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I just returned from the Chisago County Relay for Life Event which was held at the Almelund Threshing Grounds. Several people commented that they enjoyed our articles along with asking me about garden problems. One gardener was having problems with his onions. When I asked him what kind of problems he was having he said they were browning on the tips of the stems and they were not growing as in past years. I said I was having the same problems and I just assumed that he bought them through the Chisago County Master Garden plant sale. However, he bought them at a local garden store, so I didn't go into the problem we had on distribution day.

I'm not going into depth on the problems we had because those that ordered through us are well aware of the mess. Our onions came from Texas and the day I opened up the boxes I couldn't believe what I saw. The onion stems were wet and slimy, while the blubs were moldy. Apparently they had five inch rains when they were digging them. We were uncomfortable sending them home with gardeners, so we reordered at no cost to us. Then we called all those who had ordered and replaced them.

On the order blank it names the variety of onion, the days until maturity, and a statement saying that there are from 60 to 75 in a bunch. Not only were our onions unfit to plant but there were only twenty-five to thirty in a bunch. I'm no expert on digging onions but I suspect they come up on a conveyer belt and are bunched and tied by weight. The problem with the bunches was that half of the weight was mud. We reordered the Copra onions last because they didn't look quite as bad at first. Although we lost a month of growing time they look normal. One thought is that weather conditions were normal at the time of digging so the plants were not affected by wet conditions.

I know that onions do better with a lack of rain rather than too much moisture. The terrible weather conditions at digging time must have stunted them causing them an early dieback. I have raised over one thousand onions every year for the last fifteen years and this is the first problem I have ever had.

I continue to keep the weeds away from the onions and the dirt loose around the bulbs. Still, some of the small ones have quit growing. I am pulling them up and drying them as they are good but just not very large. I won't have any one or two pound onions this year, but I still have plenty of them and I will hope for a better year next year.

In the beginning of the article I mentioned the Almelund Threshing Grounds. Come and visit us at the Threshing Show on August 13-15. We are located in our own building behind the courthouse and next to the bison corral.

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