When are onions harvested and where are they stored? How to determine maturity and when to dig up onions and other varieties of onions

To onion stored for a long time and retained its taste - it is necessary to remove the onion when it is completely ripe.

Let's take a closer look: when to harvest onions, how to determine the readiness of onions, external signs of crop ripening.

External signs of onion ripening

An obvious sign of a ripening onion crop is yellowing and lodging of feathers.

note– if the weather has been damp and cold all summer, then you may not wait for this sign at all.

Second sign readiness of the onion harvest, which you should pay attention to is thin and drying neck of the bulb.

Third sign– if the skin of the onion protruding from the ground is completely dry and even peeling, then it’s time to dig the onion out of the beds.

Onion harvesting time

They begin to harvest the onions from late July to early August, and cleaning must be carried out on a sunny day.

Climatic conditions also affect the ripening time of onions; they must be taken into account. If the summer was dry and hot, then the onion ripening time will be shorter. And if the summer is rainy and cold, onion harvesting should be postponed a little.

How to determine whether onions are ready for harvesting

If the leaves have not yet completely yellowed before harvesting, then there is no need to trim them immediately after harvesting; let the bulb lie for at least 2-3 weeks under a canopy. During this time, all nutrients will pass into the bulb, and when the foliage dries, it is removed.

If will be late for onion harvesting, and at the same time it rains - secondary regrowth of the bulb may begin. The bulb will give roots again and new bulbs will begin to grow from the bottom; such onions do not store well.

If Harvest onions before they ripen, then the covering scale on the bulb will not have time to fully form, and a thick neck will also remain.

When harvesting an onion, you should pull it out from the ground carefully; if the tops are carelessly broken, rotting will begin in this place and the onion will disappear.

If there is a lot of soil on the bulbs when harvesting onions, clean it with your hands as much as possible. this moment. When the soil dries out while lying under a canopy, it will easily fall behind.

Necessarily behind two weeks before onion harvest stop watering, this will increase the shelf life of the fruit. Some gardeners even recommend covering the onion bed at this time from the rain with a thick cloth.

How to prepare onions for storage

In order for onions to be stored well, they need to be properly prepared - dry thoroughly. If the weather is good, after digging the onions can be left in the garden for several days.

Onions are usually dug up at the end of July or in August. This is decided based on the condition of its top scale - it is necessary that it dries well, and that the tops are completely dry, yellowed and fallen to the surface of the earth. The time during which the process of full ripening of onions occurs is approximately 68-83 days. If in doubt, you need to make a calculation using the arithmetic method: it is enough to add the ripening period to the date when planting was made.
When making such calculations, it is necessary to take into account exactly what this summer was like: sunny and hot, or cold and very rainy. After all, if cool temperatures have been observed throughout the season, then the ripening time should be extended, and in the opposite case, it should be slightly reduced. Experts advise to be guided by visual signs that onion matured Harvesting onions should be carried out in sunny and clear weather.

Pulling bulbs from the garden better in the morning, and then it should be dried in the open sun throughout the day. After removing the onions, you should not get rid of their tops at the same time. After lunch, the bulbs need to be trimmed from various damages, cleaned of leaves and roots. In this case, it is better not to cut off the tails of the tops, leaving about five centimeters, which will then be braided, and the roots should be left about two centimeters long.
If the onion turns out to be raw, you will first need to dry it well at medium temperature. Then the bulbs are dried at a temperature of forty degrees, and then dried at a temperature of thirty degrees. The drying process, as a rule, lasts until the bulbs are dressed in “shirts”.
Onions can be carefully laid out, for example, on a well-lit balcony. You should straighten a sheet of cardboard on which to place the onion heads in one layer. It needs to be turned over from time to time. This way it will dry much better, which will help good storage vegetables throughout the season. For storage, you need to choose a room in which there are no signs of dampness, and the air is constantly dry and warm.

