How to prune onions after harvesting from the garden

Before sending the grown onion crop for storage, most of us cut the green part of it. This procedure does not present any difficulties and, at first glance, has no peculiarities. However, this is not entirely true, and experts, nevertheless, advise you to follow a number of recommendations that will allow you to preserve the onion longer and will not let our work go to waste. Consider how you need to trim the onion.

Why trim the onion

Many gardeners and gardeners store onions in boxes. In addition to the fact that dry tops have no benefit, they simply get in the way when stacking the bulbs in boxes. The foliage can become a breeding ground for diseases, and sometimes it also attracts insect pests, which are not easy to get rid of later. As a result, onions quickly deteriorate, and we lose our supply of vitamins before the long winter.

An exception, of course, are cases of storing onions in braids, in a suspended state, but more on that later.
By the way, if you notice that midges appeared in the apartment in the fall or winter, then the first thing to do is sort out the onion. Discard rotten bulbs. If possible, transfer the onions to small boxes with dry sawdust. Also, between the bulbs, you can put dried basil or needles, the smell of which scares away midges. If there are too many gnats, then sticky tapes will help to cope with them. In the future, try not to store onions in plastic in warm places and high humidity.

How to trim the onion properly

As a rule, onions are dug up in early August, when the onion feather has died, turned yellow, withered and began to dry out. Experts do not recommend waiting for the complete lodging of the tops, especially in regions with unstable weather conditions. The dug out onions are laid out to dry. Many gardeners hang dry onions. To do this, the bulbs are tied in several pieces in bunches and hung on a closed veranda. It is believed that the onion dried in this way is more juicy, since all the juice from the tops and stalks goes into the onion. Dried onions in sunny weather for 1-3 days. The drying period depends on how damp the onions were during digging. If the onion was harvested after rain, then it should be dried for at least 3 days to allow the husk to dry properly and there would be no moisture left in the layers of the onion.

It is not advised to delay too long with cutting the tops, as pests can settle in it.
To trim the onion, it is better to use sharp scissors or pruning shears so that the cut is even, without damaging the husk. After cutting the tops, a leg should remain, about 4-6 cm.If the bulb is large with a thick neck, then the length of the leg should be about 10 cm. Such bulbs are recommended to be used first, since, as practice shows, large-bulb varieties are less keeping quality.
In addition to the tops of the bulb, the roots are also cut off. This must also be done carefully, cutting them to the very bottom, while trying not to touch the onion with a knife or pruner, since any mechanical damage, subsequently, will necessarily lead to its damage.

Many gardeners practice the cultivation of onion sets. Pruning such onions is simpler, but slightly more laborious due to the small size of the onions. The tops of the onion sets are cut off immediately after they are dug up, leaving a leg about 10 cm long. In this case, the roots are not cut off, but simply cleaned from the ground.

Onion storage

During pruning, the onions are sorted immediately, setting aside the bulbs that will be used first and those that are planned to be stored for winter storage.Often, after trimming the tops, juice appears on the cut, since part of the stem with the so-called juicy scales dries for a long time. In this case, the bulbs are placed in the boxes with the stem up, so that the tails do not touch each other and leave the boxes under the canopy for a few days for final drying.

If the onion crop is stored for more than 3 months, it is recommended to process the cut with a lime mixture. Such processing, according to the reviews of practicing gardeners, prevents the sprouting of onions and reduces the likelihood of rot. For the same purposes, you can simply dust the onion a little with chalk.

The optimum temperature for long-term storage of onions is 0 ... + 4 degrees. At higher temperatures, onions will begin to sprout, losing their beneficial properties and taste. If you find several sprouted bulbs, then you can put them in water and after a while it will have green feathers, which will be more useful. And the taste of fresh green onions, so bored over the summer, feels completely different in winter.

Proper storage of onion sets is much more difficult. Given the small size of the bulbs, elevated temperatures will cause it to dry out, and too low, will subsequently lead to arrowing of the onion. The best option is the so-called cold-warm storage method. In accordance with this method, at the initial stage, the temperature in the storage should be + 14 ... + 20 degrees. Further, it is gradually increased to + 29 .... + 35 degrees, not forgetting to provide ventilation of the room. At this temperature, onions are stored for about a week, then, again, gradually, they begin to lower it to + 17 ... + 20 degrees. When the weather is cold outside the window, the temperature is lowered to -1 ... -3 degrees. It is at this temperature that the onion sets should be stored most of the time. About a month before disembarkation, the temperature starts to rise again, bringing it up to +25 ... + 30 degrees, and after a couple of days it is reduced to + 17 ... + 20 degrees. This temperature must be maintained until the onions are planted in the ground.

It should be noted that onions are not always pruned. Onions, for example, keep well hanging and braided. In this case, it is necessary to thoroughly dry the tops, keeping the dug out onions in the sunniest place for at least 10-12 hours at a temperature above +30 degrees. Next, you should remove all dry and damaged feathers and you can start weaving.

It is important to decide on the place and method of storing the onions in advance and after that start trimming the tops. So you will not make annoying mistakes that can cost a part of the harvest of this healthy vegetable.