You have to be very careful about applying too much nitrogenous fertilizer to onions, otherwise the bulbs will become too soft and susceptible to diseases like neck rot and downy mildew, especially if there is a wet period when they are growing and when good drainage become critical. Otherwise onions really don’t give too much trouble, and the most superb onions can be grown in Guyana. Once the onions have reached the right size the tops should be bent over. This exposes them to the sun and helps to ripen them beautifully. Some growers dig them up when they are fully grown, shake the soil off, and leave them on the surface to ripen.
I have in the past been a very keen owner of the dwarf Chinese bamboo,
