull it out if I need the space for a crop).

[muddyfeet]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ard_66233.html

We've not had it at all this year at the lottie so either the garlic or the mustard must have worked...

Did you do the garlic spray and then sow caliente mustard in the same patch? or was it two different trials?