I suppose you mean you left out the the phosphate banding. That was probably not a good idea. Onions love the phosphate. Did you plant at the corect time for your area?

There seems to always be a certain percentage of mail order onions that fail for various reasons. Last year, it was a case of the USPS taking 3 extra days to deliver the Dixondale order. In my case, it was the long-day sampler which was in sad condition. As a result, only about 75% of the plants survived. I merely considered it as the onions thinning themselves. And when everything was considered, I still had as many or more than the guaranteed number!

This year, as some of you know, I didn't order from Dixondale. However, I still ended up with Dixondale plants virtually fresh off the delivery truck. Out of the 4 varieties, and planting only the best 40-50 per bundle, I think that I have lost only two in the nearly 3 weeks and both of them are Mars. A few others of those look poorly since all of the Mars seem to be having trouble getting started. This time, I can't blame the USPS and I thought that the plants looked quite good when I bought them. Nobody knows what conditions that bundle was under during its trip from Texas to Wisconsin. Same with the bundle from Texas to Kentucky. It's just one of the hazards of shipping plants through the mails.

Martin

Snappybob, that's probably not helping the situation, you're right. I just wondered if it appeared they were diseased.
Martin, my order last year arrived in a less-than-good condition but was pleased with the look of them this year. They seemed healthy, although some in the middle of the bunch were a bit too moist. I do have one good-looking bed so I guess I get specialty onions this year. Lori