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Post by september on Aug 3, 2015 16:23:27 GMT -5
So when do most of you dig/pull up your onions? When the tops first flop over, or when they start to turn dried and brown?
I am lazy and sometimes leave them in the ground until fall when I pull to cure. I know that is kind of late, but if any start to sprout, I take them first.
If I pulled them sooner, as soon as the tops flop over, I could grow a salad type crop in that space. I don't suppose they grow much after the tops flop over, but it seems like it takes a while longer for the stem area to shrink and close. I am concerned that pulling them too soon might interfere with their storage capabilities, and maybe they still grow a little bit, pulling in some energy from the top as it dries. Does anyone have luck pulling them right after the tops flop?
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Post by spacecase0 on Aug 3, 2015 17:34:37 GMT -5
I am pretty sure they don't pull energy from the top after they fall, when the tops fall is when I quite watering them, and 2 weeks from that point they are totally dry and I pull them out of the ground when I have kept watering them, I did not see any further growing
if you can get an extra crop in after them, I say pull them when the tops fall and see how it goes, or at least do that with a small area as a test
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Post by daylilydude on Aug 3, 2015 20:31:22 GMT -5
september , I do the same as spacecase0 and just quit watering them, and they are generally dry in about 2 weeks, but I would think it would help if you could tell us which variety of onion you are growing...
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Post by september on Aug 3, 2015 22:16:45 GMT -5
One of them is Ailsa Craig, which is just now about 3/4ths flopped over. The other was a new variety to me this year, and the label has washed out and my brain has forgotten the name, so I would have to go find my seeding records for it, but it's a white long day variety and mostly down already.
I've been watering the bed since my leeks are at one end, but I suppose I should avoid the onion end of it. Sounds like I should do like you guys and pull them in a couple of weeks. I can always start my lettuce in flats and it would be ready to go in when the onions come out.
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Post by paquebot on Aug 10, 2015 22:27:29 GMT -5
The tops flop because the cells in that area cease to function and die. That is so they shrink and seal off the energy that is stored in the bulb. The tops may look like they are just as alive as before and they are. However, they are no longer part of a growing plant. The bulbs may be pulled them and cured. Commercial growers will wait until half or so of the tops have flopped and them will go through the fields to manually push the rest of them over. A few days later, all are harvested. Same can apply to a home garden and it's what I do. I want to fuss with trimming the tops all at once rather than over a week or so.
Martin
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Post by september on Aug 10, 2015 22:56:13 GMT -5
That's good to know, Martin!
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