Ripened onions, which have dried outer scales and well-dried necks, are stored for a long time. When the bulbs are not fully ripe, they may experience rot in the neck area. First of all, you should determine the consumption of those bulbs that have been damaged and have a non-dry neck.
A few weeks before the start of the time when you dig up onions, you need to stop watering them. This must be done to prevent additional shoots from appearing on the bulbs. In addition, this way the onions will be stored much better throughout winter season.

When to dig up onions according to the lunar calendar

Deciding on the time to start harvesting onions from the garden is quite simple. This is done after the onions gradually turn yellow and then lie on the surface of the ground. Important signs that onions are ripe can be seen in the photo. This is evidenced by the feathers turning yellow and starting to dry out a little. In addition, the tops should lie on the ground, while not absolutely the entire bed with onions, but only some planting areas.
As a rule, there is no need to create special conditions for the area where onions will be planted, and it will only take a couple of months to grow them. For areas with a temperate climate, the time when it is necessary to start harvesting onions from the beds comes in the last days of July, namely after the twentieth of July. It can continue until mid-August, if weather conditions permit. If the weather is predominantly rainy in August, the bulbs should be removed from the garden beds without waiting for heavy and prolonged downpours. If for summer season If the weather is quite cold, then it is better to start digging onions from the garden in August, not earlier than the tenth, during the period when the moon is waning.

It is necessary to dig, or rather, pull out the bulbs in good and sunny weather. It's better to do this in morning time to allow it to dry thoroughly. After this, it should be brought into the attic or into the barn. As a last resort, the bulbs can be placed on the balcony, where it will dry out. The main thing is that the place must be dry and well ventilated. It is worth keeping the dug up onions in such a room for several days.
In sunny and dry weather, if possible, onions can also be dried by leaving them in the garden. This period should last approximately seven to twelve days. In the evening it must be covered with film or a special covering material, which must be removed in the morning.
What is the best time to dry onions? Duration of this period determined by the condition of the neck of the bulbs. Vegetables can be removed for further storage only when they are well dried. It is necessary to remember that the shelf life of onions depends on how the onions are dried. In addition, it will rot much less when in boxes or bags.

Of course, in order to reap a large harvest of onions, you need to take good care of them and fight various diseases in a timely manner. Signs of a particular onion disease can be seen in the photo. The most common pest of this vegetable is the onion fly, the white larvae of which are deposited in the bulbs. Therefore, it is necessary to cover the beds or grow carrots nearby.
No less harmful are various fungal diseases, such as downy mildew with rust or gray rot. Infection of the latter is typical for poorly dried onions. Rust threatens in the second half of the summer season. Small yellowish spots begin to appear on the green feathers. It spreads quite quickly if the weather is humid and warm outside.
Downy mildew can persist in cold weather in the bulbs themselves, as well as in infected seeds. With this disease, gray spots appear on the leaves, which gradually increase and have a detrimental effect on the entire plant. Prevention of such diseases in onions involves following the rules of alternating the cultivation of different plant crops. In addition, harvested onions should be stored in a dry and ventilated room.

Onions are a perennial herbaceous plant that is eaten. In order not to buy it in the store, you need to properly harvest and store the crop. In this article you will learn when onions planted before winter are harvested and how they should be stored.

Winter bulb

Harvesting winter onions

Everyone loves onions from the garden. The main thing is to collect it correctly, and do it before frost sets in. Why is it important to harvest onions on time?

If you start collecting it early, it’s bad, it won’t have time to ripen and the scales won’t have time to form. If you remove it too late, nothing good will come of it either. The bulbs will begin to crack, the scales will dry out and fall off, and the roots will regrow.

Please note: Many experts say that onions should be harvested when the leaves have already begun to lie down. Most often this happens towards the end of August if the weather conditions were favorable.

