My onions are just not thriving this year, and I don’t know why.
Some don’t look too bad, but are a bit small, like these.
Still others are very “twisted“ looking and barely look alive.
Has there been any herbicide use in that area? some of the other plants look a little challenged, too.
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Only a pre-emergent at planting.
Could be allium leafminer.
I did dust with some leftover carbaryl I had lying around, because it was in the shed. That tends to kill almost everything, so I started there until I have a little more information.
First off, these are mostly intermediate and long day onions, which I always grow and don’t have issues. So it’s not that. In fact, two types are varieties I grow every year.
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I wonder if too much Trifluralin could be a problem. Although it’s a pre-emergent, a rainstorm after planting washed a lot of the granules all right along the plants because of the topography of the bed.
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Too much or too little water or nutrients.
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Critters or fungus damaging the roots and or leaves/stems.
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Weather. We’ve had stretches a very cool weather interspersed with stretches of fairly hot weather. Overall temps have run around average, but there has been a lot of variation. It’s been on the dry side occasionally, but I have been irrigating, but maybe I haven’t been doing it correctly.
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Bad luck.
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Related to number three, and possibly enhanced by the fact that I planted them in the same spot to years in a row.
Strangely, my other allium, garlic, is doing beautifully, but it’s at the opposite end of the vegetable garden about 60 feet away.
Everything always looks like herbicide damage bg
The only thing that came remotely near them this year is Trifluralin as a pre emergent, And I’ve never heard of it causing this kind of damage.
Haven’t used anything else.
Are there other gardens/fields around? Could be a drift with wind…
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I suppose it’s possible, but I have potato plants not 15 feet away, and in my experience, they’re more sensitive to herbicide than onions are. And they look perfectly fine.
Going with thrips or leaf miner.
Almost everyone I know locally who grows onions is dealing with the same issue this year
Sh&$. My onion problem is allium leafminer. Pics look just like the link below.
It sounds like my option is to pull and burn the crop.
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The only problem is there’s not a lot you can do about it. This year‘s crop is basically a total loss.
And the only real options to prevent it next year are either row cover/netting, which might work, or systemic insecticides, most of which are not approved for use on vegetables, and the one that is is not available for sale in my state.
Yep, that’s why I stopped growing leeks.
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imidaclopri works, but it is neither available in my state to buy, nor am I seeing it actually rated for alliums.
You might try spinosad—which has been suggested as a low-impact control measure. Of course, since the maggots have already entered plant tissues it likely won’t save your crop—probably more of a preventive measure. Still, since spinosad has some translaminar action, you might thin them out a bit.
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Spinosad might work. I may just yank the crop this year and try in spring. I read if you dip the roots in spinosad at transplant time that can help as well.
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