Preparation for storage includes several stages. First, harvesting onions before storing them for the winter. Harvesting the seedlings In the end of August.
In order to be sure of his full readiness, pay attention to the tops, they should turn yellow. This is a sure sign that the onion is ripe and time to harvest.
After harvesting the onion sort and sort. Whole, rot-free, healthy specimens are selected for storage for the winter. The slightest rotting of one head will result in damage to the entire batch of onions.
Secondly, the sevok must be thoroughly dried. Drying onions in the open sun gives ideal results. In addition, the sets are dried under a canopy and in a room with excellent ventilation. To dry the set, you need light and air, then its husk will become rustling and dry.
An experienced gardener will share his tips for storing seedlings with you in this video:
Ways and places
Boxes, containers, bags and trays for storing seedlings must have lattice structure, cracks, holes.
Bags are stored exclusively in open form. Onion nets are used for hanging storage.
Storage in bulk involves the location of the sets layer 15-20 cm thick on shelves in the cellar or attic. The main condition for successful storage of onions is a constant supply of air.
Warm
Temperature and storage time
At cold method, the optimal storage temperature is minus 3 °C. At warmth– from + 17 to + 24 °C with a relative air humidity of 65-72%.
To prevent onions from spoiling during cold storage after removing them from a cool place, you need to have time to plant them no later than 10 days. Otherwise, changing temperatures will do its job, and the onion will deteriorate.
Emergency care for the initial stage of decay
To prevent diseases and rotting For onions, simply follow all the recommendations: correct preparation, temperature, humidity, fresh air circulation, suitable containers and storage location.
What to do if the onion still begins to rot? Is the harvest really lost and all efforts gone down the drain? Of course, there is a way out of this situation.
Partially rotten or diseased onions you can try to save. To do this, remove the layer of husk at the site of infection. You can try the onion "undress" completely. During the laying process, it will again be covered with healthy husks and will become suitable for further planting.
Thus, storing seedlings is a whole science. Only compliance with all rules and conditions guarantees successful preservation crop and protecting it from damage.
Onion is a unique plant, such unpretentious in growth and care, and so tender during storage.
He, like all living things, needs protection and care. However, with proper processing, storage and planting, onions will give a new harvest, which will delight you with its abundance.
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In the home garden, onions can be grown as an annual or biennial crop. In the second case, nigella seeds are used for this and a ready-made harvest is immediately obtained, and in the first case, a set is used, that is, a small onion that grew from seeds in the first year.
But in order to plant it in the beds next spring, you need to save it until that moment.
The storage process itself can raise questions among novice gardeners: how to store onion sets in the winter, in what, where, under what conditions, and also how to prepare it for storage.
You will find answers to these and other questions in our article.
Preparatory stage
In order for the seed to overwinter successfully, it must first be collected correctly. The optimal time for this is mid or late August, in dry and warm weather.
A month before the expected harvest, the beds stop watering, but continue to loosen the soil to give air to the roots. Onions intended for storage must be completely ripe. A sure sign of maturity is massive yellowing and lodging of the tops. In addition, the entire set should acquire protective covering scales of golden brown, white or violet-red color (depending on the variety).
It is very important not to miss the right moment. If the onion remains in the garden for longer, in rainy weather it will begin to grow new roots, and then green leaves. But this will take away the entire supply of nutrients from the small onions and all that remains is to throw them away.
Injured planting material is not suitable for storage. The collected bulbs must be sorted out, only completely whole, dense, strong, with a thin neck, a shiny smooth surface, healthy specimens without the slightest damage or spots of rot are left, and all waste is rejected and disposed of.
Selected bulbs are cleared of soil, dry tops are torn off and dried outside for 1 week if the days are warm and sunny with an air temperature of +25°C. To do this, they are laid out in a thin layer on an old blanket or piece of plastic film and turned over every day. In rainy and damp weather, dry the onions under a canopy or in a dry, well-ventilated area.
In this case, it is left to dry for at least 2 weeks. If the onion rolls easily under your hands and rustles, this means that it is ready for storage. If you manage to turn over a layer of bulbs with little difficulty, then it is too early to remove it for long-term winter storage.
Dried sets can be stored in:
- linen, canvas or paper bags;
- nylon stockings or tights;
- plastic mesh;
- small baskets;
- cardboard boxes;
- shallow plywood boxes;
- trays.