If the harvest time is running out and the onions are not yet ready, the ripening process can be accelerated. How it's done? Raking soil from bulbs. Using a fork, you need to lift the bulbs from the ground, undermining the roots. Some people use a shovel and cut the roots by 4-5 cm. What will happen? Nutrients from the leaves will be transferred to the bulbs. This is done a week before harvest.

Harvesting is best done in drier weather. If the onion was formed in heavy soils, then you will have to dig it up to get it out. If the soil is soft and loamy, then you can simply grab the tops and pull up.

Onions are a product that is very sensitive to mechanical damage. Therefore, when removing it from the ground, you should not shake it to free it from scraps of dirt. It's best to do this by hand.

Onions are sensitive to mechanical damage - they must be removed carefully

Drying the crop

If the onions were grown in soil that is rich in nitrogen, then drying alone is not enough. Drying must be repeated five to six times to avoid neck rot. It should be stored at a temperature of no more than 33 degrees. If drying is carried out at high temperatures, then eight hours will be enough.

Another good advice– chalk powder. They can be sprinkled on the crop and left to dry. After this procedure, the onions can be considered prepared for storage for the winter.

If the onion was removed from too wet soil, then it is washed and cleared of husks and tops. The roots are cut off and the onions are laid out to dry in one row with a good ventilation system. During drying, which is about three weeks, new scales form on the onion.

Important! In order not to damage the keeping quality of the onion, you need to dig it out very carefully. It is strictly forbidden to pull out or tear off the tails and roots.

Storing winter onions

At what temperature is it best to store onions? The temperature should not be more than 18 degrees Celsius. There are several varieties of this vegetable. It is advisable to store spicy varieties at -3 degrees, and sweet ones at zero temperature.

Before storing onions, you need to check their readiness. If it is dry and hard, then the vegetable is ready for storage for the winter.
Onions love coolness and moderate humidity. Nice places– basement, attic, balcony, etc.
Nylon tights are often used. And this is the right decision. The dry onion is placed in a stocking, a knot is made, followed by a second onion, and so on. This method reduces the risk of the vegetable rotting.

Storing onions in tights

If all conditions are met, onions can be stored for six months. The sliced product can be preserved for a month, frozen – up to five months.

Video: How to harvest winter onions

Conclusion

You can save onions, the main thing is to properly harvest and dry the crop. Here you need to adhere and listen to advice. We must remember that onions like to be treated with more care. This product is more gentle.

It is very important to remove the onions from the garden on time, otherwise they will not store well. If harvested a little too early or a little late, the entire crop may simply rot. Therefore, you should be responsible when choosing the day to collect this vegetable.

The biological maturity of onions is the cessation of growth and readiness for the winter dormant period. A mature one has a fully formed “shirt” consisting of dry, dense scales. This cover protects the bulb from the penetration of bacteria and fungal spores, and from the evaporation of the moisture contained in it.

Onions are harvested from late July to September. Even for one region there is no common day. The timing of harvesting depends on several factors, primarily on the degree of ripening of the vegetable in each specific bed.

Whether onions are ready for harvest can be determined in several ways.

Onion growing season

Onions are planted in May - June. Accordingly, they are harvested in July–August. You need to have time to harvest before the onset of the rainy season, otherwise excess moisture and cold will lead to fungal diseases and rotting of the bulbs.

Different varieties have different ripening rates. The growing season can range from 65 to 130 days. Most varieties are ready for harvesting 70–80 days after planting. But the weather can affect the timing of ripening: in a hot summer, the crop will ripen earlier, in rainy and cold summers - later.

Northern varieties, especially spicy ones, are stored better than southern ones due to the high content of sugars, essential oils and dry substances.

Onions planted in the fall are removed from the garden about a month earlier than those planted in the spring.

Average time to harvest onions by region:

Somewhat earlier than the turnips, the family onions are ready for harvesting.

In most cases, sets ripen quickly. It is dug out from the garden when the feather turns yellow and begins to press against the ground.

Shallots are harvested as soon as the feather falls. Otherwise, it will accumulate moisture and germinate.

