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Downy mildew on onions this year
I live in herefordshire and grow lots of onions on a well drained
limestone slope.For the last 20 years or so,I have grown the onions on the same site,and although have lost a few plants with white rot,have never had any problem with mildew-indeed most of the problem has been that the soil has been too dry.However last year,which was a wet summer,I had such a bad problem(with sets and transplants grown from seed) that I pulled the onions very early to prevent the mildew going into the bulbs and hence causing storage problems. This year I have moved the onions to a different site-and planted the sets much earlier(February 1st).This recent wet weather has brought in mildew again.The sets are mainly fully grown and already falling over(July 8th),but still have telltale signs of mildew on the leaves.The transplants(set out at end of March)are beginning to bulb up but also have mildew badly.I have sprayed all of the onions twice now with a mixture of wettable sulphur (older books recommend flowers of sulphur)and a copper oxychloride product(Fungex),and I will just have to hope that this works to some extent.I had thought of using a product containing mancozeb (Dithane 945),but the description on the packet does not mention onions. I am sure that many gardeners will be having problems with mildew.Does anyone have a workable solution-perhaps spraying earlier,say in June for example,before the mildew strikes.What do commercial growers use?? Or the organic gardeners??Also what is the best method for harvesting to increase storage time?? Hope someone can help,as a bed of onions stricken with mildew is a sorry site. regards,Michael P.s.I am not on or near an allotment site,and the only other gardener growing vegetables is 400 yds away. |
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