When is it time to put onions and turnips for storage: determining the timing of maturity
Having grown a rich harvest, any summer resident will ask the question of when to harvest ripe turnip onions? Some of them use the gardener's lunar calendar to determine the optimal harvest time. If it is not at hand, the summer resident should know when to harvest the bulbs in different parts of the country, how to process it after harvesting, dry it and store it.
When to stop watering onions?
When signs of onion ripeness appear, watering is stopped. Most often this happens 2-3 weeks before the expected cleaning date. It is worth considering that the flow of moisture provokes active ripening of the bulb, the growth of additional roots, which negatively affects the keeping quality of the crop. Therefore, to keep the bulbs well in winter, they should be stopped watering as soon as the heads are fully formed. With such manipulations, the head ripens more slowly, the onion will be less prone to rotting.
When to remove onions from the garden?
Onions should be removed from the garden in dry weather. The readiness of the bulbs for harvesting can be determined by the characteristics of its ripening: the neck of the head begins to dry out, and the feathers turn yellow. In this case, the bulbous heads begin to stain the top layer of their scales in a color characteristic of the variety. Harvesting generally begins at the end of July and continues until early September. Signs of maturity:
- If the vegetable was planted before winter, harvesting from the garden is required before the varieties planted in spring.
- When the bulbs are grown in central Russia, in the Moscow region, you need to harvest the vegetable in the last days of July. If the summer was hot, harvesting starts from the 20th of July
- Timing of harvesting ripe turnip onions in Siberia, in the Urals, in the northwestern part of Russia will be different. In these regions, it is recommended to harvest in August or early September.
To accurately determine the optimal onion harvest time, you need to pay attention to its vegetation. From the moment of spring planting and seedling formation, this period is 70–85 days. To determine the best time to harvest a vegetable, you just need to count the specified number of days.
How to dig it right?
After the summer resident has learned when to dig the turnip onions, he should understand how to do it correctly. Harvesting should only be done in clear weather, and the onions should not be pulled out of the ground. It is better to start digging the crop with a shovel, digging up the planting.
The recommended time of day for harvesting onions has also been empirically revealed. It is best to do this in the morning and then leave the crop in the sun until evening. Periodically, it needs to be shaken up and turned over.
Harvesting in the rain
Like other plants, it is not recommended to dig onions in cloudy weather. But if in the near future good weather is not foreseen, and the onion crop must be urgently collected, harvesting is allowed even in the rain. The vegetables are pulled out of the ground using a small spatula.
To dry the bulb, dry it in a dry room for 2-3 weeks. In this case, after digging from the turnip, it is required to cut the tops and roots. Further, the head is completely peeled off. During the drying time, a new husk will form on the bulb, which will significantly extend the shelf life of the crop.
Onion pruning
To protect the harvested crop from pests and diseases, onions must be cut off. Trim the onions before the vegetables dry. Most often, this process takes an average of 2 weeks.
After the onion is dug out, its roots, feathers should be trimmed after drying under a canopy. This is a prerequisite for long-term storage of onions.
To store the resulting crop during the winter in boxes, you will need to completely cut the roots, and leave a tail of 5 centimeters from the feathers. If the crop will be stored in baskets, boxes or nets, its feathers should be cut off, leaving the tail 7–10 centimeters long and the roots 1–2 centimeters long.
If you plan to store the vegetable in braids, the feathers should be trimmed so that a stalk of 10-15 centimeters remains. The bulbs are intertwined in pairs and then twine wrapped around. Such a crop is stored suspended.
How to dry onions properly?
Drying of the harvested crop is a necessary condition, during which all pathogenic microorganisms are destroyed on the surface of the vegetable. There are several types of drying, each of which depends on the weather.
Many summer residents dry onions right in the garden, leaving them there for 1-2 weeks. The difficulty of this method lies in the fact that the left crop needs to be regularly agitated in order to exclude decay.
