# Gardening Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/546803 "2010-07-15T17:45:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/546803/1 "2010-07-15T17:45:49Z")
We planted sweet onions for the first time this year and they seem to be doing fine. How do I know when it is time to harvest them? I can see that they are about the size of a baseball, and they have thrown up shoots that I think will turn into flowers. Do I let them continue to grow until I need them or should they be harvested at a particular time? Also, once they are harvested how should they be stored until we need them? Any advice would be appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/546803/2 "2010-07-15T18:26:08Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve grown onions, but I recall that you should harvest before they put up flowers. Something about the flowers eating up the bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/546803/3 "2010-07-15T20:46:36Z")
I’ve grown onions for a few years with absolutely no idea what I’m doing, but they seem to reach their full growth around the time the tops start to flop over – we pick them as needed after that. (“As needed” actually meaning a weak or so before they’ll be needed, since we lop off the tops and let them dry for a week or two before we eat them. I have no idea what the “rules” are on that part, either.) We don’t plant all that many, so if there’s a drop dead date for harvest I have no idea what it might be. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/546803/4 "2010-07-15T22:19:15Z")
Sweet onions have thinner skin and higher water content than regular onions - this means that they don’t store as well. So my WAG is that if you can\*\* just harvest what you need as you need it. “Baseball-sized” seems plenty big enough to me. Looks like you’ll find everything you need to know [here](http://www.oniongardening.com/). Excerpt: > [@](#): > > In the Northern states onion bulbs are generally allowed to become as ripe as possible before harvest. Professional growers usually prefer that the tops ripen down and shrivel and that the outer skin of the bulbs be dry before the onions are removed from the soil. In the Southern states, where the onions are not cured so thoroughly, they are often pulled about the times that the tops begin to break and fall. \*\* i.e. if harvesting this one won’t disturb that one next to it ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-question/546803/5 "2010-07-15T22:37:38Z")
Never let them flower. Break over the top until you can dig them.