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Re: "Kneeling" Onions and Garlic

Hi Olin

Your onions should not have seed heads. If they do then they have "bolted"
and are useless.
Bending the leaves over at the top of the bulb is considered to be risky as
it can cause cell damage at the break point and allow fungi to invade. This
results in short storage times as the onions rot in store.

From what you say, and I may be misunderstanding what you are saying, it
sounds like you do not yet have any bulb formation. If that is the case and
you are growing bulbing onions than leave them to grow on. 

It is not clear from your e-mail address where you are from so it is not
possible to say what to do exactly because it will depend on the season of
the year. In temperate northern hemisphere climates onions are planted in
March/April and allowed to grow until about July. During June/July the
bulbs form. Once the bulbs are fully formed the outer skin will begin to
harden and the leaves will start to die back. At this time it is OK to
gently lift the onion slightly out of the soil with a fork. This will
encourage the rest of the leaves to die off, by breaking the roots. The
onions can then be lifted properly and left in the sun to dry off. Cover
them if it rains to prevent the leaves from going slimy. Once totally dry
either cut the leaves off and store the onions in net bags, old tights
(pantyhose) or trays, or plait the dry leaves and hang up the resulting
strings of onions in a cool dry frost free place.

All this applies to garlic, elephant or otherwise.

Hope this helps and if I have misunderstood your question, apologies.

Regards
Stephen

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Stephen Griffiths
Barfield Allotment Association
Whetstone, London. England.
stephen.griffiths@dial.pipex.com.
allotments@dial.pipex.com 
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/close/xpz05/
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
----------

> From: Olin Miller <millero@worldnet.att.net>
> To: veggie-list@eskimo.com
> Subject: "Kneeling" Onions and Garlic
> Date: 30 April 1998 03:40
> 
> Should onion tops be broken over (aka "kneeled") to promote bulbing when
> they begin to head out ?  Or should just the seed heads be removed.  Or
> should one do anything to the tops at ll?  Same question for elephant
> garlic.  - Olin Miller
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