The main condition that any container must meet is that it should not be too bulky, but breathable, so that air can easily flow into the mass of bulbs throughout the entire storage period. For the same reason, do not use plastic bags, bags, plastic, tin, metal and glass containers.
Methods for storing onion sets
The first method is “warm”, when the onions are kept indoors at room temperature. So how to properly store onion sets at home so that they are guaranteed to last until spring? In an apartment or residential rural house, the place for it must be dry and warm: a kitchen cabinet, a mezzanine in the living room, or placed under the bed. It is not recommended to place containers near batteries, since the optimal storage temperature should not be higher than 25°C, and humidity should not be less than 50%, but not more than 70%.
The air in the room, which is too dry due to central heating, is periodically moistened with a spray bottle or special humidifiers. If the room where the onions are stored, for example the pantry, becomes damp, then place a vessel filled with quicklime, small shavings or wood ash near the container with the sets. Nylon tights and stockings filled with bulbs are hung on nails or hooks on the walls or under the ceiling.
Periodically, the planting material is reviewed and dried or sprouted bulbs are removed.
The advantage of the “warm” method is that when stored at temperatures above 25°C, the sets do not bolt, but unfortunately, it also has a drawback - at this temperature it also dries out quite quickly, especially the small fraction.
For those who have a dry cellar or basement on their garden or summer cottage, the “cold” method is suitable. How to store onion sets in this case until planting? Sacks, small baskets, cardboard boxes or boxes with onions are lowered into the cellar and placed on shelves so that they do not touch each other.
The temperature there is maintained constant - from +1 to +3°C, regularly ventilating the cellar. Two or three times a season, the seedlings are sorted out and rotten and rotten fruits are removed. In the spring it is taken out and planted in a permanent place no later than a week later.
A very small amount of sevka is stored in the refrigerator or freezer at a temperature of -1 to -3°C. But in the fall, before planting and in the spring, before planting in the ground, it is kept for 1-2 weeks at t + 25-30°C.
Another variation of the “cold” method is to fill a plastic bucket with onions, dry shavings or sawdust are poured at the bottom and cover them on top. After which they cover it with a lid, dig a hole in the ground so deep that a bucket can freely fit in it, put it there and cover it with a layer of earth of at least 15 cm. In snowless, frosty winters, this place is covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, straw or spruce branches. In the spring, after the snow melts, the bucket is dug out. The onions remain fresh and juicy in it. After a couple of weeks they are planted in garden beds.
For storing planting onions, sets and a combined method are used, that is, a combination of “warm” and “cold”. In autumn and early spring, when the temperature of the outside air is steadily above 0°C, the crop is kept indoors, and in the winter cold it is transferred to a cool cellar.
Thus, there is nothing complicated about storing onion sets at home. It is enough to follow simple recommendations so that in the spring the seed is ready for planting.
Small bulbs that appear in the first year after planting the seeds are called onion sets. It is from the sets that in the future you can get a large and good harvest of onions. And the harvest itself depends on how the onion sets are collected and how they are preserved. We will tell you in this article how to store onion sets in a house or apartment before planting.
How to store onion sets? Selecting a location
To ensure that the onion set does not begin to germinate before the required time, it must be stored in a dry, relatively cool and dark place. The room temperature must not be very low, otherwise the planting material may simply die and lose its germination capacity. For people who live in a house, it is best to store the crop in the basement, provided that it has low humidity and the temperature does not drop below zero degrees.
The storage time of onions at home will depend on many factors, we will tell you about them in more detail:
- The main factor for long-term storage at home is the correctly selected varieties. There are many varieties of onion sets, some of which simply cannot be preserved for a long time.
- The timing of harvest also plays an important role. If the raw materials for planting are not collected in a timely manner, they will germinate again and simply will not last until planting in the spring.
- If onion varieties are analyzed in terms of the duration of their preservation, then it must be said that white and red varieties grow much faster, yellow varieties germinate for quite a long time.
To store the seeds, you need low humidity and above-zero temperatures.
How to prepare onions for winter storage
- First of all, you need high-quality raw materials for planting. To do this, carefully and gently sort the onions, choosing only healthy, regular and firm onions that have the required density, natural color, and non-deformed surface. The smell of planting material should not be rotten.
