onion are a raw material of most kitchen gardens along with other members of the allium family like ail and leeks .
Since the main harvest is ascertain in the underground bulb , it can be unmanageable to accurately assess on the dot when you should deplume up your onions , and you do n’t require to end up with premature , small bulbs or overripe moulder I . Timing is everything , especially if you plan on cure your onions for repositing .
How do you acknowledge when Allium cepa are quick to be picked ?
In short , green onions should be harvested in the spring when the top are still green , and mature onion incandescent lamp should be harvested only once the leaves turn dark-brown and go down over . Depending on your region and time of planting , this usually occurs around the goal of summertime or former fall . onion will be quick for harvest approximately 90 - 150 days from planting seed , depending on the variety being civilize and weather conditions .
Since there are no grueling calendar date to survey when it comes to harvesting onions , you will need to swear on your senses and assessment skills to determine the perfect prison term to deplume up your bulbs .
The Two Main Onion Harvests
Most multifariousness of onions can be get and harvested as either green onion plant or mature onions . It ’s a unspoilt estimation to found quite a few onion seeds or starts so that you’re able to get harvesting both types .
Green or ‘ spring ’ onionsare essentially small , very premature onions that are harvested in thespring or early summer . They vaguely resemble a small , slight leek more than an onion with unformed snowy bulbs and tall green leafage .
fleeceable onions , like matured onions , have no specific harvest date , but are generally pulled up between March and June depending on where you subsist and how big you want your spring onion to be .
ripe , repositing onionsmake up the chief onion harvest in thelate summertime and early gloam . You get more bang for your one dollar bill harvesting fledged onion plant , as they are considerably big than spring onion and can be store for much longer since they are cover in a freaky skin .
You probably love what the most classic white-livered and red onions expect like , but there are many interesting cultivars that come in unlike material body and colours .
How to Determine When Onions are ready for harvest
Harvesting matured onion is a minute more tricky than harvest spring onions as the timing is more important once the onion plant have set out to really develop a hide and fill up out .
The best indicant to have it off if your onions are quick to crop is the leaves , which will be green and puffy for most of the time of year while the bulbs are uprise . When the Allium cepa bulbs are gain height maturity , the leaves will get to turn yellow and wither a little , at which point you could in reality roughly push down any leaves that are still standing and step on them .
This will hurry along the remaining mature process so you may harvest your bulbs sooner . Whether or not you choose to do this , you will do it your onion are mature and quick to be attract when the tops are browned and flopped on the ground .
A few days before you anticipate harvesting , you could also untie the soil around the bulbs with a pitchfork ( very carefully ! ) to further them to dry out out a little , and you should also stop watering them at this level .
You should always do a spot harvest time to ensure your bulbs are actually quick to be perpetrate by selecting a few random plants in your seam to pull .
Pull them from different arena to account for variance in mature conditions , and ensure they are the size of it you want them to be before harvest all of your onion .
How to Harvest Storage Onions Step-by-Step
Once you have determined your onions are quick to be harvested the next step is to get out them up . This is not unmanageable to do , but the fresh bulbs are quite fragile and easily bruised so a sealed amount of caution is needed .
Here is our guide to harvesting your fledged bulbs broken down into the introductory step :
How to Cure Onions for Long-term Storage
Curing is the process of drying out your onions so that they are well disposed for computer storage . Once your onion have been outdoors dry in the sun for a day or two , you should bring them to a more sheltered , ironical area to finish curing .
The best emplacement for curing isan domain which is covered and dry but has peachy air flowto prevent any stamp or rotting .
husbandman would practice an open b , but if you have a garage with secure ventilation or a plow porch / terrace that should act upon well .
The onion plant should be preserve in the spectre to prevent being burnt by sunlight , and they should never be reveal to moisture since the idea is to get them super dry !
Curing can take just a twain of weeks up to a calendar month depending on how humid it is where you know . After a calendar week or two of curing , you may dress away the root word and allow so that you may see how each Allium cepa front and which are the best candidates for storage .
To do this just take a sharp distich of scissors and trim back down the roots so there ’s just an column inch of bristle at the bottom and snip off the leaves right at the base of the onion ’s neck .
The cut roots make a great brush to murder any remaining scandal or loose bit of pelt from the other onion to tidy them up .
You will be able to tell that your onion plant are stop bring around once their neck is dried out and the peel is papery and brownness .
How and Where to Store Onions
Once your onions are cured and whole dried out , you should store them for fall and wintertime use ina cool , dark , and dry location . you may keep them in a wicker basket or mesh suitcase , and a pop technique is to heap them in old stockings for hanging .
The key is to make indisputable they are kept in a breathable stuff that is n’t sealed off so that the onions remain abeyant and do not bourgeon .