Since the vegetable should be dried subject to good ventilation, the best option is to place it in the fresh air under a canopy. The method of using drying under a canopy is good in that no precipitation falls on the vegetable, the optimal humidity is set outside (provided that drying is carried out in good weather).
If the weather outside is cloudy, rainy, the vegetable should be dried in a well-ventilated area with low humidity. In order for the onion to have a good keeping quality, it should be stirred regularly. In order not to do this, you can dry the bulbs in nylon tights, hanging them in a dry, darkened room. If the onion grows in conditions of high humidity, all the husks should be removed from it before drying, while the neck of the onion is left.
Onions can also be dried in shell nets, which provide excellent ventilation to the vegetable. This method is good because the crop does not require regular tedding.
To determine when the onion is dry, you should put it in a pile and stick your hand into it. If the hand passes freely, then the crop is ready for storage, and if with difficulties, the bulbs still need to be dried.
How to store onions at home?
Only ripe vegetables can be stored for storage, so the bulbs should be sorted. It is recommended to eat and not store those heads that have fragile scales, a thick neck, as these vegetables will spoil faster. Also, a vegetable that is overexposed in the garden does not differ in long storage. Such bulbs germinate, lose scales.
After the summer resident has selected the bulbs suitable for storage, it is necessary to decide on the place of their storage. To preserve all the beneficial properties of the vegetable, as well as its suitability for eating, the storage area must be well ventilated and the container must be breathable. Experienced summer residents consider the best places to storing onions in the apartment mezzanines, drawers in the closet, pantries.You need to fold the crop in wicker baskets, wooden boxes, cardboard boxes, stockings, bags made of fabric or paper, tie in braids. Tara:
- Wicker baskets are breathable. Also, their small size avoids the appearance of rot. The use of baskets is inconvenient only because a small amount of the crop is placed in them, and there is no way to put containers on top of each other.
- Wooden storage boxes are required to choose shallow ones. They should contain an onion layer no more than 30 centimeters thick. The advantage of using such storage means is that the boxes can be stacked on top of each other in order to save free space.
- Another way to store your crops is with cardboard boxes. To prevent the onion from rotting in them, it should be covered with a 25-30 cm layer. Also, holes must be made at the bottom and walls of the box to provide additional ventilation.
- Stockings or old nylon tights are an excellent material for storing the harvested crop. They allow air to pass through well, preventing the formation of rot. Also, such items can be stored in a hanged state without taking up the right place in the apartment.
- Braids. One of the best ways to store onions at home is to form braids from the crop. They can be stored in the pantry, and if desired, such an item can become a real decoration of the kitchen. They should be hung in places protected from sunlight, as well as with good ventilation and low humidity.
When using boxes or bags, do not put the entire crop in them. The onion will keep well if its layer does not exceed 30 centimeters. To extend the shelf life of the crop, it can be sprinkled with onion husks or chalk. To process 10 kilograms of heads, 200 grams of chalk will be required. This component will protect the crop from moisture accumulation and the appearance of rot.
During the winter, twice or three times all the onions that are stored at home must be sorted out. This procedure is mandatory, as damaged or not fully ripe bulbs could begin to rot. If the crop is not sorted out, rotting heads will infect healthy ones, which can cause all vegetables to lose their nutritional value.
Also, experienced summer residents sort out the harvest in order to assess whether all the heads are fully dry, whether moisture accumulates in them. Damp bulbs must be turned and re-dried. You can dry such onions directly in the oven, placing them on a baking sheet, heating the oven to minimum temperature indicators. Then the device turns off, its door opens, and the bulbs are dried until the device cools completely.
In order for the onion to be stored for a long time, it must be placed not only in optimal conditions, but also to grow correctly, remove it from the garden in a timely manner, dry it, trim the roots and feathers. Such processing of the crop will allow it to be preserved throughout the winter, while the nutritional qualities and benefits of the vegetable are preserved in full. Also, before planting onions for further storage, you need to choose a variety that is suitable for this.
