Drying off Onions

[Susiebelle]

I have had a good crop of Autumn sown onions, harvested 3rd week in June scattered well around garage for a week whist on holiday then put out to dry in my greenhouse, hanging from staging with lots of space.  I came yesterday to clean up for storage and found a lot had got soft necks and  some with a mildew between drying layers. What have I done wrong? can anyone offer advice?

[Susiebelle]

[kt.]

then put out to dry in my greenhouse, hanging from staging with lots of space.  I came yesterday to clean up for storage and found a lot had got soft necks and  some with a mildew between drying layers. What have I done wrong?

At a guess I would say the greenhouse is too hot to leave them for drying out all the time.  I usually leave mine on the wooden decking, in the open to dry out for a couple of days,  and put them in the shed if forecast rain.  All the damp in onions may cause the greenhouse to fill with condensation, which will then cause the onions to rot.   This would be my best guess but may not be the right answer.

[Tee Gee]

found a lot had got soft necks and  some with a mildew between drying layers.

What do you mean by soft necks? are the necks wet or dry?

Just peel off a few layers of skin until you rid yourself of the mildew.

This is how I dry mine;





If the necks are wet then I guess the surplus moisture from the original stems has settled in the necks, and this is most likely what is causing your mildew.

I always hang mine upside down right after picking to get rid of this excess.

When I think I am rid of the excess (probably a week to ten days) I cut the tops off and allow them to sit upside down for another similar period then I string them up.

These are this years Japanese onions;



With hard neck specimens all I can say is eat them first as they don't store very well.

[Susiebelle]

Ooh I am envious why don't mine look like that. 
I think wet, when I peel back outer layer started to rot around top.
I thought the green tops needed to be left on to dry totally, and it looks like in future I need to take outer skins off before putting them to dry in greenhouse.  I did however place them upside down to dry off,  my greenhouse has plenty of ventilation but does not have any shading,  so perhaps they did get too hot. All in all very disappointing because I grew them from seed. 
Can I just clarify Tee Gee are the tops totally dried off before you cut them off, only I was told I had to pull them off? sorry to be so pedantic but I am a little confused.

[kt.]

I have never cut the tops off my onions.  I usually hang them on their stalks.  (Cant do the french tieing thingy)  This is the first year I have read about people doing.  Why cut them off instead of leaving them on ?

[KathrynH]

Best to dry them out in the open if you can (a drop of rain wont hurt them) then tie or plait what's left of the stems together and hang them up in your shed, preferably with a bit of space between them. They should keep for a while like that but use any that have thick necks first as they wont keep.

[weedgrower]

all my jap onions were fine but my normal onions i've had to throw away as they all got a disease. the guys onions next to me also got a disease. now we both have a lot of sun and plant in plastic sheeeting. the guys opposite us have more shade and plant with no plastic so i'm wondering whether we got the disease because of too much sun (which i dont think so) or because we planted in plastic sheeting, perhaps causing them to sweat. or could it be that we both put chicken pellets under the plastic and they had too much feed. dont know which onions they were but we bought them from different places. any ideas?

[Robert_Brenchley]

What did the disease look like? Any pics?

[Larkshall]

Dry your onions by spreading them out on a wire netting frame outside, when dry they can be plaited by the dead leaves or if there is not enough to plait them then get a long piece of Polytwine and tie them in that (a clove hitch or a slip knot around the neck). The old way of storing them was to hang them up in an apple tree, rain and frost does not affect them.

[glosterwomble]

When you say they are Autumn sown onions are we talking about 'Japanese Onions'?

I thought that Japanese Onions DIDN'T store well anyway, the point of growing them is to fill the empty gap between your maincrop onions? I'm probably totally wrong!!

[Barnowl]

When you say they are Autumn sown onions are we talking about 'Japanese Onions'?

I thought that Japanese Onions DIDN'T store well anyway, the point of growing them is to fill the empty gap between your maincrop onions? I'm probably totally wrong!!

That's what I understood too

[Tee Gee]

I thought that Japanese Onions DIDN'T store well anyway,

I think this is a 'relative' statement and is meant as a comparison to maincrop summer onions.

Regarding how long they keep;  I always eat the ones that I suspect will not last first, meaning; it is down to how fast you eat them as to how long they store.

I know mine usually last me 4-6 months depending upon how good a season I had.

[shirlton]

We grew Swift which keep for 3 monthsapprox and Radar which will keep till the autumn. I didn't bother with any maincrop cos they all got the allium fly. We are going to grow some next year but under enviromesh. Wether these are japanese overwintering I don't know.

[Susiebelle]

I have the same problem with onion fly and find the autumn sown ones are usually trouble free! my present spring sown crop have not faired well it they haven't bolted they have a touch of something? onion fly, white rot if it's not one thing it's another ???