Got home last night and noticed that my onions appeared to be wilting. I knew I'd been giving them plenty of water through the sunken bottles and was worried they might be poisoned. A few weeks ago I'd applied a powder to the soil that kills off any soil pests and diseases but it's lethal stuff and you cannot plant into the soil until at least 3 weeks after application. I wondered whether I'd got my timings wrong and this had attacked the onion roots, causing them to wilt.
As a desperate measure I gave the whole bed a thorough soaking and went into the house to sulk. Returning to the greenhouse an hour later all the onions had perked up and I realised what the problem must have been. Although I'd been giving plentiful water through the sunken bottles they must have been leaking water below the level of the roots so that it wasn't actually getting to the plants. The plants were merely stressed from all the hot weather we've been enjoying.
You live and learn and I certainly won't be making that mistake again in future! The pic shows how I support the foliage by way of a metal loop attached to a small can. This makes the onion grow straight and central, giving nice, even, flask-shaped bulbs (in theory!).
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