help!!!

[susan]

Hi, i'm susan, i have been growing veg for a couple of years. This year i have tried onions from sets for the first time. I envisaged row upon row of majestic onions, only 3 out of 50 have acheived this. The remainder appear to be growing below ground but their foliage is droopy and in some cases totally collapsed. Could anyone tell me what i've done wrong? Many thanks, the paranoid onion grower! P.S it's great to find a site for likeminded people.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Susan and welcome!! I've never had problems growing onions from sets - the odd one fails - I wonder if you have planted them too deep? The foliage does droop and eventually collapses completely when the onions are fully grown and ready to harvest. So how deep did you plant the sets, has the foliage always been droopy and have you lifted any onions to check for maggots?

Try some autumn, over winter onion sets which will be ready next June. Radar and Electric are two varieties that have given me huge sized bulbs.

[malcolmx]

i find onions from sets only grow for a certain length of time and will droop after that time if they dry out or get stressed then they will start to ripen and droop the leaves
droop leaves is usually an indicator of the end of the bulb growing and drought signals seed and or flower production

neck rot in storage is one result of soft foliage white rot of the bulb in the ground will cause foliage droop too much nitrogen in early stages is another cause planting close together will result in small bulbs and early maturing
how gbig are your bulbs and what variety were they when did you plant them what sort of soil

[susan]

thank you for such in depth replies, I planted the sets quite early (march I think), i did not keep the pack so am unable to tell you the variety. They are in clay soil but it was the site of my 3 compost bins until this year. They are very close to my jerusalum artichokes, I have kept the patch well weeded and well watered. i planted them about 5 inches apart and the tips of the sets were just below soil level ( i was worried about late frosts but maybe you have both has hit the nail on the head and i buried them too deep). The onions i have pulled up range in size from apple sized for sturdy looking plants to pickled onion sized on the collapsed ones. There are no apparent maggots.Thank you again lesley and malcolmx as i am determined to have supermodel onions next year! I will try autumns as suggested but would be grateful for any other suggestions you may have. Thank you so much for your time.