i used to buy plants that were from a greenhouse in a starting medium not bare root plants. i can say my purchased plants never did that.

onions don't want to be too moist, sandy loam, ie good drainage is important.

did you fertilize them? i would strongly suggest that you DO NOT do that until they are established, perhaps a good 7-10 days.

it may be stress, i really don't know.

did you plant them too deep. you should plant them so the top of the tiny bulb is at ground level.

tom

Hi Tom, thanks for the response, the plants were bare root, but the roots were not dried out when i got them, no i havent fertilized them yet, iam kind of chaulking it up to them not having grown any new roots yet. i had planned on calling the feed store where i got the plants yesterday, but one thing led to another blah blah blah, you know how that can go on a weekend! i'll keep you posted on this one...

It is common for the plants to have dry tops upon arrival. They will straighten out and put up new top growth when the root system is established.

TomNJ

I think the real problem with this planting is that there is not enough organic matter in the planting bed, it is a new plot, i ve added compost but iam sure now that it is not enought so that the soil probably dries out sooner than it should. i tried pulling a few onions yesterday to see if they are rooting and they seem to be doing that ok.So, we shall see what we shall see! Thanks again for your help and suggestions!