Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi all, have just done a thread on this with no answers so I hope i'm not being boring but I have just pulled up some onion which were overwintered. (Didn't actually pull 'em up they were nearly lying on the soil) They look and smell great, and are a good size but they have quite soft necks. Is this normal? this is my first crop so am unsure.
Any advice?
Raine

Raine,
Sounds like Botrytis neck rot, can be common if onions are not completely dry before storing but yours were overwintered, so probably to be expected too.

If only the necks are soft, you might be still able to use most of the onion but they'll decay pretty quickly.

When you say soft, do you mean floppy - or do you mean rotten? Onions are normally harvested late summer, they are lifted out of the ground and either left on the soil or placed on trays to dry off. The leaves then wither and you are left with just the bulb (onion) which gets stored. Any onions which have bolted or have not dried properly can still be used, but will not store well.

Any yellowing of the central leaves? are the leaves mouldy or distorted? or did you put fresh manure on at planting time? finally is the site exposed to the recent winds or animals? neck rot is a storage problem and you shouldn't be there yet.

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Paul

I would imagine the reason the necks are soft is that they haven't had time to mature yet. Once mature, tops will flop over and dry out. There's no problem with lifting immature bulbs for table use, just cut the necks off!

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