I cut them off the garlic while they are still little, and put them in stew
or cook them in with the meat. My onions have started to fall over this
year without putting up any seed pod. If they had, I would have used them
the same way.

Dwayne

"JB" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 09:43:17 +0100, "michael adams"
wrote:

The reason usually given for bending over the stalks is that if there's
a wet period leading up to the day when the onions stop making any top
growth ( this is determined by a precise day-length according to variety)
then the onions may be induced to produce a flower stalk which may also
produce splits in the bulb, as might a late spurt in top growth of any
kind.
As well as diverting energy which should have gone into bulb formation.
Whereas bending over the stalks, without actually breaking or wounding
the leaves, in theory should constrict the passage of sap up into
the leaves.

So everything probably depends on geography i.e day length, the day length
of the variety being used and the temperture and rainfall during the
critical period.

michael adams

So if onions start to flower, as one solitary example in my small veg
patch has decided to do, should the flower bud be removed, left, the
onion ignored etc. ...

JB