onions

ok my onions look to be doing fine but all the leaves are drooping from the wieght of them , is this the norm? 1st time have really grown anything so not too sure if its ok, cheers.

 

As long as the main stem doesn't get a bend in it. Cats have a tendency to knock em over, once the stem has got a fold in it they tend to ripen & don't get any bigger.

 

itd sll strung off so it cant be cats, if they all got bent over including the main stem would they still be ok to eat?

 

Yeah, its just unlikely they'd bulb up much more thats all, but you never know.

Are you trying to say they've all been bent over then?

 

Knock up a support from wire coathangers to support the leaves and you will/may get larger bulbs. Not promising though ! ! ! Cheers, Tony.

 

Any chance of some pix?

 

Mine have done the same, but there are young shoots comeing from the centre, mine have been under polythene so they are over 700mm high when I hold them up.

 

Al get a pic for tomoz

 

Last year and what I'm doing again this year I have a mesh over the bed where my onions are to keep the cat out. When the leaves poke through I've been trimming them back a bit with scissors so the leaves sturdy up a bit. Otherwise in our yard it can be a bit shady and they all lean and flop towards the sun until they strengthen up a bit.

 

working from one end of the coathanger form a circle of about 6" diameter and with the circle horizontal, bend the wire to point straight down. Carefully guide the onion leaves into the ring and then push the downward pointing leg of the coathanger into the ground and adjust for height.

Cheers, Tony.

 

Awesome idea Tony - is that copied from a product that exists to buy or is this your brain-child?

 

Hi MrJ, I am interested in what you say about cutting the leaves on your onion, I always thought that water got into the leaves and rotted the bulb, or is this an old wives tale.

 

I hope not - as it might be too late! I have read online some people advising not to do it, but I've also read that it's ok too! My friend's mum who is a much more experienced veg grower than me advised an onion haircut last year when my onions got a bit leggy before I planted them out and they were fine.

I'm only do it a few times until they are a bit thicker and support themselves better so hopefully it's ok.

We only have a tiny town centre courtyard garden. All the sunnier spots are given over to the tomatos and other sun-loving crops, the onions tend to get shoved into the shadier areas and as such can get a bit spindly. But last year they did ok, I think they were probably a bit more slow growing than they would be in a proper plot though, didn't harvest until early October.