How And When To Harvest, Cure And Store Onions

Knowing how to harvest homegrown onions at the right time, as well as how to cure and store them is important to preserve your crop so that none of them spoil in storage!

Homegrown onions hanging and curing on a wire rack in the garage

It’s June and your onions are looking amazing. They’ve formed big bulbs that you can be proud of. But how do you know when to pull them out of the garden and bring them into the house? Do you bring them into the house, or is there a better place to let them dry out?

If you don’t already know how to start onions from seed, you really need to try it next time!

These are all things you need to know, otherwise all that hard work you put into growing these beautiful onions will be a waste when they start to rot on your shelf! (trust me, I’ve made a few major mistakes and had to toss A LOT of onions into the compost bin)

Don’t worry though. Onions make it pretty clear when they’re ready to be harvested and once you know how to properly cure and store your onions, they can last in the pantry for a solid 9 months!

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how to know when to harvest onions

Now technically you can harvest and enjoy homegrown onions at just about any stage after they’ve formed a bulb. But, if you want to get the longest shelf life out of them, onions should be harvested at a pretty specific point.

Here are the signs you should look for to tell whether or not your onions are ready to harvest:

the tops of more than half of the onions are turning yellow and have started to fall over
the neck of the onion (right above the bulb has thinned out enough that you can roll it between your fingers

Waiting too long to harvest onions after the tops have started to die and fall over can lead to rot and shorted their storage life.

huge onion that has just been harvested from the garden.

how to cure onions

Curing onions is necessary to extend their shelf life in storage. It takes a little time, but it’s worth the trouble!

Lay the onions out in a single layer, letting them touch each other as little as possible.
You want really good air flow, so laying them on a screen is ideal. I’ve seen people use pallets, or wire shelving units. One year I fed the greens through a dog kennel with the bulbs on top and that actually worked really well!
Make sure they are out of direct sunlight and there is plenty of air movement. Either have a fan going in the room or leave the door open to let a breeze in. I use my garage to cure my onions, leaving the doors open as much as possible.
I know it’s tempting to remove dirt from the onion skin, but try to leave it until the curing process it over so that you leave the skin intact.
Leave the onions to dry out for 2-4 weeks (timing varies) until the greens are completely dried out with no moisture left in the neck. The outer skin should be papery dry as well.
Remove the outermost layer of skin if it’s very dirty and cut the leaves off leaving one inch attached to the bulb or leave the leaves if you plan to braid the onions together.

how to store onions

Onions like to be stored at very specific conditions or they tend to sprout or rot. The perfect condition being 32ºF with 65-75% humidity.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a place in my house that has those exact conditions (or anywhere near that actually). But the goal is to get as close as you can to get the longest shelf life out of your onions.

I store my onions in a dark place in my basement where they will get a good amount of airflow. And I can get them to last for a good 8 months!

There are certain onion varieties that last longer than others. These are called “storage onions”. Storage varieties will last quite a bit longer than sweet ones will. I grow Patterson as my storage onion and Candy Onions for my sweet onions and I just try to use those up sooner.

I just store my onions in a crate but I have seen where other gardeners will braid their onions together and hang them from the ceiling. I also saw a video of a woman stringing her onions inside of a ladies panty hose so that they get the most airflow without touching each other!