[Goosegirl]

I think I have been unwittingly guilty of this in the past. When the leaves flopped over with a bit of brown on their tips, I waited a week, then dug up and air-dried on mesh shelving until I could rub the skins off, then they were stored in my shed on similar racks. Necks could have been thinner, some succumbed to rot over autumn/winter. Well - we have strong winds here and, coupled with heavy rain, may have fooled me into thinking they were ready. This year's onion leaves have flopped but are still green. Having looked the subject up in my books and goggled it, there is quite a bit of confusing info, but I'm going to go for leaving them another month until their leaves (or some of them) dry out enough to rustle. What do others think?

[gypsy]

Mine were dug up this morning and are now drying out in the green house

[Goosegirl]

Mine were dug up this morning and are now drying out in the green house

What were their leaves like, Gypsy? Still all green, green/brown or mostly brown?

[Mattgregory27]

Mine were dug up 2 days ago and the leaves were green and brown. Not sure if this was right or not though, it is my first year with an allotment so it was guesswork!!!

[gypsy]

The leaves were green at the base and brown from about 1/2 way up. Some of them had bent over so would obviously not be drawing any more nourishment from the ground.

[JayG]

My Ailsa Craig (from seed) are like yours GG - leaves mostly flopped over but still entirely green, and the bulbs still swelling (but not by equal amounts!  )

I think they were probably knocked over by the wind, or possibly a cat, but having grown other varieties from seed and harvested in October I'll be leaving mine for some considerable time yet.

My soil is very light, and I probably should have fed them more, but there's only a dozen of them and they tend to get overlooked.