Moldy Onions

12 years ago

Last year I was not very successful with my onions. The largest I was able to grow was about the size of a golf ball. I talked to a few people and was told to not bury them all the way when I planted, only 1/4 - 1/2 an inch, and I was also told to wait till the tops were about a foot tall then cut them back to 6 inches throughout the season. So I planted according to how I was told, however I the day before yesterday I had a small amount of fuzzy white mold growing on 5 of them, I took them away from the others, but today discovered some more. Does anyone know what may be causing this and how I might stop it, or save the ones I have?

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Comments (4)

theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
12 years ago
Someone with more experience with onions will have to chime in on the mold. If you can post a picture it will help. Has it been wet or raining a lot?

I haven't heard of cutting the tops of the onions when they are growing. Snipping the tops of seedlings, yeah, but not the growing onions.

Rodney
Mark
12 years ago
Absolutely don't cut the tops of your onions! You open the leaves up for rain and infection, which is likely the cause for the mold.
I'm not sure who told you to do this, but if anyone ever tells you to damage your plants, or to do something that in no way resembles nature, don't listen to them without doing more research.
I'm sorry you might have to learn this one the hard way.

Oh, and I plant my onion seedlings about an inch deep (the bulb part).
-Mark
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Wildpixie87
Original Author
12 years ago
No, I haven't cut the tops of my onions, they are only about 9 inches tall at the moment. I am growing indoors so I removed the affected onions from the rest because I didn't want spores going to my other plants and everything is fine now. I haven't seen a single spot of mold since. And cutting the tops was not something I was going to try this year, last year almost my entire garden was a failure in the sense that I didn't harvest more than a handful or two of my produce, so this year I am trying to do as much research as I possibly can. I am a stay at home mother, and I am really hoping that I can greatly diminish my families grocery bill.
claydirt
12 years ago
Yes, onion blubs grow about 3/4 above the ground. I start from seed. They get planted in the garden deep enough to keep them from falling over. That's about it.

I am frequently amazed at how much produce can come out of a garden. My wife and I have a 20ft x 20ft garden. We do not can or freeze a lot (just extra tomatoes and maybe onions). But we sure don't buy many vegetables in the summer; we do buy sweet corn.

I just can't say that it is less expensive yet. But for me it is a hobby. You may want to learn about composting... Kitchen scraps, leaves, grass clippings. Good soil helps make good crops. Onions are "heavy feeders". I have not figured out how to grown huge ones yet, just respectable ones.

We still have a bag of onions left over from last summer; we got to use them up before they go bad.