Downy Mildew

[Elaine]

Almost everyone on our allotment site has Downy Mildew on onions, thanks to the weather ranging from bucketing down with rain followed by hot days.
They look a right sorry sight.

Ours looked perfect on Friday but when we went on Sunday, they looked a right sorry sight. The foliage had lost that lovely firm squeaky feel and they were pale and odd looking. The bulbs are fine.
That night I looked it up to check my suspicions.

We've taken the whole lot up, cut off the tops to burn and put the bulbs to dry. My husband is very upset to say the least! Even his Egyptian Walking Onions have copped for it.
So far, my leeks are okay.......

[John]

Hi Elaine
Don't like to be the bearer of bad news but do check your bulbs carefully in case you have onion white rot. From what you say things do sound suspicious. It affects the base of the bulbs and the plants fail quickly.

See
http://rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=226

I have it in my patch and can no longer grow onions as OWR persists for a long time in the soil.

John

[Elaine]

Thanks John, that was my first thought but we carefully checked every bulb and they all look perfectly normal and healthy. (so far ) They might not store well though and we will keep a lookout for any signs of deterioration. We'll see how they go whilst they're drying and burn them if they show any signs of infection.
We use a 4 year rotation of plots
I use the RHS site a lot and this link looks like what we have.

http://rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=743

I looked at other sites too and the pictures are all pointing to the same thing.
Cheers, Elaine.