ONION DISEASE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 July 1943, Page 2

ONION DISEASE

PREVALENT IN WAIRARAPA, STORAGE PRECAUTIONS NEEDED. Specimens of a disease which has been exceptionally prevalent in onions grown in the Wairarapa during the past season, have been forwarded to the Plant Diseases Division, Auckland, for examination. The report received by the Director of the Plant Diseases Division, states:— “The specimens received are infected with neck-rot caused by the fungu.s Botiwtis allii. which has been in common in lines of stored onions for many years in New Zealand. It is of sporadic occurrence and can usually be traced either to faulty treatment of bulbs at harvesting or faulty conditions of storage. Care in handling and efficient drying of the crop after harvesting are most essential in order to keep this disease in check. All thick-necked bulbs should be discarded or disposed of as soon as possible to avoid storage. as their slow drying qualities induce them to succumb quickly to the disease. After being thoroughly dried, the onions should be stored in a cool, dry, well ventilated shed, preferably in slattered crates stacked so as to allow free circulation of air. In America marked improvement in the storage life of onions has been obtained by a pre-storage dry-heat treatment of 2 to 4 days at minimum temperature of 90 degrees Fahr.” Mr M. Davey. Government Orchard Instructor, Masterton, states that it will be noted that the trouble must be regarded primarily as a storage rot and recommends more thorough drying out of the bulbs before shed storing and the avoidance of stringing up the onions which retards the moisture evaporating through the sterns of the bulbs.