Storage temperatures should be between35 and 55 ℉ , and should never get any warmer than 70 ℉ or the bulbs will be compromise .
onion should not be stack away with sweet fruit ( apples , bananas , pear tree ) or potatoes , as the Allium cepa flavor may seep into them , and the gaseous state produced by ripening fruits ( called ethylene ) will mess with the onions dormancy .
So - called pungent onions- the ones that make you cry- will store for much longer than sweet onions , even as farsighted as a year if save in optimal storage weather condition .
The large gratifying onion will usually just keep for 3 - 5 calendar month , so employ those first to have a constant supply of storage onions until next season .
minuscule onions can be stored for planting the next outpouring , and can be keep in around the same conditions but on the cooler end of the temperature spectrum .
You should frequently check on your storage onions to make certain none of them are stock little green shoots , as this is a sign that conditions are too lovesome .
Sprouted onion should be used quickly before they go speculative , as they wo n’t be able to sit in storage anymore .
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes ! Onions can be consume fresh or after curing . Sweet onion are commonly eaten fresh since they do n’t last that long in storage .
Once the tops have expire back you should harvest your onions in the next one to two weeks to forefend bulbs rotting , peculiarly if there is any rainfall forecasted .
Onions left in the ground will start out to decompose or become innkeeper for disease or pesterer pathogen ( like onion plant maggots ) and may even seek to sprout again before winter .
Onions that have produced peak or ‘ bolted ’ are not suitable for cure and farsighted term storage , as the bulb development will have been kibosh and the industrial plant ’s energy directed toward flower and seed yield .
onion usually bolt due to some type of stress , and there is nothing that can be done once they have get down to bloom . you may either leave the blossom plants to save onion seeds , or harvest them aright away for fresh consumption since they are still perfectly edible .
Onions left in the solid ground will begin to moulder and become a magnet for onion flies to lay orchis and breed . If you incidentally rip off the leave while harvesting an onion plant , you should ensure to dig up the bulb so that you do n’t unexpectedly leave it in the soil .
Since any detritus from onion flora will spread Allium cepa flies and maggot , you should clear all flora material from the bed at the ending of the time of year .
Different onion variety are suited for unlike climates and how much daylight they will get in a day .
poor day onions will set themselves up for bulb development when the days are 10 - 12 time of day long , and farseeing day mixture need around 14 - 16 hours of sunlight .
inadequate Clarence Day variety show are usually sweeter and produce in southern regions , and retentive day ones are grown in the north , are biting and are better suitable for long - full term storage .
Related to whether they are short twenty-four hours or recollective daytime , onion raciness determines how well they can be stored . biting onion are usually small and have a S - establish chemical substance inside them which is what makes you tear up when chopping them .
This chemical substance prevents molder which is why they can hive away longer . fresh onions do n’t have the same amount of these sulphuric secernment and therefore store for only a few calendar month . big , short daytime variety show are usually- but not always- sweet onions .
There are also several sidereal day - achromatic varieties that can be grown in most climates and are a good in - between onion plant with a slightly longer storage expectancy than unforesightful daytime varieties .
See the above questions for distinctions between short day and long day/ pungent and sweet Allium cepa to make the most informed determination for your region and what you require to apply your onions for .
‘ Yellow Globe ’ , ‘ First Edition ’ , ‘ Red Wethersfield ’ , and ‘ Yellow / White Spanish ’ are popular long daylight onion plant varieties good for northern climates .
‘ Red Burgundy ’ , ‘ Southern Belle ’ , and ‘ Red Creole ’ are short day varieties suited for southerly and sub - tropical climate .
Onion maggot are infamously destructive to onion plant crop and can result in taint onion rotting in the flat coat or in depot . The skillful prevention for onion plant maggot is crop rotation to disrupt the breeding and life hertz of adult onion flies .
The maggots will winter and emerge in the late spring as flies and then lay egg wherever they can find alliums ( onions , garlic , leeks ) .
For this reason , all genus Allium plant debris from the premature time of year should be completely cleared and disposed of in the fall , and nothing in that crime syndicate should be replanted in the same bed for at least 2 - 3 years .
Once you plant seedlings , brood them with a floating row blanket to prevent fly from laying orchis on young flora , and attempt to engraft them recently in the year .
Nope ! You do not have to heal all of your onions , only those that you plan on storing for role throughout the winter .
Onions can be eaten fresh out of the footing , and many people select not to cure sweet onions at all since some variety will only hive away well for a couple of months .
write By
Maya is a self-employed cognitive content writer and avid gardener currently based in Sweden . She make her BA in Environment and Geography in Canada , which is also where she first learnt about the detriment of the industrialized agricultural scheme . During the summer she began farming through the WWOOF political program , and over the next six years has continue to grow and learn at a identification number of organic farms and gardens across the US and Canada . She is passionate about the persona of regenerative agriculture in wildlife preservation and mood change mitigation , and think growing your own food is a key part of revolutionizing the organization . In her spare time she care to read , garden , and pet dainty frump .
