How to prune onions for winter storage after harvest

The content of the article

• How to collect onions for storage in the winter
• Drying onions in the garden
• Do I need to trim the onion
• Onion pruning for storage
• Winter onion storage at home
• Where and how to store onions at home
• Storage temperature

Each vegetable has its own time: if radishes are harvested already in June, zucchini in July, and potatoes in September, then onions are ideal time – beginning and middle of August. When it comes to harvesting vegetables from the beds, inexperienced gardeners ask themselves how to prune onions for storage in the winter, so that the bulbs are fresh and springy until next spring.

How to collect onions for storage in the winter

First you need to establish whether the bulbs are ready for collection. The main signs are that the tops are dying and lying on the ground, the necks are slightly dry. You can get to work:

1. Choose a warm sunny day, in the morning pull the bulbs out of the ground, lay out in rows directly on the bed for drying.
2. In the evening of the same day, remove the vegetable under a canopy or in a barn, leave it for 2-3 days.
3. From the dried bulbs, they clean the earth, cut the roots to the very bottom.
4. Trim feathers, leaving “tails” not less than 10 cm. If you plan to store onions in the form of a scythe or a wreath, do not cut feathers.

Drying onions in the garden

Good drying is the most important condition for safe storage. If the vegetables remain at least slightly moist, mold will spread along them easily, and rot will begin. Therefore, it is desirable to plan the extraction of bulbs from the beds on a dry and hot morning. Having dried the fruits in the beds during the day, they must be removed to the room or under a canopy. There, vegetables are laid out on the floor on a layer of sand or on shelves and dried for another two days. From time to time, vegetables must be tidied so that they dry evenly.

Do I need to trim the onion

Pruning vegetables for harvesting for the winter has a purely practical meaning: without feathers, the crop can be stacked more compactly, and it looks neater. Some gardeners believe that in the first few days after pulling out of the garden, vitamins from the tops go inside the bulb. Most likely, this is a legend: according to the rules of trimming, the feather is cut off already at the dried turnip so that the fresh cut does not become an entrance gate for bacteria. For decorative onion braids, the tops of the vegetable are left.

Onion pruning for storage

The method is suitable not only for harvesting onions for the winter, but also for those who want to save leeks. Correctly cut the onion for storage as follows:

1. Bulbs dried and peeled from the remains of the earth should be freed from roots. To do this, with a sharp knife at a small distance from the bottom of the bulb cut the roots. It’s important not to hurt the fetus.
2. Razor or knife (you can use scissors) cut the tops of the bulbs so that the neck remains 5-10 cm long.
3. For leeks, trim the tops of the sheets so that the green part is 10-15 cm.

Winter onion storage at home

The vegetable can lie at room temperature until spring, remaining fresh if it is provided with the correct storage conditions. In addition to drying completely, good ventilation is needed. The fruits are picked up in cardboard boxes, bags made of cotton cloth, suspended in nets. A common home version of the vegetable grid is women’s tights, it is convenient to fill them with onions and hang them in the pantry or cellar.

Where and how to store onions at home

You can diversify the interior by weaving an onion braid. It will turn out as decorative as possible with a combination of different types of vegetables – red, white, yellow. You can weave plastic imitations of vegetables and berries. Large volumes, however, are more convenient to store in bags and boxes. The room should be moderately spacious and cool. A dry cellar is suitable, in an apartment – a well-insulated balcony.

Storage temperature

During storage, the fruits are able to withstand the range from 0 to 22 ° C, optimally maintain 18 ° C indoors. Some varieties (acute and subacute) can survive small frosts (1-2 ° C below zero) without losing their taste. At higher temperatures the bulbs dry out, at low temperatures they freeze. If it is not possible to provide the right conditions for the vegetable, it is better to prepare it for the winter in another way: cut and dry or marinate. It is easy to lose crops from improper storage.