How to determine when to remove onions from the garden for storage?

Growing onions in a personal plot does not take much time and does not require serious agricultural skills, but the question of when to remove onions from the garden for storage causes a lot of controversy. Failure to comply with at least one of the elements of the algorithm when digging or drying onions, leads to the fact that this herbaceous perennial begins to rot, and the entire harvest becomes unusable within a few weeks.

What are the benefits of onions?

Every average person knows the health benefits of onions and their irreplaceable taste in cooking. The high content of dry matter in the onion head makes it possible to compare the vegetable in nutritional value with a root vegetable such as beets, and the presence of a high concentration of vitamins A, B, C puts onions on the same level of usefulness as citrus fruits.

Freshly dug onions have a full range of useful and taste properties, regardless of the weather in which the crop was removed from the ground, and when - earlier or later than the required period. However, the preservation of all the original qualities of the vegetable during long-term storage depends directly on these factors. Both the keeping quality of the vegetable and the release of valuable elements to it are directly related to the time when the onion was collected from the garden and how well its care before harvesting met the standards.

It is impossible to accurately determine these deadlines and norms, focusing only on dates and numbers in special sources of information, since too many additional factors in very different combinations will have to be taken into account:

• varietal identity of the crop;
• weather and climatic features of the region;
• soil characteristics;
• frequency and abundance of fertilizing or lack thereof;
• rainy or dry season.

For gardeners who want to harvest an early harvest, it is better to choose early-ripening varieties and be guided by the ripening dates corresponding to this type of vegetable. But these dates will also be adjusted by the weather situation in the period closest to the time of collection.

Dry summer heat will bring the ripening of the bulbs closer by 15–17 days, but cold August, on the contrary, will delay the harvest by the same period of time, so harvesting onions may occur either at the beginning of the month or at the end.

When should onions be harvested?

It is impossible to plan harvesting for one specific day, since the bulbs in the ground ripen unevenly and there is a risk of mixing good, dry turnips with unripe bulbs. It is optimal to allocate 4 to 7 days for the entire process - this is also convenient because the onions laid out for drying first will have time to dry and make room for later harvesting. Since many gardeners like to experiment with different varieties of crops, the period when the bulbs ripen can extend over a longer period. The maturity of a vegetable is determined, as usual, by the appearance of the tops.

Winter onions, which ripen in the spring, require more care when sorting, since they are rarely harvested in dry weather. Growing such a vegetable is associated with many advantages - it is almost never attacked by pests and almost does not need additional watering. However, it is dangerous to keep it in the ground, especially if the weather is damp or it rains - the winter crop readily enters the second ripening cycle and produces new roots.

It is better to collect onions planted in spring when there is at least a week left before the rainy season. This allows you to wait for all the onion turnips to ripen and calmly, without haste, dry them in the open air.

The danger of untimely harvesting

Harvesting onions too early certainly dooms the crop to a low possibility of preservation.When such onions are harvested from the garden and then stored in bulk, the bottom layer of the vegetable begins to sprout and rot, quickly spreading dampness and fungus throughout the storage section. The only option to save the harvest is to process the collected bulbs for preservation immediately after harvesting.

Signs of onion readiness for harvesting during the harvest season usually appear 75-80 days from the day of planting. As a standard, they begin to dig the onion when its feathers have turned yellow and the soil is quite dry, but if the weather threatens to worsen, the ripening of the crop is provoked artificially. You can find out how to do this below.

When should you stop watering onions?

During the first 55–60 days, the bitter vegetable rapidly grows and fills with juice, and the remaining period, until the moment when the onions need to be removed from the garden, is allocated for the accumulation of useful elements, sucrose and other components of nutritional value.

At this time, when the growth of the bulb stops, it no longer needs a lot of moisture and watering can be reduced and then stopped altogether.

Conventionally, the day when the soil under the crop is moistened for the last time is July 12th. If the summer was not very damp, by this time the yellowed onion arrows are laid on their sides, and the visible neck of the onion is already covered with several layers of dry scales and crunches under the fingers.

If rain is predicted starting from the 60th day after planting the seeds, then you should cover the garden with double cellophane or stretch a waterproof film over aluminum arches, organizing a mobile, easily disassembled shelter.

How to speed up the ripening of bulbs?

Weather conditions, climate and principles of crop care during the growing period make their own adjustments to the standard deadlines when you need to dig up onions.Often, a certain crop variety, planted without taking into account the characteristics of the region, does not have time to gain strength by the time the weather begins to deteriorate and the heads begin to rot right in the ground. To avoid this and speed up the ripening of vegetables, small tricks that require minimal skill from the gardener will help:

• Trimming the roots. To do this, use a well-sharpened spatula, which is carefully placed under each onion, cutting off the roots and blocking the nutritional channels of the vegetable.
• Partial pulling of the bulbs. This method requires caution, because when the onion is taken by the tops and pulled up a little, some of the feathers may break off. It is undesirable to allow this to happen, because the resulting damage can contain bacteria, leading to rotting of the entire vegetable.
• Exposing the onion turnip. It is better to perform the operation manually, so as not to damage the scaly sides of the vegetable with the tool. Each bulb is carefully released from the soil, exposing about a third, and left for 5–8 days until the vegetable dries out.