Leeks are harvested later - at the beginning of October; they can be kept in the garden almost until frost.

Signs of harvest maturity

When determining the timing of onion harvesting, you cannot rely only on its growing season. Visual signs of maturity are much more reliable.

The onion is ripe if:

new feathers do not grow;
the false stem has become soft and pliable;
the feather has dried out and turned yellow;
the upper scales have dried and acquired the light characteristic of the variety;
most of the feathers died;
The neck has dried out and become thinner.

It is necessary to remove onions from the beds before all the leaves fall, because then they will already be overripe. At this time, its roots begin to grow again. This vegetable will not be stored.

What to do if the feather does not turn yellow

It happens that the time for harvesting has long come, but the onions are still green. There is no need to wait too long for the leaves to yellow, since when rainy weather sets in, it will be difficult to preserve the bulbs.

A week before cleaning, you can do the following:

slightly lift the bulbs: pull with your hands (only if the soil is loose);
carefully dig with a pitchfork;
move the soil away from the heads, exposing them;
Carefully trim the roots with a sharp tool 5 cm from the bottom.

This will disrupt the nutrition of the vegetables and cause them to dry out. Nutrients from the tops will begin to flow into the bulb, causing it to ripen quickly. The above-ground part should not be disturbed: pick or cut off the leaves, such actions will lead to diseases.

Only the set, since its feather is thinner and softer, can be “slammed” - carefully, without breaking, pressed to the ground, for example, with a wide, flat board.

How to properly dig from the garden

About 2 weeks, or better yet a month before harvesting, stop watering the onions. This will prevent rotting and the formation of new roots and allow the heads to fully ripen.

Harvest onions from the beds in dry, clear, preferably windy, weather. Ideally, no rain is expected for the next 2 weeks.

You can do it this way:

Pull the bulbs by the neck with your hands. You can do this provided that the soil is soft and the turnips can be easily removed without being damaged.
Remove with a fork. This is a more gentle method that protects the bulbs from damage.
Dig with a shovel. To avoid cutting the bulbs, the blade is driven into the ground 10 cm from the rows.

The pen should remain intact. Bulbs whose tops have been torn off are not stored; they are immediately used for cooking. The same is done with heads, the neck of which has not dried out at the time of harvesting and remains juicy and thick.

If soil is stuck to the turnips, you need to clean it off carefully. You cannot knock the bulbs against a shovel or against each other: this will damage them, and then they will quickly begin to rot. If necessary, remove excess soil with your hands without damaging the scales.

Other types of onions are also harvested in this way. But shallots quickly begin to germinate, so the timing of its harvesting must be strictly adhered to. The healthy leaves of the leek are left, the rest are removed.

Harvesting in rainy weather

If the summer is rainy and sunny weather is not expected, and the time for harvesting the onions has approached, you will have to dig on a cloudy day. It is advisable that there is no rain at this time. Collected from wet soil, it will not only take a long time to dry, but will also be poorly stored.

The harvested onions are left under a canopy for several days. The leaves can be cut off as soon as they dry out.

In exceptional cases, when the bulbs are completely wet, the leaves and roots are immediately cut off and the upper scales are cleaned off. The onions are laid out in 1 row. Such a crop is placed in a dry, warm room for about 20 days to dry and form a new husk.

How to cut and dry

After harvesting from the beds, the onions are dried for about two weeks, otherwise they will not be stored. Conditions for good drying: heat and air access.

Drying methods

The simplest and most reliable method is drying in the garden, provided that the weather is sunny. The bulbs are laid out one at a time, feathers facing the furrow. This is done so that they can be easily turned over. At night they are taken under a canopy or covered from dew with film.

In rainy weather, onions are not laid out in beds, but taken under the roof to a dry room. The place should be well ventilated. It is even advisable to create a draft.

The bulbs need to be stirred frequently, turning the other side. For constant air access, it is convenient to lay them out on a grid.

