Well it would have been better to continue this on your original post so that info would be available. I linked it below. The problem may not be your soil tilth/consistency, though a soil test is definitely of benefit, but in the soil temps and the type of onions. Peppers, not a root crop of course, can be difficult to grow up north because of their need for very warm soil temps (75-80 degrees) and your shorter growing season. But it is possible and the discussion here called "Growing peppers up north" has some good tips in it - particularly pre-warming your soil using black plastic mulch and using early varieties that do well in a shorter growing season. Onions are a different matter. Are you trying to grow from seed, plants, or sets? In case you don't know, onions come in classes: long-day and short-day varieties and their bulb growth is directly linked to the hours of daylight they are exposed to. Up north you have to grow long day varieties and the further north you are the more important that becomes. You can find a great deal of info on this by just Googling long-day onions. Short-day varieties won't produce bulbs up north in less than 3 years which leads me to believe you are using the wrong class of onions. And planting time and methods vary greatly depending on which type - sets, plants, from seeds - you are trying to grow. If you are having difficulty with any other root crops besides onions (radishes, beets, carrots, potatoes, turnips) they will provide much better clues than onions about any actual soil problems you may have. Hope this helps. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Root crop problems - Part 1

It sounds more and more like prometon damage. Did you, or a neighbor, or the previous homeowner use a really strong "weed killer" anywhere within 30 ft. of the trees in the last 3-5 years? Prometon is found in a variety of product--marketed as "weed killers"--which are actually soil sterilants. These products include Ortho Triox, Green Light Compleet, Pramitol, and the stuff someone's cousin brought home in a milk jug from the warehouse he worked at, saying "We use this on the parking lot, and it really works!" It kills most of the things it touches the roots of, lasts for years, and spreads through the soil with heavy rain or heavy watering. Symptoms inlude severe chlorosis, with brown edges spreading inward between the veins, and yellowing, stunting, and "brooming" of new growth. Citrus are among the most easily affected by low concentrations, along with hibiscus and some of the more tropical palms--such as queen palm or pygmy date. Other plants may be affected, but more slowly, and less severely. Bermudagrass may not be affected at all. If this is the problem, treatment involves applying humates, either in solid form, or as liquid humic acid. They should be spread over the entire root area: from the trunk out to 3-6 ft out from the dripline. That may involve getting permission from your neighbor to apply it on the other side of that wall, too. Follow the application with watering to 3 ft. deep in the soil over the entire area. New growth should gradually return to normal over the next 2-6 weeks. New applications may need to be made twice a year, until the source of contamination is exhausted. Meanwhile, follow a normal fertilizer regimen. Hope this helps! Kevin : )

I posted previously [nearly two months ago] about sediment and brackish water problems with our MT 540 Instant Hot water dispenser. Mountain Plumbing states that they are aware of these problems and state that they will replace the entire unit [not the hot water tank - just the faucet], although we still need to pay a plumber to remove the old one and install the new one. It is a huge annoyance and I am bereft without my hot water faucet. Sniff, sniff. Problem is: The finish is polished nickel and they are having problems getting the PN finish. Who knows WHEN I will get a new faucet. So just a forewarning to those thinking of purchasing a Mt. Plumbing instant hot or hot and cold dispenser: Make sure it is from new and recent stock - no older than six months old. If your distributor has had it longer than six months, you run the risk of having this problem somewhere down the road.

I seem to be having the same problem as danielj and I am in North Jersey also. My KBG lawn has been here for 45 years and I kept it 100% KBG meaning if I ever found a different looking grass finding it's way in, I would kill it. If the patch of foreign grass was large enough I would dig it out and replace the sod, Not a weed to be seen, I can honestly say it's the best lawn in town and beyond. Fungus was never an issue until suddenly and unexpectedly it began around 5 years ago. The 3rd year has been the worst so far and it took until that 3rd year to realize that this is now a persistent problem that is most likely overwintering, and applying a fungicide the way I was, was not helping much if at all. I describe the 3rd year as being the worst because like daniel I had many patches that completely died down to the bare ground. It took until the following year for the lawn to repair itself. So realizing that I had a serious problem I tried to research and find out what exact fungus I was getting. It was difficult to diagnose and I never really did because some areas were evenly browning out, some areas had the spots and some areas had the half circles with green grass in the middle, etc... so I probably get a combination of fungus diseases. It doesn't show up in my lawn until we get sustained 90 degree + days with humidity, usually beginning of July, and then calming down in August when temps seem to drop a few degrees. Up to the 3rd year I was only treating the fungus once. Not enough obviously. Last year I treated twice with Jonathan Green and was able to keep another disaster at bay, but maybe the weather was on my side too (I wasn't keeping records). This year I realized that I should be applying a fungicide at 14 day intervals when conditions are favorable, but I realized it a bit late and had spaced the first 2 applications of Bayer Advanced a month apart. Then 14 days later applied Scotts around August 1st. Again, this year I avoided complete disaster but still had the worst fungus on the block (however, all the other lawns are weedy and many different grasses). I have to say in August the lawn started to heal up nicely. Not sure if it had more to do with Scotts or because the weather broke a bit but I did see improvement the first week of August when the weather was still over 90 and highly humid So I'm still in the process of trial and error in getting back to a point before this started happening. Next year I will try Headway G at the end of June, then a Lesco product mid July and finally Heritage G beginning of August. I could back off on my feedings too and I may get some backlash on what I am about to say, but I fertilize once a month April to November. It wasn't a problem for 40 years and has kept the lawn A1 all that time. If next year's plan doesn't work out well, what am I considering? Switching the lawn over to a hot weather grass like Zoysia? A bold move. I'm not a big believer in climate change but can our lawns be telling us maybe it's really happening? Also, if this fungus is in the soil year over year and nothing is working to kill it, I read that if you cover the ground with clear poly sheeting for a year, it sterilizes the soil. That ain't happening on my front lawn of 5,000 square feet. Let me know how you make out. I'll do the same.