onion thick neck

I wonder if anyone could give me the likely cause for thick neck, all my onions and shallots have thick neck, I often get a few but this year all plants have thick neck.
The shallots were grown from seed sown at fortnightly intervals from december onwards in the greenhouse and planted out when ready the onions were bought as plants hardened off and ready to plant out (a well known supplier of onions both seed and plants) but although the shallots looked really good to start with they are all suffering the same.
fed up going back to growing winter onions less of a crop but less of a bother.
looking forward to your comments, Eric

 

My onions have all still got thick necks, they still have two to three months to grow, or have yours bolted?

 

I'm sorry I really don't know my onions - mine all seem to have put up a tall shoot in the middle which looks as if going to seed. Is this a disaster please & if so, what caused it?

 

Difficult to say why yours have bolted.
Could be drought, could be something to do with the transplanting.

I usually sow seed in Feb, and plant out in April, seedlings grown in cell type trays, that way you get minimum disturbance at planting out.

Bulbs that have bolted are best used, as and when you like, as they are not likely to store well through the winter.

 

Thank you. Now I know they're at least still edible I can investigate once the rain stops....surely they can't have bolted due to drought????

 

Well not that then,

But bolting is usually down to some kind of check in growth at some point.
Bearing in mind onions are basically biennial plants, ie. first year from seed they should form a large bulb which, under natural conditions, flowers the following year.

Any upset during the growing season can cause the plants to bolt and run to seed in year one.

 

Thick onion necks, AKA bullneck, is caused by overfeeding with nitrogen late in the season. They wont store.

My onions have only suffered from it once, the time when I had a giant tank of liquid nettle, comfrey and urine liquid feed that, in the heat of summer, was causing accute discomfort to the tenants of a plot a few feet away from the tank, so I poured it on my onion bed which was as far away as possible from anybody else [1] and my onions got bullneck.

[1] But the comments from people walking along a roadside path the other side of a boundary hedge were rather choice.

 

They were from sets (red ones) Think they were planted out beginning of May-ish??

 

I plant my onion sets out in March, this year none have bolted, previous years I've had a few. Any check to growth of the set, once sprouted, typically a cold spell after a warm start or a dry period can prompt bolting. Some companies offer heat treated sets, more expensive, that are less likely to bolt.

 

Thank you JWK. I'll stick to ordinary onions, not fancy red ones, in future.

 

I dont think it has much to do with the variety, possibly how the sets are stored, often if you buy late they are already shooting before planting.
Beware of cheap ones being sold late just to get shot of them, probably spent a long time in a warm garden centre before you buy.

I gave up on sets a few years ago and only grow from seed now.

 

Thank you for your comments, I never mentioned bolting just the fact that all my shallots grown from seed in containers and planted out late april have thick neck as have the onions bought as plants ready hardened off and also planted out in late april, there has been no feed given whatsoever the area was given a good layer of compost back end of last year, just a puzzle, I will put down to experiance.
Thanks again Eric

 

Eric, not sure what you mean by "thick neck" if you are not referring to bolting?
Explain more and maybe we can help.