- It is best to select a bulb variety on a warm and sunny day, if this procedure is done outside. It is necessary to select the seedlings especially carefully, since if even one rotten onion gets into the box with planting raw materials, it can ruin all the material for planting.
- Before storing onions, you need to thoroughly clean all the soil from them.
- The roots of the bulbs must be well dried; there should be no new shoots on the roots. This way it will overwinter very well in the soil and in the spring it will give the best early shoots.
- An indispensable condition for long-term storage is drying the sets. In order to dry planting raw materials, it must be placed in a ventilated room with low humidity. The temperature in this place should be approximately 24-32 degrees. In this mode, the planting material must dry for no more than a week. Then the onion is allowed to warm up at a temperature of 40 degrees for 24 hours.
- Another option for drying onions involves placing the bulbs in a regular stocking. It is also placed in a dry room.
- You can dry the onions the old way. Why make a braid from the sevka and place it in a warm room. Large bulbs are used for personal needs, cutting off the dry heads from the braid.
Onions can also be stored in various containers - in bags, baskets, boxes or containers. It is important that air flows well through the containers. It is best to place planting materials in a container in a layer of no more than 30 cm.
In addition, throughout the winter, the bulbs need to be carefully checked from time to time; if any are damaged, then they must be immediately removed from the main mass. The sets, whose husks have become moist, are dried again.
Storing onions in braids is a time-tested method
Storage options for sets
There are several storage options, and you should choose the option that is most convenient for you. Let's tell you more about them.
Cold storage method
It involves storing the seeds at a temperature of -2/-4 degrees. In a house, these conditions are easiest to organize using an uninsulated basement; in an apartment it is better to store the seedlings in the refrigerator. The main factor, again, is low humidity.
Before using the cold storage option, the sets must be heated for 14 days at a temperature of 32-36 degrees. Before the arrival of spring and when there are approximately 2 weeks left before planting, the onions must be heated again at the same temperature. Only in this way will the raw materials be prepared for planting in the ground.
By the way, you can leave material for sowing outside the premises. Why use a plastic container, fill it with a layer of sawdust, and put dried seedlings on top. The onion is covered again with sawdust, then covered with a lid and placed in a pre-prepared hole. The size of the hole must be approximately 25 cm higher than the height of the container, and the hole must be made on a less dry piece of land. The container that is installed in the hole must be dug in and covered with a small hill of earth. With the arrival of spring, this seeding can be used for planting.
The cold method is convenient to use if you have a dry basement.
Warm storage
This storage option involves keeping the seeds at room temperature throughout the winter. The room in which onions are stored must have sufficient ventilation, and the temperature here is approximately 17-26 degrees. It is important that the air humidity in the room is low, otherwise the onions will simply sprout. The temperature must be maintained in a clearly defined mode, since if the room is cooler, the set will shoot arrows, and if the air warms up above the maximum limit, the onion will simply dry out and will be unsuitable for planting.
Combined storage method
There is another option for preserving seedlings - combined. This option combines both methods described above. To begin with, the onions are placed in warm storage until frost. Then the temperature at which the seeds were stored is slowly reduced until it is about zero degrees. In this mode, planting raw materials are stored throughout the winter period, and with the arrival of spring, the temperature is gradually increased again until it reaches 26-31 degrees. After five days, this indicator is reduced to 22 degrees and stored in this mode until the onions need to be planted in the ground.
To summarize, it must be said that it is best to store onions in the house, since you will always have them available, and this is very convenient, since they are added to various dishes.
But due to improper storage, onions can begin to rot. With the help of our tips, you will keep onions in the house without any problems.
Having received a good harvest with God's help, the farmer is faced with the task of preserving the grown crop until next year, minimizing inevitable losses during storage, such as rotting and disease, and we will consider all these issues in this article
Summer for every gardener is harvest time. Every owner is faced with the question of preserving the collected vegetables until the new harvest.
We will tell you exactly how to store onion sets and onions in this article. We hope that after reading our article you will not have any questions about how to store onions in your apartment.
In order to store seedlings for a long time in the basement, cold cellar or apartment, you need to provide the correct conditions for temperature and humidity, which will minimize the loss of vegetables from rotting and spoilage.
It is believed that the best time to plant this vegetable is October. It is at this time that you need to store your entire harvest.
RULES FOR ONION STORAGE
When storing crops in the basement, the temperature should be in the range from 0 to 3 degrees Celsius. At the same time, humidity indicators are in the range of 75-90 percent.
