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Experienced gardeners, who have been engaged in such a crop as onions for more than a year, are well versed not only in the timing of planting, the technique of cultivating a healthy vegetable, but also in the time of its harvesting. The timing of digging onions from the garden depends on many conditions, including the climate.
Gardeners living in the Urals do not lag behind residents of other regions. They also successfully grow onions, leeks, and batun. It is difficult for beginners who have started cultivating crops for the first time to determine the timing of onion harvesting, because for this you need to know a number of secrets. About when to harvest the onion turnip in the Urals and will be discussed in the article.
Climate features and variety selection
It’s no secret that the climate of the Urals does not indulge gardeners. In the northern regions, June is not yet summer, and August is more like autumn. It turns out that the vegetative period is very short, and it is difficult to call it comfortable. But despite this, Ural gardeners successfully grow a variety of cultivated plants, including onions.
It is clear that not every variety of onion is suitable for the Urals. Given that the summer is short, you should not choose onion varieties with a late ripening period. It is best to use early and mid-season varieties.
In addition, it is better to plant plants adapted specifically for the Urals. Best suited:
- Bessonovsky local and Odintsovets;
- Cabo and Stuttgart Riesen;
- Strigunovsky, Karantalsky and others.
The choice of varieties is the prerogative of each gardener. After all, the main thing is not just to grow a crop, but also to harvest it on time without loss, both during digging and during storage.
Newbie mistakes
Novice gardeners in the Urals want to know when to dig up bulbs from the garden in order to save them until the next harvest. They intuitively understand that deadlines are important, but it is not always possible to get everything right.
There are two most common mistakes to avoid. We will tell you more about them:
- Firstly, given the yellowing factor of the leaves, as a signal for harvesting, inexperienced summer residents wait until the stem and leaves of all plants in the garden turn completely yellow and dry. Therefore, do not rush to clean up. This is a serious mistake, because each variety ripens at its own time. Even plants of the same variety do not ripen at the same time. What will happen? Overripe onions, remaining longer than laid in the ground, can re-release roots and continue to grow. In addition, the bulb will begin to rot.
- A vegetable harvested ahead of time will be soft, the scales will not have time to form, so a putrefactive process may begin during storage.
In order not to lose the harvest and not be upset about the time and effort spent on growing onions, you need to know how the harvesting period is determined. After all, there are many signs by which you can determine the maturity of a vegetable. Moreover, they are practically the same for all regions of Our Country, including the Urals. Although there are some peculiarities.
Deciding on deadlines
To find out when you can dig onions from the garden, you need to consider many parameters.
Mathematical calculations
The packages usually indicate that the onion ripening period is from 68 to 93 days. These figures are approximate, they do not take into account the climatic conditions of cultivation, weather conditions. As a rule, 70-75 days are enough for a plant to mature in any region, including the Urals, from the moment a seed is planted to technical maturity. This is the period you need to focus on.
To determine the time of harvesting, you need to record when the seedlings or seedlings were planted. To this number you need to add 70-75 days. If onions were planted on May 10, and this is the optimal time for the Urals, then it turns out that technical maturity will come after July 20.
Weather
Weather in summer greatly affects the ripening of any garden crops. The bow is no exception. If there is a sunny summer in the Urals with moderate rains, then the readiness of the vegetable for harvesting will practically coincide with mathematical calculations.
Under less comfortable weather conditions – cold, heavy rains, ripening will be extended, therefore, the onion digging period will be postponed.
External parameters
As you can see, mathematics cannot always give an accurate answer to the question of whether the time has come to dig up the onion. How to be in this case. Experienced gardeners are advised to monitor the external changes of the plant.
If the onion is almost ripe, then this can be determined by the following parameters:
- The leaves and stem are yellowish, and the yellowness comes from below. Change the color and tips of the upper leaves. Such a change begins, as a rule, 2 months after planting a set or seedlings.
- The neck at the base of the bulb becomes soft, thin, it is not able to hold the stem in a vertical position, so the feathers lie on the ground.
- After pulling out the bulb, examine the husk. If it is rustling, removed without much difficulty, and the roots have darkened on the bottom, then the bulb is ready for harvesting.
So, we tried to answer the questions of beginner gardeners when you can start harvesting onions in the Urals.
This is the second half of July or the beginning of August.
In the old days, our grandmothers tried to remove the vegetable before Ilyin’s day (August 2), because it started to rain from that day. They are completely unnecessary to the bow at this time, even harmful.
Look at the photo of what happens to the bulb, which did not have time to harvest before the rains. Due to the thinness of the neck, water penetrates into the head. The process of decay begins at the top, gradually deepens. Such an onion cannot be preserved, and it is unsuitable for food.
Time to dig onions:
Is it possible to speed up the maturation process
In the Urals, especially in the northern regions, summer rarely pleases with good weather. Inclement weather can deprive gardeners of a crop, because the ripening process is stretched, and bulbs in damp ground can rot.
What can be done in this case? There are several options for accelerating onion ripening. If, according to your calculations, it is already time to remove the bulbs from the garden, and the stem and leaves remain green, the neck has almost not thinned:
- You can forcefully bend the stem to the ground. In this way, the flow of nutrients to the leaves is reduced, and they begin to turn yellow.
- Using a small shovel, dig into the ground and raise it slightly to cut off the long roots. The plant will also begin to mature faster, as the outflow of nutrients from the green mass to the head will begin.
Cleaning features
Why is it important to know when to start harvesting onions? The fact is that watering stops two weeks before the planned work. This is necessary in order for the vegetable to ripen, slightly dried still in the ground. Unfortunately, this is not always possible, because nature does not consult with us. It may rain at any time.
Once you have decided on the cleaning period, you can get to work. Choose onions from the garden in sunny weather. If there is a slight breeze, even better. Experienced gardeners recommend using a pitchfork to dig onions. But sometimes the onion is easily removed if the soil is dry and loose, and the bulbs are ripe (the roots have become small, they break off easily).
The dug onion is laid out in the sun so that it is saturated with its energy and “fried” well. It is easy to remove the earth from such a bow. Advice! It is undesirable to cut the tops immediately after digging, because as they dry, they will continue to release nutrients to the bulb and improve the quality of the vegetable.
After a sunbath, the bulbs are harvested for ripening in a well-ventilated room, where it should lie for at least 2-3 weeks. Then the vegetables are sorted and sent for storage.
Summary
It is necessary to harvest onions in any region, including the Urals, in a timely manner. That is why gardeners are interested in when to start harvesting vegetables. We advise gardeners in the Urals to use all the options that allow you to determine the ripening of onions in a complex. To mathematical calculations add observation, the right choice of variety. Bulbs harvested in time will reach the next harvest.