2016 Onions

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Published: Friday, 02 September 2016 13:38

Written by David DeCiero

The onion harvest was a success this year.  I started two varieties from seed, a yellow storage onion named Patterson and a red storage onion named Red Wing.  I planted 144 of each in small cell trays and germinated them on a heat mat for the first couple days.  Once they sprouted, I put them under lights for a few weeks while the weather warmed up outside.  Once April rolled around, I started hardening them off by bringing them out in the day and back in at night.  Only one cold spell caused them to stay inside.  By mid April, they were ready to be planted.  I planted these in my community garden plot due to other issues I have with growing stuff there. After a few weeks, the cutworms were up to their old tricks, so I had to dig around the plants and squash the little creatures.  I did this for 2 weeks, making sure to eliminate as many as possible.  I even sprayed all of the plants with Bt to see if that would help control them. They still ended up destroying about 40 plants.  Once the weather warmed up, the cutworms stopped causing lot of problems and it was just a waiting game as the onions grew.  The Pattersons (white) were ready a little sooner than the redwings (about 2 weeks sooner), so once the tops had flopped and they had dried a little, I waited until we had a 3 day dry spell before pulling them up.  I always dry them at home in the sun to cure them, so I took them home and let them sit in the sun for a few days until the tops were crispy.  I then cut off the tops and the root hairs and stored them in my basement.  Once the redwings were ready, I did the same.