[frazzy]

:cry: i have the dreaded  white rot on our plot and i was gonna try growing onions in an old bath  in fresh compost do you think this would work or are the spores air born and just gonna jump into the bath. :?

[richyrich7]

Hi Frazzy don't know much about it but this might help.

[John]

I can't see that the bath thing will do any harm to try - worst case is that it doesn't work. Certainly I would do it.

[Plot No 2]

There are two other things you could try. One is to start the onion of in pots with clean compost. When they are strong enough plant them in the soil and they might survive the rot. Secondly after the run or holes have been made, water the soil with Jeyes Fluid to kill the spores.

[muntjac]

take a third out of production  id order loads n loads of manure n rotavate it all in  sow a crop of mustard on that bit let it grow about a foot high n then dig it in . do a third of the plot a season as i said  so you can grow other stuff still .but dont grow anything on the manured bit except the mustard another tip would be to make high raised beds  and cover the soil  base with tarp and then fill with top soil n manure .manuring really helps sort it out "" old tales of the plot "

[frazzy]

thx guys i,m determined to try and grow my own onions this year.
i get realy envious when i see pics of other peoples onions.
if i sucseed i will take pics. fingers crossed

[brendit]

White-rot spores are soil-borne as far as I know.

Are you 100% sure it is white-rot though?  I used to think I had white rot because I lost nearly all my onions / shallots in the first month of storage.  Seems that was botrytis neck rot caused by my incorrect harvesting !    Don't pull 'em green - let the tops die back naturally.

If you really do have white rot then I have a simple suggestion ... why don't you ask a friend to grow double the amount of onions to share with you.  You can then grow something else for him/her.

[shaun]

agree with karl on this one (i have to now and then) build the ground up with muck n soil to get better drainage,
i might have mentioned this before but theres a chap on our plot who his a master onion grower,now he has built his onion bed about 2' higher than the rest of plot its about 10m square with manure and soil,also he rolls it down with a small garden roller layer after layer ,he says the onions grow better in a firmer soil than loose soil (not rock hard but firm)
every winter he adds 1 load of muck(3-4 ton) into this area and this is double dug in.
next time i take the camera down there i will take a pic or 2

[muntjac]

heavy manuring is what is used in lincolnshire onion farms also in lower suffok near iken