By Dave36
Clackmannanshire,
United Kingdom 
I planted both red and white onion sets, now the high winds have blown over most of the stems, should I try to harvest them or should I just leave them a while
21 Jul, 2011
Answers
I have the same problem with my onion sets "Strutgarten"
I'm going to leave them and if it looks like they are struggling then I'll lift them.
According to my old book, the tops should be broken at the end of August to check growth (think this means to stop growth) two weeks later the onions may be pulled up and left in the sun to dry. When fully ripe they may be strung together and hung up in a dry, cool shed or even on an outside wall, fence or tree.
Don't know if this is the practise today, as my book is
70 yrs old by Walter P Wright.
I'm sure someone will put me right to todays practises.
21 Jul, 2011
Hi Grannyb yes still the same practice except you can now store in nets if you do not want to plait them. Best to keep the onions somewhere cool and dry inside as it they get wet they will rot.
22 Jul, 2011
So there you we have it Dave 36, not much changes in onion growing over 70 yrs.
Thanks Moon grower
22 Jul, 2011
Very little in growing food at a domestic level has changed. Mostly it is the use of pesticides, herbicides and artificial feed.
22 Jul, 2011
Normally, pushing over the tops is no longer practiced, unless the season is short and the grower wants to encourage early maturity.
22 Jul, 2011
Well in most of the UK that is the case TugB :-)
22 Jul, 2011
What, you don't have a 365 day growing season, like we do?! : D
22 Jul, 2011
Nope and that is the snag for any of us giving advice outside our area… which for me is the UK
22 Jul, 2011
True, and I try to keep it under control, for my part. Sadly, I tuly believed (apparently erroneously) that most of the UK had an average-length, or better, growing season for the latitude. Hmmm. Come to think of it...Germany, Denmark, Poland, the Baltic States.... I suspect my error wasn't in the relative length of the growing season, but in my guesstimate of what the average was! Sorry, I will try to do better!
22 Jul, 2011
Even in the south of England by your standards the growing season is short. If not for the Gulf Stream it would be impossible for us to grow much at all... Take a look at a map we are on a level with Moscow!
22 Jul, 2011
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