Onions are an unpretentious and viable plant that is easy to grow and easy to store with a few simple rules. During storage, several parameters are important: where and what to store, what should be the temperature and relative humidity of the environment. Understanding how to maintain the correct parameters guarantees the safety of onion sets. Otherwise, the onion can rot and deteriorate.

Storage space

How to store onion sets? For proper storage of onions, use the following containers:

  • Wooden boxes and trays;
  • Plastic containers;
  • Various nets and bags;
  • Women's nylon tights.

If you have an attic, you can store onion sets on it. For this, special boards are made, bulbs are poured inside. The height of the sides should not exceed 20 cm. Otherwise, the bow will start to deteriorate and will not be preserved until spring. In addition, there must be a good supply of fresh air in the room.

How are onion sets stored before planting? In order for the sevok not to germinate ahead of time, it must be stored in a dark, dry and cool room. But you cannot miss with the temperature: with a very low set, the seedlings may die and will not rise after planting in the spring. In case there is a private house, the ideal storage place is the underground or basement. There, the temperature does not fall below zero, while there is low humidity.

Onion harvest

You can also save the bulbs according to the grandmother's method: using women's nylon stockings or tights. To do this, the seed is folded in them, tied up and hung in any apartment until the spring sowing season. In this case, it is necessary to periodically sort through the folded onions, throw away those that have begun to deteriorate or soak. The main condition for proper storage is drying of the bulbs and constant ventilation of the seed.

To prevent the seeds from deteriorating until April, you need to choose the right onion varieties. Not all bulbs can survive during the winter. For example, yellow onions are well suited for long-term storage. Red and white onions germinate much faster and may not survive until spring. In addition, it is necessary to correctly determine the time of harvest. This is usually the end of July. If you tighten it with the collection, the onion can germinate again, then until spring it will no longer have the strength to germinate.

The sevok is taken immediately after harvest and cleared of the ground. Bulbs with feathers that have appeared must be dried and allowed to ripen. This may take 10 to 15 days. After that, the dried arrows are removed, and the bulbs themselves continue to dry for another 3-4 days.

To avoid the appearance of powdery mildew, the onions are dried near the battery, the temperature should be around 30 ° C. Next, the bulbs are sorted out, thrown out the spoiled ones and sorted. The smallest specimens should be planted in the fall. Such bulbs can produce a good large bulb by summer.

Cold storage method

This method includes storing onion sets in the following places:

  • Cellar;
  • On the bottom shelf of the refrigerator;
  • Basement.

In this case, the storage temperature must be maintained in the range from 0 ° С to -3 ° С. With a similar characteristic of the environment, the bulbs will survive until spring planting. It is not worth storing bulbs on the loggia - the temperature there is constantly changing, and you cannot provide the required humidity. Before placing the seeds in a cool room for the winter, they need to dry very well for 14 days. At the same time, the temperature is maintained around + 35 ° С.

Important.A very important condition is low humidity. In the long winter, after a lot of snow has fallen, you can plant the onions in the ground. So it will be stored in natural conditions. If there is no suitable cold storage space, you can bury the seed bucket in the ground for the winter.

The storage technology in a bucket is as follows:

  • sawdust is poured down;
  • seed is laid;
  • a layer of sawdust is filled up;
  • the bucket is closed;
  • the bucket is buried in such a way that from the top to the surface there is at least 15-20 cm;
  • the burial site is selected so that it is dry, without a large amount of groundwater.

Before the process of planting onion sets, it is necessary to carry out the heating process again: keep the bulbs for 2 weeks at a temperature of about +35 ° C. This process activates vegetative functions in the seeds.

Warm storage method

This method preserves the harvest at home. In this case, the apartment requires maintaining the temperature regime in the range from 17 to 25 ° C. In addition, it is required to maintain a constant supply of fresh air and a low ambient humidity.

Home storage

Note.If there is a higher temperature in the room, the seed will dry out, and there will be no opportunity to plant it in the spring. In more favorable conditions, onions can germinate much earlier than planned. In an apartment, various cardboard boxes or plastic bags are usually used for storage.

Combined storage method

As the name suggests, it is a combination of two methods: warm and cold. Bulbs should be kept in a warm room until the cold season. Further, when negative temperatures are established outside, the temperature in the storage facility gradually decreases to zero degrees, and this temperature regime is maintained throughout the entire winter period.

With the arrival of spring, the bulbs must be warmed up. To do this, the temperature in the room is raised to +25 ° C for 6 days. Then the environment is cooled to +22 ° С. Under these conditions, the seed is stored until the bulbs are planted in the ground.

Interesting.Let's look at an example. There is an apartment with a balcony, you need to save the onion sets until spring. For the first storage period, the onion boxes are stacked next to the door on the balcony. On average, the temperature there is from 4 to 9 ° C. This is where the onions should be stored throughout the winter. With the onset of spring, the containers are transferred to the battery. The temperature should be kept around 30 ° C. In the case of this method of storage, the probability of the appearance of arrows on the bulbs ahead of time is minimal.

If a decision is made to purchase planting material for growing in January, February or March, it is guaranteed to be stored only in a warm, dry place, because the way of storing purchased onions is not known to the buyer for certain. It should also be noted that the purchase must be made at a specialized store. Buying onions from your hands is fraught with crop failure. It is imperative to bulkhead the seed and discard the spoiled bulbs. Before planting, it is required to warm the seedlings at a temperature exceeding 40 ° C. This will awaken him after hibernation.

Tips & Tricks

Summarizing all of the above, you can give the following tips:

  • If you can use the cold method, you should choose this method. It has many advantages over other methods. Thanks to him, the bulbs will not dry out and rot. In addition, the risk of early germination is greatly reduced, so the likelihood of a good and rich harvest increases;
  • For apartment storage, it is necessary to maintain a constant temperature regime;
  • For the safety of seed material, constant access of fresh air is required;
  • Before planting, it is recommended to warm up the bulbs to activate their growth process, regardless of the type of winter storage chosen.