Most Common Onion Pests & Diseases

You have problems with onion pests and diseases in your garden and want to get proper advice on how to control them?

Great! This article is exactly for you since I will show you easy but yet effective ways how to get rid of onion pests and plant diseases.

Onion Pests

Pest	How to control it
Leafminers	Leafminers are quite common pests when growing onions. You can get rid of leafminers using insecticidal soap or other pesticides from the garden center.
Thrips	Thrips may also do great damage to onion plants. Thus, make sure to inform yourself on how to get rid of thrips on your garden plants.
Maggots	Maggots may also be present when growing onions at home. Hence, also get some tips and tricks on how to get rid of maggots.
Onion fly	Onions flies can also do significant damage to onion plants. You can control onion flies by using neem oil or insecticidal soap.
Bulb mites	Bulb mites may also try to feed on onion plants. You can get rid of them using insecticidal soap or other pesticides.
Bugs	There are also many bug species that will populate the soil when you grow onions. You can control those bugs using diatomite or pesticides from the garden center.

Onion Diseases

Disease	How to control it
Plant rust	Plant rust is a quite common issue when growing onions at home. Hence, make sure to get some information on how to control plant rust.
Mold	Mold may also occur on onion plants. Apart from improving air circulation, you should also get additional tips on how to control plant mold.
Wilt	Wilt often occurs when you don’t offer high-quality soil to your plants. Hence, make sure to add some fertilizer and improve soil conditions in general to control wilt in your garden.
Damping-off	Damping-off often happens to onion seedlings if you don’t provide good germination conditions. Thus, you can prevent damping-off by improving soil and lighting conditions for onion seedlings.
Leaf blight	Leaf blight is another common issue when growing onion. You can get rid of this disease by using fungicides from the garden center.
Basal rot	Basal rot may also do great damage to onion plants. You can get rid of this fungal disease by using fungicides. If those fungicides don’t help, just get rid of infected plants to avoid the spread of basal rot in your garden.
Smut	Although rather rare, smut may also become a problem when growing onions. You can control smut by using fungicides from the garden center.
Purple blotch	Purple blotch may be another issue when growing onions at home. You can get rid of this disease using conventional fungicides.
Bulb rot	Bulb rot can also greatly lower your onion yields. Once you spot bulb rot, get rid of infected plants to avoid the spread of this plant disease in your garden.
Yellow dwarf	Yellow dwarf is a viral disease and it is therefore impossible to get rid of it with the help of pesticides or fungicides. Instead, you just need to remove infested plants to avoid the spread of yellow dwarf in your garden.
Downy mildew	Downy mildew is a fungal disease and you can therefore get rid of it by just using a conventional fungicide from the store.

Onion Pests & Diseases – Summary List

Pests	Diseases
Thrips	Basal rot
Maggots	Smut
Bugs	Wilt
Leaf miners	Mold
Onion flies	Rust
Bulb mites	Downy mildew
	Leaf blight
	Damping-off
	Yellow dwarf
	Bulb rot
	Purple blotch

How to deal with Onion Pests & Diseases?

Now that you know how to control onion diseases and pests in a proper manner, you may also want to check out my onion grower’s guide and my growing onion FAQ section to get further information about growing onions at home in a perfect manner.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion

Own experience.