[NewSteve]

Our onions are clearly ready to harvest and probably have been for a week or so - foliage lying flat all over the ground. However, we're going on holiday for a week on Saturday and I'm worried that if we harvest them now, we won't have time to dry them between now and then.

Will the onions by okay in the ground for another couple of weeks? I'm worried that they might start to rot or decide to flower.

Thanks 

[simonwatson]

They're unlikely to flower, but the foliage lying flat leave it prone to rot once is starts dying back. If the leaves are down, but still green, I'd think you'll be OK. If they're yellowed to the neck already, you really want to get them off the ground. Do you have a shed, utility room or conservatory where you can lay them out until you get back from holiday?

They take weeks to dry so you'd never have chance to dry them fully, but you'd certainly be able to get them so they're not wet to the touch.

[NewSteve]

There is a shed but it'll need some cleaning! Alternatively there's the kitchen table.

I guess I'll take a look at the foliage and make a judgment call.

[goodtogrow]

I agree that it'll take weeks for them to dry but I've always found that they dry more fully if left outside rather than inside.

It may be because I'm on the sunny South Coast.  I'd still get them out of the ground - I leave mine on a piece of chainlink fencing laid flat just off the ground - so that the Summer breeze can get round them.  Never worried about rain wetting them.

After a couple of weeks when everything has withered I cut the leaves off at the neck and leave them a couple more weeks outside.

Anyway, don't let them spoil your holiday, whatever you decide.

Tom

[angelavdavis]

Steve,

Honestly, I would dig them up now and store them somewhere dark but dry.  I left my onion and shallot crops two years ago when we went to France for a week.  I came back and they were all ruined with white rot (no obvious sign when we left - but it had rained almost constantly while we were away).  I lost about 80% of the crop and the rest had to be used immediately.  I was absolutely gutted.

[seaside]

Steve, the above advice is good. Lift and take under cover. There is nothing to gain by leaving them for another week, and everything to lose if the luck isn't with you weather wise.
Onion can dry as well indoor as it can out of door.

[barley]

mine are still upright and green - but boy they are whoopers this year

should they have keeled over by now ready for harvesting ?

[angelavdavis]

mine are still upright and green - but boy they are whoopers this year

should they have keeled over by now ready for harvesting ?

Give them time, they will bend at the bottom of the stem when they are ready for harvesting.  Some of mine are a good size but aren't showing the signs of harvesting - others, I have already pulled.  Give them time if you want to store them.

[Jackypam]

I left mine because I thought they would keep ok in the soil, but some of them sort of split open into 2 onions whilst I wasn't watching and went greenish.  I suspect they won't keep now, but they were ok in the big batch of courgette prov. that I made today  .  I will stop trying to be clever in future, and will be lifting the red onions that are still in the ground a week after they keel over, as I have read on a couple of threads on here!

[Sparkyrog]

From this time on it doesn't hurt to semi lift by putting a fork under them and breaking half the roots this helps ripening 

[Ghost]

I going away for a few days. Is it ok to dry them out in a greenhouse while I'm away or will the excessive heat damage them?

[Goosegirl]

I agree that it'll take weeks for them to dry but I've always found that they dry more fully if left outside rather than inside.

It may be because I'm on the sunny South Coast.  I'd still get them out of the ground - I leave mine on a piece of chainlink fencing laid flat just off the ground - so that the Summer breeze can get round them.  Never worried about rain wetting them.

After a couple of weeks when everything has withered I cut the leaves off at the neck and leave them a couple more weeks outside.
Interesting, as I have seen an ols shepherd just leave his on the fence despite the weather. Presumably, the important thing is to get the interior of the onion neck and leaves well dried out and any rain will just run off the smooth bulb and leaves as it does naturally when watering?

Anyway, don't let them spoil your holiday, whatever you decide.

Tom

[goodtogrow]

I tried to post a reply but it got lost in cyberspace.  So if it appears twice it's not my fault!:

Ghost, there's no way that the excess heat of a greenhouse will damage your onions.  IMO! IMO!

The heat will substitute for the drying qualities of air passing over them. IMO!

angelavdavis,I do not attribute the rot in your onions to the rain falling on them.  I suggest that they had rot(s) before you lifted them and that nothing on God's Earth is going to change that!

Anyway, it's good to have a punchy thread.  We're not all the same.  And we won't always agree.  Long may that continue. 

Tom

[Sue33]

If you're not going to be at home I would suggest placing them on newspaper on your kitchen worktops/table

[Yorkie]

I tried to post a reply but it got lost in cyberspace.  So if it appears twice it's not my fault!:

Ghost, there's no way that the excess heat of a greenhouse will damage your onions.  IMO! IMO!The heat will substitute for the drying qualities of air passing over them. IMO!

angelavdavis,I do not attribute the rot in your onions to the rain falling on them.  I suggest that they had rot(s) before you lifted them and that nothing on God's Earth is going to change that!

Anyway, it's good to have a punchy thread.  We're not all the same.  And we won't always agree.  Long may that continue. 

Tom

I am almost certain that John, the site owner, has reported baking his onions in his over-hot greenhouse.