Onions
RogerB2
Posts: 9
I planted 4 rows of onion sets last October. They started growing normally before the cold weather set in, and stayed dormant over the Winter,as usual. I have just been down to my allotment to find the very tops of all the shoots have been eaten, I assume by pigeons, as the lower part of the shoots are intact. Will the onions still grow, or will they die ?
0
Posts
Any sign of deer?..hoofprints and droppings. I would leave but not expect the crop to be as heavy. Tops should begiin growing soon in warm weather. If they don't, write them off and and use ground for summer crop of lettuce, spring onions etc. If it is pigeons can you net?
Many thanks for your answer, I will leave them, and see what happens. Fortunately, we do not have deer, as there is a low voltage electric perimeter fence, high enogh to keep them out, but somebody has suggested that it may be rabbits, which seem to have got in under the fence, and set up home. Our site has only been open for three years (this is our fourth growing season, and each year more pests have 'found' us. Year one was brilliant, with everything we grew being perfect, but we have increasing problems, with carrot root fly, cabbage butterflies, pigeons, mice, moles, and now rabbits. On top of last year's weather disaster, it makes you wonder if all the effort is worth it.
Sorry about your onions. I have had the same trouble with leeks which I only discovered today, and then noticed the chives which have spread themselves about, are also eaten. I think it must be rabbits but didn't know they had a taste for onions! It really is worth carrying on. We grow companion plants for pests and find that strong smelling marigolds, etc, do keep the carrot fly away. Try not to brush against the carrot leaves and try to sow so that you don't need to thin them and you should have success. Moles have been a problem, especially in the lawn, but we battle on .... Good luck.