onions.....help!

[Headfry]

I dont understand my onions!
The top 2-4" of the leaves are turning yellow! sort of dying back from the tips.
What am I doing wrong?
thanks kind people.

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi HF, you're doing nothing wrong, they naturally die back from the tips as they get ready for harvesting, or so I believe, a lot of ours are the same!

[Protea]

When did you plant them - were they overwintered or spring planted? and did you grow them from sets or seeds?

If overwintered - they're probably near to harvest and this is perfectly normal - you need to wait for the foliage to die back before harvesting.

This is also the process for harvesting spring planted onions, however, its a bit early for that.

It could be a number of things so some pics would really help, but things that spring to mind are:
white tip
downy mildew
lack of nutrients
wind burn
fusarium

you don't say whether you spray or not? I would firstly give them a 'perk me-up' spray of seaweed extract and make sure the leaves are really covered in it.

In all probability its likely to be downy mildew (all this wet weather), and if you don't spray/are organic there is not much you can do about it (apart from the seaweed which i would do anyway). If you don't mind spraying, I personally would spray a mix of garlic and seaweed extracts (2 products in one spray), actually both are available organically thinking about it, or buy something from the garden centre - a copper based fungicide would probably prevent it getting any worse, but it should say on the label what it is suitable for.

The other option is to leave it be and see what happens - you may have to harvest them early, but they'll still be useable (but may not store).

Does this help?

[Headfry]

Sorry for scant details...
They were planted late march, Sturon
they are tiny, only just starting to swell...sort of small pickled onion sized-just!
Noticed this morning that the shallots look the same too.
No I have not used spray on them.......so far!
thanks for the help so far

[Protea]

Ah, ok, that makes more sense then - they are dying back naturally for harvest.

A lot of my overwintered onions haven't swelled too much either - i think it may have been the exceptionally dry and hot April we had - confused them into thinking it was May or something, plus the lack of water would have inhibited swelling.

Nowt much you can do, just harvest when the foliage has died back and enjoy as small onions - spring planted ones won't be to far away and hopefully they'll do better.