japanese onions

[angiebacardi]

when do I know when to harvest my onions ?

[mikk100]

I'd be interested in this too. I think you harvest onions when the tops go yellow and bend over, but I did think mine would be ready soon having planted them in the autumn. They are very small and look like little spring onion tops so I can't see them being proper onions for months yet.

[pukka.tukka]

Hi

Onions planted in autumn are usually ready around June. The onion will go yellow and die back which is when you harvest.

[Ty Nant]

Hello Angi,
I always put a handfull of well rotted compost around my japanese onions at the end of this month gives them a boost to put on a good size for lifting in june.

[Alice]

You're right, Mick100. You're onions won't be ready for months yet. Maybe in July, Maybe in August, more likely in September. But you can eat them as small as you like.

[Paulottie]

I grow autumn Jap. Onions from sets every year. They are ready in June. The big thing, as with all aliums, is to dry them well. I bend the leaves down away from ripening bulbs then a week later ease them up and leave them on soil to dry a week more. after that it is good to cover them/bring them in if rain threatens. Then rope em up and they will last almost as well as maincrops. A drying rack is the rolls royce option.

[JennieAtkinson]

Thanks for that Paul. I asked a question about storing in another thread.

[Paulottie]

I was reading Bob Flowerdew's "Org. Bible" yesterday and he reckoned that bending them over was a no no...lets in disease? always worked for me but i'd hate to mislead anyone. my aim is to free up the space for other crops asap and dry em as well as i can. Sorry to cover old topics.

[JennieAtkinson]

I always remember a chap on Gardners World once when they were doing a feature on allotments, just marching up and down his onions, treading on them to bend over the tops! Monty Don just looked on in disbelief! But this chap said he had always done it and if he left it to the onions, they would never bother!

[pigletwillie]

When mine start to die down naturally they are lifted and laid down to start to dry before being put in a wire mash rack to finish off before being stored in trays.

[Flummery]

Very different from just stomping on them PW! Looks like a good haul there too.