When to harvest winter onions
The answer cannot be found on the Internet. More precisely, you can make completely different recommendations like:
- In the second half of May
- "Today is July 12th, I have removed my winter onions."
- "Today is August 3, it's time to harvest winter onions."
Etc.
Well, when to harvest winter onions?
One of the reasons why winter onions are harvested early is the conventional wisdom that they are not stored. If the variety is not for storage, then of course. And an ordinary onion, harvested on time and properly dried, is perfectly stored. Not worse than spring. Checked by me.
Sick onions and the one that grew in a rainy summer will be poorly stored.
General rules
- If part of the onion has fallen, and even the feathers have turned yellow, this is a signal: it's time to harvest. The bulbs are about half above the ground. The more yellow the feathers are, the more the onions are ready for harvest.
- The second signal: the bow is easily pulled out by the hand.
- Ideally, dry time before harvest, at least two weeks, and a sunny day.
- You should not hesitate, if it rains, the onions will take root again, after that it will be worse stored.
This year
We removed this onion on July 10:
And there is a medium, and small, medium is more significant. Sevok was tiny. So I think the result is worthy.
This is not ideal, a little rain passed three days ago, but the ground is already completely dry. Because of this rain, the onion still sprouted, although not critical, as it pulled out easily. And it was dry to the touch.
I cut off the roots with scissors immediately after harvesting. And left to dry in the sun for a couple of hours. This is an important point for storage. I don’t remove the feathers, they should dry completely together with the onions.
About the sun. I read advice to leave the onions in the sun for several days. It would be interesting to see the result. The onion becomes hot in a couple of hours, as if lying in the stove. And if a few days without shading, it will be baked!
Another internet tip, perhaps once appropriate, is to turn the onion over so that it dries with the sun from different sides. I had no such need, and the earth is hot, and the air. The main thing is that the cut of the roots is dry. And for this you do not need to move, extra work.
In vegetable boxes, I put the whole onion company in a cool ventilated barn. There is a shadow.
I could still hold the onions in the beds, but I had to leave on business, and the rains were promised. So I didn't risk it. I am sure that it will be stored, it is dry, and with feathers it will dry even better.
How do you choose the time to harvest winter onions?
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