Japanese onions.....

**solway cropper** · 30-06-2011, 09:43 PM

I've had good results with Senshyu for the last three years. I put some in the open ground and others in containers which overwinter in the greenhouse. To be honest there's not much difference in the size and if the outside ones can withstand the -18 we had here last winter there's not much point pampering them.

**CaroltheCarrot** · 30-06-2011, 10:11 PM

Originally posted by solway cropper View Post

I've had good results with Senshyu for the last three years. I put some in the open ground and others in containers which overwinter in the greenhouse. To be honest there's not much difference in the size and if the outside ones can withstand the -18 we had here last winter there's not much point pampering them.

snap, ones outside are just as far along as ones I kept in the gh,sheesh folk are going to think I know what I am going on about, I am going to lie down

**Shadylane** · 30-06-2011, 10:45 PM

I grew red baron and some other supposedly non overwintering types through the worst winer I remember us having. Some were cloched some were left to fend for themselves under the snow. The uncloched ones are better but nearly all survived although some not very big. I can't decide what to do this year. Sets? Seeds? Japanese? Normal? All of the above? er...

**Snadger** · 01-07-2011, 06:00 AM

Originally posted by solway cropper View Post

I've had good results with Senshyu for the last three years. I put some in the open ground and others in containers which overwinter in the greenhouse. To be honest there's not much difference in the size and if the outside ones can withstand the -18 we had here last winter there's not much point pampering them.

Just the opposite for me. The ones grown in the cold frame were streets ahead of others in plot. The others are still in the ground, just starting to flop over, but nowhere near as big as the ones I've already harvested from the cold frame.

**Two_Sheds** · 01-07-2011, 07:12 AM

I had a good onion year (for me). The best were Radar from sets (not Wilko sets

) but I still only got a dozen big onions out of 120 sets

Senshyu were rubbish, Kelsae were rubbish ... I just can't grow onions

**zazen999** · 01-07-2011, 07:22 AM

Mine were big as usual - but a fair few had white rot and then onion fly; so next year it's a soil prep with sand and trialling some treatments, and lots of netting overwinter. My set of choice is Radar - the blokeys on the other plots drool over them this time of year and come over just to look at them.

**Aberdeenplotter** · 01-07-2011, 08:21 AM

Originally posted by zazen999 View Post

Mine were big as usual - but a fair few had white rot and then onion fly; so next year it's a soil prep with sand and trialling some treatments, and lots of netting overwinter. My set of choice is Radar - the blokeys on the other plots drool over them this time of year and come over just to look at them.

plant a few french marigolds amongst your onions and that should keep the onion fly at bay. I have them every couple of feet and it works for me. As for white rot, there is a soil sterilant called Basamid which is getting good reports but I haven't been able to source it yet.

**zazen999** · 01-07-2011, 02:10 PM

Originally posted by Aberdeenplotter View Post

plant a few french marigolds amongst your onions and that should keep the onion fly at bay. I have them every couple of feet and it works for me. As for white rot, there is a soil sterilant called Basamid which is getting good reports but I haven't been able to source it yet.

Marigolds usually die during the winter! And as I'm organic so unless Basamid is also organic I'll just have to grin and bear it and try out my organic treatments.

**Aberdeenplotter** · 01-07-2011, 04:34 PM

Originally posted by zazen999 View Post

Marigolds usually die during the winter! And as I'm organic so unless Basamid is also organic I'll just have to grin and bear it and try out my organic treatments.

Don't often hear of onion fly during the winter either.

As you are an organic grower, you could try having a bonfire(or multiple bonfires) over the area you intend growing your onions on. That should sterlilise.

**zazen999** · 01-07-2011, 04:38 PM

Originally posted by Aberdeenplotter View Post

Don't often hear of onion fly during the winter either.

As you are an organic grower, you could try having a bonfire(or multiple bonfires) over the area you intend growing your onions on. That should sterlilise.

I'm afraid that onion fly did indeed fly this winter.

And we've just uncovered a new patch that had only had bonfires on for the last 3 years; and it's got the worst white rot than anywhere else on the plot - you can see it moving up the bed on a daily basis. I'd invested quite alot of onions in this patch - as it had been unused and bonfired so I've lost some quite special onions this year. Not happy.

**oldie** · 01-07-2011, 06:19 PM

I understand that the Basamid mentioned above is only sold to trained, professional users. I should have said that my experiment using caliente mustard as a soil sterilant is looking good. I've lost all my onions and garlic for the last two years due to white rot . At the moment the onions and shallots are all looking good, I've just been out and given some of them a good tug and they are firmly rooted.

**Snadger** · 01-07-2011, 07:28 PM

Originally posted by oldie View Post

I understand that the Basamid mentioned above is only sold to trained, professional users. I should have said that my experiment using caliente mustard as a soil sterilant is looking good. I've lost all my onions and garlic for the last two years due to white rot . At the moment the onions and shallots are all looking good, I've just been out and given some of them a good tug and they are firmly rooted.

Glad to hear that your caliente mustard trial seems to have worked for you oldie.

Just wondered if you did a 'control' area as well?

Sometimes my onions seem fine when I lift them but develop rot fairly quickly in storage.
White rot seems to have been less prevalent on my plot this year without me using any control ( apart from never following like with like.)

Is the caliente mustard hardy i.e. will it grow throughout the winter?

**oldie** · 01-07-2011, 08:50 PM

This has not been a carefully planned scientific experiment, so I have not had a control area. I don't think it will overwinter,and you have to dig it in before it sets seeds. More work required to see if it really does work!

**Aberdeenplotter** · 02-07-2011, 07:05 AM

I can relate to "not happy" relating to white rot in the onion bed. I've planted fruit bushes and established a strawberry bed in the worst areas on my plots. As they say it takes 15 years to get rid (personally I think people just get bored counting and you never get rid) I'll follow the strawberries after they have run their course with a full crop rotation and then repeat the excercise again with a final cropping of strawberries before trying onions in that bit again. I'll report back in 12 years as the strawberies have already been in for three.

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