Sometimes the bulbs are dried in the oven. But with this method there is a risk of losing the entire harvest. This is worth doing if it was collected in wet weather, when you need to save the turnip from rotting. Dry at a temperature no higher than +44°C and no longer than 8 hours. A more gentle drying mode is 5 days at +33°C.

After cutting, the testes are left in a dry place to ripen for about 20 days. They are laid out in one layer and constantly turned, since there is a danger of germination, mold and even spontaneous combustion.

Pruning rules

Feathers and roots are trimmed when the onion is slightly dry. This will protect the turnip from diseases, the pathogens of which can penetrate through a fresh cut. But if this is not done in time, the bulbs will not be able to dry properly.

The neck cannot be cut all the way to the bulb, otherwise it will rot during storage. The leaves are cut off, leaving 4–5 cm. They are left only if you plan to store the onions in wreaths or braids. The roots are removed carefully, leaving 0.5–1 cm to the bottom of the bulb.

Leeks are washed before storage.

How to tell if an onion is dry

When determining the readiness of onions for storage, you should not be guided only by the approximate drying times.

There are several signs that the heads are completely dry:

rustling when turned over;
the scales begin to fall off;
the color of the husk becomes golden;
the neck becomes thinner;
You can easily put your hand under the layer of onion.

Do not overdry the bulbs, otherwise the protective scales will crack. The inner layers will be exposed, and the crop will not be stored well.

Storing onions at home

Before storing the onions, sort them again. Heads whose keeping quality is in doubt are set aside. They need to be used first.

These are bulbs that:

they threw off the husks;
began to sprout;
the neck is not dry;
soft to the touch;
covered with mold;
have no bottom (removed by careless cutting).

Onions damaged during harvesting should not be stored in the refrigerator. In such conditions it will quickly rot. You can grease the cut or sprinkle it with salt, put it in a container with cold water, wrap it cling film. But damaged heads are still not stored for longer than five days.

Storage

Before the onset of cold weather, the bulbs are kept in an unheated room, for example, in the attic.

In winter, the heads should be kept warm, dry, and in the absence of sunlight. Mezzanines or storage rooms and cellars are well suited for the house.

Onion storage temperature is from 0°C to +20°C. The turnip does not tolerate high humidity and its fluctuations.

Storage methods

The bulbs are laid in layers up to 30 cm. For storage use:

baskets are convenient compact containers that allow air to pass through well;
drawers - there must be cracks or holes for air circulation;
cardboard boxes - slits are pre-made in the walls;
nylon stockings - well ventilated, convenient to hang on walls;
bags - the onions “breathe” in them.

Onions are often braided for storage. With this method, it practically does not rot, even if the onions are not completely dry. Among the advantages of braids is the ability to take the head you like without disturbing the rest.

For weaving, rope (twine, tourniquet) is used. By wrapping the string around the neck of the onion, a braid is formed. A loop is made at the end for hanging. Place the braids where there is no direct sunlight.

To protect against diseases and rot before storing, you can:

sprinkle the turnips with chalk - 10 kg of vegetables will require 200 g;
grease the bottom with lime paste (whitewash);
burn the roots.

Onions treated this way will not germinate. But it is only good for food, and it will not be possible to plant it.

The sets are stored like onions. But the container with it does not need to be moved from place to place: the onions can rot or dry out.

Heirloom onions can be divided or saved as whole nests.

Shallots are best stored braided. Before this, the green part of the leaves is cut off.

The leeks are not completely dried. The leaves are not trimmed before storage, only the tops are shortened slightly. The leeks are placed in boxes with sand placed in the basement. Wrapped in plastic, can be stored in the refrigerator for a short time.

All varieties are sorted out in winter and the rotten heads are thrown away. They do this at least twice even when the bad bulbs were not noticed. But if you come across a rotten one, the entire container needs to be reconsidered immediately: the disease is instantly transmitted to neighboring heads, and you can quickly lose the entire harvest.