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laura_42

Dead and Dying Alliums -- Is There Any Hope?

laura_42
15 years ago

As a newbie, I thought I'd ask for confirmation that I've messed up my first attempt at alliums.

I planted bundles of Lancelot leeks, Candy and Red Stanton and Walla Walla onions the first week of June. When I recently noted that some of their green stems were slowly drying up and withering away, I dug one up. Much to my dismay, the bulb and roots at the bottom were not there, and the buried section of the stem was limp and colorless.

My suspicion is that I may have:

A) planted them too deeply,

b) overwatered them,

c) planted them the wrong time of year (I was hoping for at least some green onions, seeing as I did not plant last fall.)

d) all of the above.

They are planted about 1 inch deep in a raised 8 inch bed, with a peat/vermiculite/compost mix, and I'd been watering them daily, either in the morning or evening; but for a week while I was away, a friend came over and watered them from a water hose about mid-day. Also, the weather has been a bit crazier than usual: hailstorms, and a couple of dips into the low 40s at night, then upper 80's low 90s in the day with gusting hot winds -- hence my watering them out of fear of drying out.

So my question is, is the situation hopeless for an allium crop this year? What could I do differently?

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