[Doc_D]

Hi,

Been mostly lurking since joining back in the autumn... Unfortunately most of my onions appear to have downy mildew and the tops are dying off fairly quickly, Red Baron have faired the worse, followed by stuttgarter then Hercules. The former have also previously produced Flower heads which were nipped off.

I understand that they probably won't store well, but I'm undecided when to pull - if I wait for the tops to fold over and dry off I fear there won't even be any tops left!

What would you do?

[mumofstig]

 have they got fluffy white mould on the bottoms, and pull up with no resistance?
 if they have it's onion white rot, and you can't get rid of it I've never seen mildewed tops before

Best to pull any that are already dying off, any that of these that are soft at the bottom chop and freeze the good bits.
If the bulbs look ok when lifted just leave somewhere airy to dry off. Use any that have thick necks from flowerstalks first

[Doc_D]

Will check on Thursday evening, one or two came out very easily when pulling on said flower heads - but without any sign of white mould...  In the same bed just one of 100 garlic bulbs showed possible (probable) white rot.

This pic is low my onions, they are small but useable http://www.forestryimages.org/images/768x512/5362264.jpg

Thanks

Andy