Storage has varied, as we built more/better places. Currently we have a “sort of” root cellar; the NW corner of the barn foundation is closed off, and the interior walls and ceiling are insulated, the foundation is below ground in that corner. It takes longer than I would like to get cool in the fall (am working on that) but seems to hold its temps at 38-40F pretty well. The humidity levels are lower than ideal due to our dry climate and the concrete walls/floor. But it seems to work OK. Prior to that, we used a “cold room” in the house (heat turned off in it and door shut), and extra fridges in the garage. Even tried buried pits outside. Root cellar seems to work as well as any of the solutions and better than quite a few; I am hoping for storage improvement if I can get the fall temps lower more quickly.
BTW, I just started my Ailsa Craig seeds a week or so ago. The pattern which seem to work here is starting them Feb 1, transplanting when about 1 month old to the greenhouse, then transplanting again outdoors in April when they have sized up to “pencil” diameter and after most of our winter.
Nice. Mine were kept in the house at 60-65 deg. so I need to consider other options for longer storage. No cellars here as the water table is high. We do have a crawl space so I’m thinking to put a big Rubbermaid box under there with a thermometer that telemeters the temp to the kitchen to see what kind of temps we get in relation to outside temps.
My onions seeds are in as well. I’m experimenting with multisowing in modules this year. That may help them not to get so big. We can put them out in March.
Amped.
I start mine usually the 15th of this month. My lights are already taken, I only have one left so I need to figure something out this year. Not much room for onions, peppers, and tomatoes.
My onions sprouted early this year too. One that didn’t and is only supposed to last 90 days is Ambition Shallot. Mine are still very good. It’s possible they could be Camelot shallots too, as I had a few seeds of them in there, but think it’s Ambition. I will grow this one again. I love these shallots as they are mild enough to go into fresh salads. Even mild onions here come out strong for some reason? The shallots have proved more useful for a mild taste.
I do spray sulfur, and also add it to my blueberries, it’s possible as to why they are strong? i would say not because they all taste the same and some are grown wherever I have room, with the strawberries, with the blueberries, and every other year I have 2 4x4 beds for them alone. This year tomatoes and peppers go into those beds. Last year they were in those beds. I do find they seem to like an acidic environment. The biggest onions are always with the blueberries.
Still you could be right! Nothing I can really do about it. It’s fine the shallots work, and I really like growing them. Such fine firm texture, and beautiful coloring.
This year I’m growing some from Baker Creek, plus a few from last year.
I just have heard that part of the reason why Vidalia onions are so good is the lack of sulfur naturally occurring in that area. I have always wondered if spraying sulfur for my trees will affect the flavor of my onions but it has been a moot point until I get them bigger than pearls, lol.
I had always heard, that alliums (onions & garlic) don’t really need a lot of S in the soil to create their flavor molecules, they will find it. Varieties make more of a difference I was told. Pick a sweet variety, grow it in good conditions in good soil etc. and you will have a mild tasty onion. Take a regular storage onion and let it grow with insect/pest pressure, in poor soil and without sufficient water and you will get pungent onions (and small too).
I have not put this theory to a complete test, but I have noticed that my Ailsa Craig onions are very sweet and mild in good years and more pungent and smaller in bad. Have not had the interest to test the other extreme.
Mine come out fairly pungent, but they are not small by any means.
I need to find a good sweet. I like them strong for certain dishes. It would be nice to have a good mild one too, I put photos of the ones I grew last year here.
Bumping this thread, since I’m harvesting onions this week. The ones I’m harvesting are Cabernet F1 (reds) which have now all flopped over. My Alisa Craigs are a week or more off, but bulbing up fast.
Anyway, I’m trying to figure out the best place to cure these things. Would hanging them from the rafters of my detached garage work well? They would be mostly in the dark, but it does get hot in there during the day. I wasn’t sure how temperature works for curing. Also, bulbs up and greens down or is it okay to just braid and hang with the bulbs down? I could put them in my basement, but I’m sure I’d get grief for them stinking up the place.
@JustAnne4 You mentioned trying the Alisa Craigs there and I’m not too much further north and they are doing well. The Cabernet were also long day, but I guess they need slightly less daytime since they started bulbing several weeks back.
I usually cure the onions in my “barn”, an unheated building detached from the house. I do open a window or two to vent it while curing/drying things but that is about it. On the other hand, it is usually more like October when I am doing my onions so getting hot in the barn isn’t an issue for me. I typically just lay them on the floor on a tarp or newspaper and rotate every few days or so, but I would expect hanging would be even better; greens up I’d assume from my garlic experience. But hopefully someone more in your climate will chime in here.
I pulled the garlic a couple weeks ago. I treat them just like I do onions.
I wash them well and put them on some frames of 1/2" hardware cloth that I suspend above the hood of my car in the garage. Looks like this.
My onions are not ready yet (Did not try the Alisa Craigs). When they are ready I move the garlic and put the onions there. Later in the summer, the sweet potatoes go up there and are brought inside before the first frost. Then I disassemble it until next garlic harvest.
Thanks Anne,
How hot do you think it gets in your garage? I’m thinking with sun hitting the roof of mine it probably hits 100 some days, but I’ve never monitored it. I don’t think that’s a problem, but wasn’t sure.
Good question. I have the problem of finding a cool spot in my house because I don’t use central air. My garage is definitely over 100 degree some days.
It’s one of those, “Gee, always done it that er way”. I grow Australian Brown and not had a problem. Pretty sure temps equal outside shade temps like up to 100, maybe. The garage has a ridge vent so I’m pretty sure the temps don’t build up. I’m guessing these onions are tougher than we know as far as temp tolerance. Perhaps the F1s have some temp tolerance bred out in favor of other characteristics (?)
Wow, until I saw this post, I always though you dig up the onion and it looks like the onions in the grocery store! Didn’t realize it needed drying!!! Good to know! Do you need to leave the green tops on the onions while drying? Why not cut it off?
If you cut it off too early, rot organisms can enter the bulb. If you cut the top and a drop of liquid oozes out, use that onion first instead of storing
I just leave them in the ground until the top dries up. If the soil is fairly dry, I don’t cure them at all, just put them in some flat pans only 2 or 3 layers deep in our cool basement. I suppose it depends on the variety. I go for good winter keepers.
When I was reading about onions it said to leave them dry a day right on top of the soil. Unlike garlic which you don’t want the sun hitting. After a day I put my onions on my shaded porch for a week or two. I braid them after that, so in braiding most of the stalk remains. In the garage after that. My garage stays fairly cool. It is insulated. I don’t grow a lot and use them up fairly quickly. Garlic heck I still have some from last year. Not many about 6 small softneck bulbs. I grow both hard and soft. Hard because well they’re great! And soft for storage for almost a year. Mine are looking good, not ready just yet.
