Onion smut

I noticed the first signs of this a few weeks back - dark, smutty patches on the leaves of some of the onions I planted last autumn. Now it's spreading thick and fast on the crop.

According to the books, smut only affects young plants. Yet it's rapidly gaining a hold on onions which by rights should be ready to harvest in a month or so's time.

I'm not sure whether to dig them up and burn them, or see if the plants last long enough to harvest the bulbs.

It's clearly a fungal thing of some sort. Probably my fault for growing them too closely-spaced, helping whatever it is to take hold and spread from plant to plant.

Bad news as far as growing onions in future is concerned. If it is smut, they reckon you shouldn't plant them on the same ground for at least eight years.

To add insult to injury, we enjoyed a bumper crop of onions and garlic last year with no problems at all.