Jump to content

how can I dry onions for storage in this weather!?


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 41
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

If your soil is sandy & well drained it sounds like you have a soil born fungal problem. If the bulbs are rotting at the neck then try growing red ones as they are ment to stand up to it better. If the bulbs are rotting from the base its called onion white rot. There is unfortunately not much you can do about it. Supposedly Shallots are less prone but I havent found that & find them to fiddily to peal. Lots of people recomend bending the tops over to start them drying out before you lift them, cant say I bother. You could also try around mid August going along the row & raising the onions slightly with a fork so the bulb is out of the soil but the roots are still in to kick start the bulbs into shutting down & drying out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry Amy I agree with previous post, sounds like onion rot - are you growing in the same area?

 

Apparently white rot persists in the soil for 20 years so normal crop rotation wont help the problem, you would have to grow them somewhere totaly new to avoid the problem altogether. Like most of these sorts of problems though they are worse some years than others, temperature & weather affects how the fungas grows each year. I have it as well. Mostly I just try and get them up early before the rot gets hold even if that means the neck is still green & the onions small but I dont grow many & I am not trying to store them. It doesnt seem to affect chives which if you put a cloch over them when the weather starts to turn bad will keep growing most of the year & give you some fresh onion flavour for your cooking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have all the veg in the garden divided into four beds and crops are rotated every year.

Some onions rot down and others up :( Will try lifting slightly in mid August next year and see if that helps.

 

On the up side the carrots and parsnips have done really well so if anyone can tell me how best to keep them I'd be glad to hear about it. Tried putting them in boxes of sand before but found the results hardly worth the bother. That might be more down to me than the principle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Froze my Parsnips for the first time last year & pleased to say they were fine. Didn't bother blanching them just chopped them into large 'chips'. Figured as parsnips are ment to taste better & sweeter once they have been 'frosted' they wouldn't need it. Roasted them from frozen & they were lovely. I do usualy blanch the carrots though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just boil for a minute or two. The parsnips were a bit softer in the middle than from fresh I think but cooking from frozen ment I could just bung them in the oven at the same time as the roast tatties & they were done at the same time instead of having to put the parsnips in part way through.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...