Some vegetable growers go further and completely cut off the tops in anticipation of the rains, so that the onions dry out and are ready for harvesting as soon as possible. If the weather is very dry, and the feathers are cleaned of dust before being removed, then the method can be considered justified, although quite risky. If there is high humidity while cutting the tops, then the onion almost 100% begins to rot and loses its suitability for storage.

How to properly dig onions?

When it's time to harvest onions, the drying room or open-air areas should already be ready. The process technique may vary depending on humidity and soil type.

So, from loamy or moist soil, it is undesirable to pull turnips by the feather - for these purposes it is better to use a pitchfork. On the contrary, from dry and sandy soil, onions are easily extracted by hand.

How to properly store dug up onions? First of all, dry it thoroughly. Drying time will vary depending on harvest conditions. Vegetables dug up in dry weather need to rest for 2–4 days.

Harvesting onions during the rain

Harvesting onions during rain is complicated by the fact that it is very difficult to determine the level of maturity of wet turnips and, along with good onions, unripe vegetables with a low-value, watery pulp structure can end up in the general pile. Dry onion turnips, dug up in the rain, it is necessary only in closed, well-ventilated, warm rooms, laying the vegetables on the floor in one layer and periodically, at least once a day, turning the vegetables from side to side.

You need to remove dirt from the bulbs no earlier than it dries out and begins to crumble on its own. What to do if the onions start to rot while drying? Spoiled turnips are immediately taken aside and dried separately, and then immediately chopped for freezing or canning.

Soaked onions are dried for at least a week, and it is advisable to store them in small wooden boxes.

How to properly dry onions in an apartment?

Harvesting seedlings from the garden bed for storage requires thorough drying, which is not always possible in a city apartment or small dacha. If the harvest is not very large, then an ordinary gas oven is used for these purposes. Preheat the oven to approximately 40 ⁰C and record the temperature at this figure.Place no more than 2 kg of onion at a time on a baking sheet and dry it in the oven for about two hours with the door half open. During this time, turnips need to be turned over 3-4 times.

If in the kitchen it is possible to stretch cross beams under the ceiling and hang bundles of onions in this way, then drying can be done with the stove burners turned on. To tie onion heads into bunches or weave them into wreaths, it is necessary to trim the feathers no closer than 4–5 cm to the head.

If drying is carried out without the use of heating devices, the process is significantly extended and can take from 10 to 20 days.

How to store onions at home?

When the onion crop is harvested from the garden and properly dried, it is time to organize the storage of the vegetable. In a private house, this point is not considered controversial, because most household plots have a cellar or a solid brick shed where onions can be stored in bulk. But what about in city apartments, when every square meter counts?

There are three convenient ways to save seedlings until next summer in cramped home conditions:

• Weaving with braids or wreaths. When it is intended to tie onions in this way, the onion necks are trimmed, leaving a long (5 cm or more) dry stem. After drying, the bulbs are woven into a “braid” of a convenient length, which is tied to ceiling hooks (beams) in the kitchen or pantry.
• Storage in baskets or flat (up to 25 cm high) wooden boxes. In this way, onions are stored in the pantry or on an insulated balcony that does not allow moisture to pass through.
• Tying a bow “in a stocking.” Use clean nylon stockings, into which the onions are poured to the very top.The resulting “stalactites” are hung from the ceiling, but they can also be stored on wooden shelves in the pantry, laid in one row, with the knot facing outward.

One of the most important conditions for long-term storage of onions is the humidity level, about 60% - this is the optimal indicator for the keeping quality of the crop.. At values ​​below 55%, the onion begins to dry out and it is necessary to organize additional air humidification in the room or pour more onion peels into the boxes with vegetables. At high hydrometer values, moisture from the container with onions must be “pulled away” by placing cardboard boxes with ash, seed husks, and sawdust near the boxes.

Onion harvest dates depending on region

Each individual region has its own terms of ripening of onion crops and, accordingly, its own periods when the harvest is harvested:

• harvesting of onions by gardeners in the Moscow region begins on July 25 and continues until August 8–10;
• in the Urals, the vegetable lingers in the soil until August 18–20;
• in the Leningrad region and Siberia, harvest dates range from 10 to 15 August.

The given figures, as is easy to understand, are approximate values, the indentations in which correspond to the individual characteristics of the current season. We must not forget about the characteristics of the soil - light soils dry out faster and speed up harvesting, while heavy soils, on the contrary, retain moisture for a long time and delay the development of the crop. In what period to harvest onions can only be understood by taking into account all these factors.

Onion harvesting technology: results

So, the rules for harvesting onions from the garden come down to several main points. What you need to know about the time when it’s time to dig up a vegetable:

• the feathers of 70–90% of the crop are “laid down”;
• the lower leaves of more bulbs have withered;
• the onion neck protruding above the soil is covered with dry scales and makes a crunching sound when pressed;
• the false stem has become soft;
• up to 20% of the roots have withered and died.

We must not allow turnips to begin to germinate again in the soil, so it is better not to wait for the tops of all vegetables to be lodden, but to focus on a large percentage.

Before harvesting onions for storage, the vegetable must be thoroughly dried and stored in accordance with real possible conditions. During the winter, the onions need to be sorted at least three times, removing all softened or damaged vegetables.