Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Are these onions ready to harvest

EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
in Fruit & veg
First time growing onions. Advice online is that they are ready when most of them have fallen over and they’ve gone brown. Most of mine are bent over now, but there’s not much brown on them. 
Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    edited August 2020
    No, leave them until nearly all of the green in the leaves has faded to yellow or brown.
    At that point use a fork to lift them with the roots intact, shake off the soil and leave them on their sides on the surface for a few days. 
    However, you can of course just pick and use some in cooking whenever you like.
    Short video here:

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
     BobTheGardener said:
    No, leave them until nearly all of the green in the leaves has faded to yellow or brown.
    At that point use a fork to lift them with the roots intact, shake off the soil and leave them on their sides on the surface for a few days. 
    However, you can of course just pick and use some in cooking whenever you like.
    Short video here:

    Thank you 😊 
    Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    If I sense frustration at the delay in ripening, I'm in exactly the same boat.  I've got what, for me, is a bumper crop that's staying green.  No seed heads either, so we're using a few for kitchen use while we await the final harvest.
  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
    nick615 said:
    If I sense frustration at the delay in ripening, I'm in exactly the same boat.  I've got what, for me, is a bumper crop that's staying green.  No seed heads either, so we're using a few for kitchen use while we await the final harvest.
    Yes a little bit 😊, because it’s the first successful crop of onions for me and I want to see them dried and looking lovely. Also there’s always the thought that you might let them go too far when you’re not sure what you’re looking for. I have taken  a couple for the kitchen though. 
    Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


  • NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
    BobTheGardener

    I am growing some Ailsa Craig seeds very close together....30 in an 18" square....so I can produce small onions for pickling.

    They look like the ones in the photo.

    I am growing  normal onions and they are progressing well as usual.

    Q..Will the foliage not fall over and go brown until the onions reach full size which is not what I want

    I can obviously wait and see what happens.

    Any experience friends.?


    Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    @NewBoy2 Once your pickling onions have grown to the size you want, you can simply lift and pickle them.  No need to 'cure' or dry them first.
    The reason to let maincrop onion leaves go yellow is to maximize the bulb size and help to prepare them better for storage - if onions are lifted when still green, they don't store as well when dried but that doesn't matter if you are pickling them.  Pickling is just another kind of cooking when it comes down to it, and all onions can be picked and cooked at any time. :)
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Sign In or Register to comment.