# how to store onions?



## Habitant (Jul 21, 2010)

Hi I am new to gardening. I planted Spanish onions and expected that by fall the green stems would have turned brown and I would braid the stems . I harvested them yesterday as a hard frost of -6C was forecasted but the stems were still green. The onions are of a good size (could be bigger but I'll take em) how do I preserve the bulbs for winter eating? Do I just cut off the stems and put the onions is bags with sawdust like my potatoes?

Right now they are in sitting in buckets in my basement. I dont own a root cellar.


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

How are you planning to use them? I just chop all my onions and dry them for use in soups/stews/sauces since that's how my household uses them.


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

Living in the PNW we've never been able to over-winter onions, we do as VHestin does...dehydrate.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I have braided onions just like garlic to let them dry out. When dried, I put them in baskets with lots of shredded paper. 
But I can't tell you if they would have lasted throughout winter as they were usually gone by mid-winter. I simply never grew enough.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

normally you knock the stems down about a week before you want to harvest them. Then you leave them sit to cure a few weeks. Then they are dry enough to braid and hang.

I've got many bunches hanging in my cellar, been there over a month now and they are doing fine. Works best to use a scissors to cut one off, then you don't take the risk of nicking one of the others.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Habitant said:


> Do I just cut off the stems and put the onions is bags with sawdust like my potatoes?
> 
> Right now they are in sitting in buckets in my basement. I dont own a root cellar.


DO NOT put your onions in sawdust like the potatoes. Onions need to have air circulating all around them in order to not rot. Take them out of the buckets and spread around either on the floor or on some shelves and let them "cure" (outside of the onion needs to dry out). Wooden frames with screens would be ideal for this. If your weather is dry, they should be dried out in the sun. If not, inside is ok. Leave them for a few days and then put them in bags such as onion bags for air circulation. Hang them in a dark, cool, dry place. Onions should not be stored with potatoes because potatoes require high humidity which would cause your onions to rot. I keep my onions hanging from a nail under my staircase. Works good for me.

You don't have your general location in your profile, but if you live in a high humidity area that rains a lot (such as the pacific Northwest) you may want to dehydrate them. You can also chop and freeze them.

p.s. your basement can be your root cellar.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Yes onions want dry and cool. I hang them in bunches tied up in my shop, no heat but dry. Like was said they should be bent ver before harvest, pulled and dried before storage. Western Oregon raises and stores a lot of onions, Lake Labish and the lake at Gaston are/were big onion growing areas. They store them in slatted totes all winter. Lot of them are processed in downtown Salem along the river front....James


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## oberhaslikid (May 13, 2002)

I buy those scruchy things you bath with or I save the ones gifted to me. I take them apart they are a long tube of netting. 
I cut a 3 foot section and tie a knot in the end. Then place an onion in the tube ,tie a knot above the onion. 
Then place another onion in the tube and tie a knot ect......I hang them in my basment or a closet to keep for the winter. 
This keeps them seperated ,air can get to them, if one goes bad it wont effect the others.
When you need an onion just cut off below the knot one onion at a time.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Rather than put a knot in the netting that you have to cut, why knot (pun intended) put a twist tie in its spot? That way you can use them again and again!


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## deb_rn (Apr 16, 2010)

Do the sweet onions keep like that? I was under the impression that only the regular onions could be kept for any length of time. I don't grow a lot and they are used up fresh and fast! Many of them as cucumber salad!!

Debbie


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Sweet onions aren't keepers.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

The more "pungent" they are the better they keep.


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

jwal10...I sure wish I could get my hands on some of that onion growing Lake Labish dirt!

We grow Walla Wallas every year. We tried to 'keep' some fresh (after harvest and drying) but within 2 weeks of putting them in storage they started sprouting.
So now we dehydrate and the dried walla wallas make mighty tasty munching!


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## Habitant (Jul 21, 2010)

thanks for all the input everyone. I will let them cure then try to braid them together and hang em.


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## Habitant (Jul 21, 2010)

oh forgot to mention, I live in eastern Ontario. I'll update my profile just as son as I figure out how.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

marinemomtatt said:


> jwal10...I sure wish I could get my hands on some of that onion growing Lake Labish dirt!
> 
> We grow Walla Wallas every year. We tried to 'keep' some fresh (after harvest and drying) but within 2 weeks of putting them in storage they started sprouting.
> So now we dehydrate and the dried walla wallas make mighty tasty munching!


Yes Walla Walla's dont keep well. I use as green onions and then onion rings. I use sets for keepers. I have good sandy soil here, just needs the rocks picked and lots of humus. Grows great potatoes and onions....James


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

I dice and freeze my yellow sweet spanish onions in wide mouth pint jars, no liquid on them though. zip lock bags worked well too, but decided not to buy bags for food preservation this year.


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Nylon legs work well, too.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Here are mine, braided and hung in the pantry cellar. When I want to use one, I cut it off with my kitchen shears. 










This is the old part of the basement, use to be accessible from outside. We put on an addition with a basement, and this opens into the new basement now. 

We run a dehumidifier in the basement year round, otherwise it gets too damp. Stays around 50-60 in the winter. No daylight enters into the cellar.

This is the first year I'm trying to store root crops. The potatoes are in the same area, along the other wall. So far so good . . . I can up most of my potatoes.


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