If leek bulbs are stored in an apartment, the temperature should not exceed 22 degrees Celsius. Otherwise, they will begin to germinate quickly, and the entire crop will be destroyed. The humidity level when storing vegetables in an apartment should not exceed 70 percent.
It should be said that certain varieties are intended for canning and consumption as fresh food.
A species such as leeks is poorly stored in winter and rots quite quickly.
The storage ability of this vegetable is influenced not only by the cellar conditions, but also by the time of harvesting. Only by collecting leeks on time can you guarantee the longest possible preservation of the harvest.
Maintaining a constant temperature and humidity presents certain difficulties when storing onions.
As the humidity level increases, plant diseases develop and bulbs sprout. High temperatures also negatively affect the shelf life of the crop.
When stored in a cellar or garage pit, there may be a risk of vegetables freezing. Such overfrozen onions lose their taste properties. That is why the cellar where the crop will be stored must be carefully insulated, which will ensure optimal conditions.
When preparing onions for winter storage, it is important to distribute them by variety.
Spicy varieties can be stored even in an apartment, but sweet varieties are susceptible to disease and quickly rot with any deviation in temperature and humidity.
Onions are sorted, weeding out damaged bulbs. It is necessary to store the harvest with mature heads and intact scales of the bulbs.
Sprinkle the collected onions with chalk to prevent them from sprouting. You will need about 200 grams of chalk per 10 kilograms of harvested crop. Also remember to dry the vegetable thoroughly before storing it.
It is best to store thoroughly dried and chalked onions in breathable containers - mesh bags, nylon stockings and wooden boxes.
Such boxes must have ventilation holes.
With a large layer, mechanical damage to the bulbs may occur, which quickly leads to damage to the harvested crop.
Do not forget about the need to periodically sort through the bulbs, removing damaged and sprouted onions. It is also recommended to throw away soft vegetables, which will extend the shelf life of the remaining crop. During the winter you must sort through your crop at least three times.
During the storage process, onions under unfavorable conditions can gain moisture; in this case, it is necessary to dry the crop again and transfer it to dry containers.
HOW TO STORE SEVOK?
Gardeners and summer residents who independently prepare planting material when growing onions invariably wonder how to store onion sets. Such bulbs are not intended for long-term storage and quickly release arrows.
If you want to preserve the sets for as long as possible, you need to ensure the optimal temperature. It is important to ensure that the temperature of the room where the seeds are stored does not fall below minus 1 degree. The optimal humidity level is 95 percent.
If you do not have the opportunity to store the seeds in the cold, then a room with a temperature no higher than 25 degrees is suitable. In this case, the humidity indicator should be in the range of 50-70 percent.
In the fall, you can store the seedlings at a temperature no higher than 20 degrees, and with the first cold weather, transfer the seed material to the cold - for example, use a basement or cellar. It is also possible to store the sevka in the refrigerator.
In the spring, several weeks before planting, it is necessary to gradually increase the temperature, so the sowing is placed near a radiator or stove.
Before planting, the temperature is raised to plus 30-40 degrees and maintained until three days have passed. This will awaken all the vital forces of such seed material and ensure maximum yield.
HOW TO SAVE ONIONS FOR A LONG TIME IN A WARM APARTMENT?
If for some reason it is not possible to store leeks in a cold cellar, you can keep the harvested crop at room temperature. The temperature should have been stable and less than 24 degrees.
You can prevent bulbs from sprouting when stored in a warm place by liming the bulbs. This liming can be done as follows. We cut off all regrown roots and treat the resulting cut area with prepared lime paste.
Just remember that it will be impossible to sprout such limed bulbs onto greens.
HOW TO STORE LEEK?
Onions can be stored in the following ways:
- Dried.
- Fresh in the sand.
- Frozen.
Boxes must be used with a height of 35-50 centimeters. A five-centimeter layer of wet sand must be poured onto the bottom. Leeks are laid on top in rows, with a layer of sand sprinkled between the rows. On top you need to pour a layer of sand 5 - 8 centimeters thick. By providing such conditions, you can preserve vegetables.
Fresh onions can be stored. You need to select healthy, undamaged bulbs. We cut off all the leaves and roots, and then clean the top layer. You can store leeks in the refrigerator without packaging or in a plastic bag for 5 months.