white rot in garlic

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bigben

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white rot in garlic
« on: June 06, 2011, 22:20 »
Last year was my first on this allotment and around a third of my onions got whiterot. This year I have grown winter onions and garlic in a different bed but have found the same problem.

I lifted my winter onions last week as some looked a bit yellow and had flopped. The  garlic is in the same bed and from the few I have lifted they seem to have the same problem while others appear to still be green - should I lift them before they get it or do I leave them to continue to grow for another month?

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Trillium

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2011, 22:23 »
The white rot fungus hangs around in the soil for about 20 years - provided that no other alliums are grown there for that time. Not what you want to hear but that's the way it is.

You could pull one garlic to see how it's doing. If a good size you might consider pulling the rest and prepping it as a puree in oil or vinegar for storage rather than leaving them as cloves which will undoubtedly suffer later in storage.

Onions, well, that truly is a hard call to make with this problem. Perhaps a local organic grower can supply your needs for this year, and next.

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Yorkie

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2011, 22:25 »
I don't know how edible onions are if they are succumbing to white rot.  If the ones still look healthy I'd be tempted to cut my losses and get them up, chop them and freeze them (in an open layer, then you put them into a bag after freezing so they don't clump together).

But I've not had the problem so am not entirely sure if what I've suggested is a good idea.

The really bad news is that white rot persists in the soil for decades so I'd resign yourself to not being able to grow them on the plot for the foreseeable future.  There is no legal treatment for it.

If you decide to grow them anywhere else e.g. at home, you will need to take very good care not to transfer the pathogen from plot to home.  This could happen on boots, trowels, gloves, etc - you get the picture.
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days all attack me at once...

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realfood

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2011, 22:54 »
All is not lost as there is an organic treatment, already being used by British farmers, which I am trialling this year.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2011, 19:42 by Aunt Sally »

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Aunt Sally

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2011, 23:00 »
I have a tub of garlic powder sitting in my shed on the allotment waiting for the soil to be wet enough to dig over and spread it over my onion patch ready for next year's crop.

We've just had an inch of rain :D

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bigben

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2011, 08:58 »
Aunt Sally - I have ordered a 3kg tub of garlic powder so plan on getting started doing the bed I hope to use next year. Depending on the dose needed I might just try to dose each of my beds with a view to improving the situation. I guess the problem with just doing one is that I run the risk of simply transferring it from an untreated bed back onto the one I have treated just by walking around.

Anyone out there who has used this treatment succesfully? In doing a bit of research it seems this is the only none "nuclear" option. There are a couple of chemicals around like Jeyes fluid, neither of which are legal to use for cleaning the soil. I dont like the idea of soaking my soil in phenols etc.

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fatbelly

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2011, 09:19 »
We use a lot of Onions, Garlic and Shallots.
I don't know what I would do if I got White Rot on my plot.
You have my sympathy.
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Carollan

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2011, 18:25 »
I have white rot  at the edge of the onion plot............I am devastated to read all this bad news.Black leg yesterday,now this.I feel like packing it all in and taking up cross stitch , piano playing and internet gaming,which is what I did before.........

Is there no way of putting something in the soil in the autumn to cleanse or disinfect the soil so the white rot doesn`t affect the following years crop?
I`m wondering if this is why my allotment was vacated,bad husbandry from the person before,and all these problems were there already before I arrived.

Someone ,please give me something positive to hang onto !! :wacko:

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Yorkie

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2011, 20:03 »
There isn't anything legally available to sterilise the soil, I'm afraid.

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mumofstig

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2011, 12:45 »
Went to the plot this morning and found some onions looking 'not quite right' pulled one up to find the dreaded white rotting, and hardly any roots :( Pulled the other ones that looked the same. *sniff sniff* All that work growing them from seeds  :ohmy:

Do I now clear the whole bed before it spreads to the other 'healthy looking' ones  :unsure: or leave those alone and hope for the best. ...decisions decisions!


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bigben

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2011, 14:03 »
Sorry to hear this Mum - as you know I had problems with my garlic but did have hopes for my spring planted onions which were on a different bed that was previously very overgrown and I hoped that this meant it would not have been used for onions for a good few years.

Sadly, like you I am finding onions that have got it. I have resigned myself to just one bed for onions, garlic etc next year. I am going to grow more fruit, have a decent sized strawberry bed and find some other stuff to grow instead. It is going to force me to grow new stuff which might be a good thing.

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Brewers

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2011, 14:11 »
if its any consolation (prob not), my shallots grown in the same bed as the onions hit with AWR are all ok.

i've garlic powder ready to treat the whole bed once the shallots are up in the next week or so. and i think as precaution i will treat the other beds over the course of the summer as they are harvested.

the infected bed will go to fallow next year, covered in manure and mulch and hopefully in yr 3 we'll be ok

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JayG

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2011, 14:34 »
Ah, poor Mum!  :wub:

Seems very strange that it started in your onions from seed - you'd think that would be the safest way of keeping it off the plot wouldn't you...............?
Sow your seeds, plant your plants. What's the difference? A couple of weeks or more when answering possible queries!

One of the best things about being an orang-utan is the fact that you don't lose your good looks as you get older

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mumofstig

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #13 on: July 07, 2011, 15:30 »
Tis a shame innit :(
It can only be part of that bed as well, cos the other end of the bed grew lovely leeks last year.... I'm assuming that they get the same rot  :unsure:
The red onions from seed -further up the bed - still look good and are firmly rooted, so I'm leaving those ones in to see what happens :blink: Seems to be affecting Sweet Spanish a bit and most of the Walla Walla :wacko:
Where they were growing the clay sits a bit nearer the surface, and they had morning shade from the tall peas, so perhaps they have been a bit too wet in the last couple of weeks, after the rain finally arrived here! 
I sure hope it doesn't mean I can't grow any more onions, at all, ever :(


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Yorkie

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Re: white rot in garlic
« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2011, 18:12 »
Are you sure it is actually white rot, Mum, rather than simply rotting off owing to damp conditions?  Is it prevalent on other plots?



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