As amateur gardeners, our first attempt at growing onions did not yield stellar results, given its seemingly straightforward cultivation. There are various forms of onions available for gardeners to cultivate. Choosing wisely at the start could spell success or failure. So, let’s talk about why are onions rotting in storage!
At its heartbreaking worst, onions can turn bad quickly in storage, leading to disastrous results for any grower or store. Once begun, its spread becomes impossible to contain and often spreads to others as quickly as it started causing havoc with production and storage capacity.
Why Are Onions Rotting in Storage?
Let us discuss why are onions rotting in storage in detail. After spending an entire year cultivating and protecting your crop to be as best it can be, nothing would be worse than discovering that homegrown onions you stored have gone bad and spoiled. Imagine planning an elegant French onion soup dinner complete with crusty warm bread only to discover that homegrown ones have gone off before you’ve had a chance to use them up in any delicious dishes you planned to cook up tonight instead of using up what should have been delicious onions in this situation!
Causes include bacteria and fungus which thrive when stored closely packed onions are exposed.
Onions stored for storage often succumb to one of two conditions. Onion Mushy Rot, and Botrytis Allii: both can lead to spoilage of onions in storage facilities.
Mushy Rot
Fungi and bacteria that damage onions live in the soil; thus if an onion already infected with Rhizopus microsporus makes its way into your harvest batch for storage it could potentially spread the disease among them if airflow is insufficient for proper ventilation.
Harvesting onions should reveal any indications of mushy rot, including loose skins or soft layers on them, that indicate decay. White, yellow, and red varieties will show diminished brightness with darker pigmentation than their healthy peers, with yellow varieties having almost black hues than their counterparts.
Store onions regularly during storage to detect infection; early signs are difficult to notice but after several weeks there will be an obvious sweet rotten aroma from your harvest. Pick any offending onions out immediately for disposal (don’t add to compost as the fungus could spread and affect future crops)
Botrytis Allii
Also referred to as neck rot, Botrytis allii can often remain dormant during its growth phase on the seed itself and remains undetected until you place onions into storage.
Botrytis infestation often goes undetected for several months after harvest, making it imperative that your stored harvest be monitored closely for signs of softening near neck tissue. This condition could then spread further down into its bulb.
How to Prepare Onions for Storage and Avoid Rot
There can be numerous issues your onions could run into while being stored, harvested, and in storage. In many instances, these are caused by damage in harvest or from being bruised during their journey to you just like with apples where bruises develop slowly over time in storage and allow bacteria in.
Once harvested (gently!), onion roots must remain undamaged! Take extra care when harvesting to loosen any large clumps of wet soil as this will dry off with curing and fall out later. With proper harvest, preparation, and storage practices your onions could last 10-12 months in storage; left exposed in warmer environments like your kitchen they could spoil in weeks!
First, ensure your onions have dried for long enough. Onions require an even drying temperature; many people leave onions out in the sun to dry; this could result in uneven drying on some sides causing uneven drying across their surface area. Turn your onions gently to create as even an even surface as possible for drying; an ideal location could be in a greenhouse (we wish ours were!). Spreading your onions out separately on dry greenhouse shelves can keep any interruptions out of their environment safely away.
Onion growers all have different strategies for drying their crop, but generally speaking, it involves providing adequate airflow, keeping temperature between 60-80degF (20-28degC), and leaving for several weeks before checking back in with them again.
Curing onions typically requires between 2 to 4 weeks. You’ll know your onions have dried enough when their necks wither and become fully papery to the touch, giving an indicator that you may trim off their dry roots and top. Some people keep more paper necks on, as onions like garlic can also be displayed by hanging up, which involves intricate knotting or weaving of its stems and necks.
Now is the time to store onions securely.
Best Conditions For Storing Onions
As above, for optimal onion storage conditions, onions must have an outer protective skin thick enough to serve as their first line of defense against potential bacteria or fungal attacks on their crop. With proper curing procedures, your onions should develop an effective shield from these threats if stored safely.
However, without enough papery skin and proper airflow, your onions could quickly succumb to bacteria growth, increasing its spread through warmth and humidity. Let’s examine exactly what steps need to be taken for their preservation over the longest possible time frame.
First and foremost, ensure the ideal growing conditions. Crop rotation should always be practiced to maximize yield in any vegetable garden; making sure not to plant onions where previous onions had grown is one effective way of controlling soil-borne disease transmission.
Onions grown under high humidity conditions are more prone to fungal disease, so regular but insufficient irrigation will help combat potential moisture issues during growing.
Finding an area with low light levels, humidity levels and that remains cool may prove challenging; an ideal storage spot would be in a garage or pantry that you will frequently visit to monitor their harvest.
Picking Out Onions for Storage
After knowing why are onions rotting in the storage, now it’s time to pick the right ones. Not all onions are created equally; some varieties work better at being grown for storage than others. So before planning your vegetable garden, it is wise to carefully research these varieties as storage onions. Long day onions such as Patterson, Stuttgarter or Red Zeppelin make great storage onions so ensuring you select an ideal variety will ensure you always have this staple ingredient on hand throughout the year.
Experienced onion growers tend to cultivate various varieties as even the top “keeper” onions have different storage life expectancies. Keepers have thicker outer skin when cured, lower water usage and higher sulphur contents than non-keeper varieties; so chances are if an onion makes you cry it could well be worth keeping!
Are Onions Grown From Seeds or Sets Better Suited To Storage?
Because onions are biennial plants that flower during their second year, to maximize dormancy (storage), planting seed as opposed to sets early can ensure your bulb won’t sprout during dormancy; any sprouting during storage would create an environment conducive to rot and should therefore be avoided at all costs.
Though growing onions from sets is possible, their tendency to bolt and send out flowering stems often makes storage preparations more complicated. By contrast, growing onions from seeds provides greater storage reliability as well as potentially larger harvests.
FAQs
Q1. What are onions rotting in storage?
Onions stored incorrectly can quickly begin rotting if temperatures become either too cool (ideally 40-50 degrees F) or too warm. For optimal storage conditions (up to 5 years of life span in storage ), 40-50 degrees should be sufficient for optimal results.
Before harvest, avoid storing onions exhibiting signs of botrytis or soft rot as these could potentially infiltrate entire crop storage facilities and spread disease throughout storage space.
Q2. Why do stored onions sprout?
Stored onions are like flowers of the next season: given an opportunity, they will try their hardest to send out new foliage and blossom spikes. Like tulips, stored onions store energy for next year’s bloom production in their bulbs so when exposed to moisture or light will send up shoots that sprout new life!
Q3. Why have my onions gone mouldy?
Unfortunately, onions may grow mould despite our best storage efforts. Upsetting, yet often attributable to harvest errors. Funguses thrive at extreme temperatures so even stored correctly onions in cool environments could harbour mould if unattended for too long; always inspect harvest prior to eating it all up!
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Conclusion
With any luck, this guide has given you enough knowledge about why onions are rotting in storage as well as offering simple but effective strategies to avoid this happening again by altering some growing, harvesting and storage practices.