Stringing Onions

[bazzaboy]

Have you sprinkled your beds with garlic powder? I did a lot of research last year when I found some of mine had root rot and this seems to help enormously. There were a lot of 'seasoned gardeners' out there that did it ever year and grew their onions in the same bed every year...

Excellent tip Earthgirl (if it works...) which I'm trying this year, so far so good. The theory is that the garlic powder (applied in the off season) causes the onion rot fungus to germinate early and finding no onion to feed off it dies. It will be a revolution if it works because for years onion white rot has meant you can't use that bed again for alliums for decades..... If you're wondering where to get garlic powder or granules (I don't know if you could make it yourself? don't see why not, someone will advise) I got some from a local horse food supplier (as evidently it's a regular addictive to horses' diet). Here's hoping....

[Earthgirl Jen]

The theory is that the garlic powder (applied in the off season) causes the onion rot fungus to germinate early and finding no onion to feed off it dies.

Don't wait to do it off season, it's IMPORTANT that you do it straight after harvesting. The soil is still warm and the microbes present will continue to feed on the garlic powder and 'burn themselves out' in my simple 'layman's terms' interpretation. I know there is a much more technical term for it, but this makes sense to me x

[Jay-ell]

I've been dusting the beds in the Jungle this year and last year as White Rot is/was in most of them. Not sure how long to dust them for, but I'm going to plant out some alliums (oerprei) in one of the beds this Autumn to check.

[bazzaboy]

Don't wait to do it off season, it's IMPORTANT that you do it straight after harvesting. The soil is still warm....

Yes, I can see the logic of that, Earthgirl, I'll try it immediately after harvesting this year if there's a recurrence. The fungus can obviously survive harsh winters or it wouldn't be there for the next crop. Quite how it knows an onion (or substitute) is present rather disturbs me lol, how does it know?

[Jay-ell]

The idea is to dust the beds when they are warm and moist then lightly water afterwards. The garlic dust "wakes" the fungal sclerotia (they are stimulated by allicin in the dust and germinate) which then try to latch on to whatever alliums are there but as there aren't any they starve and die.

[Martin H]

Here's a method for white rot control using crushed garlic bulbs in water: VEGETABLE DISEASES (allium white rot)

[Earthgirl Jen]

Here's a method for white rot control using crushed garlic bulbs in water: VEGETABLE DISEASES (allium white rot)

Thanks Martin, well explained as well, I'll give that ago as well tomorrow as nothing to loose whilst the weather is still warm x