Saving the harvest: why do onions rot during storage and how to avoid it?
Onions are a healthy vegetable, without which it is difficult to imagine most first and second courses.
You need to stock up on it in the fall, since it is perfectly stored until next spring, but only under the condition that suitable conditions have been created for it.
Read the article about why onions rot when stored inside and out, what to do and how to prevent damage to the crop.
Content
Causes of rotting
There are several reasons that can cause damage onion heads:
Poor quality sorting of vegetables before harvesting them for the winter. If a rotten or diseased unit gets into the general pile, it will infect the surrounding bulbs, causing them to begin to deteriorate.- Incorrect storage conditions. Excessive humidity and too high an air temperature will cause the fruits to begin to sprout and rot.
- Hypothermia of the crop. If the bulbs have been frozen, they will quickly rot.
- Wrong choice of variety. Late-ripening vegetables that are harvested in the second half of autumn are suitable for storage. Early bulbs will not last long even in the most ideal conditions.
- Diseases affecting vegetables stored in cellars. The danger is represented by fusarium, neck and bacterial rot.
- Long stay in the ground. If the crop is harvested late, it will quickly deteriorate.
What to do if a vegetable begins to rot from the inside or outside?
If the bulbs begin to rot, emergency measures must be taken. Otherwise, you may lose all your supplies.
To begin with, the vegetables are sorted out, removing not only all rotting fruits, but also those that came into contact with them.. Even if they show no signs of rot, they are highly likely to be infected.
Be sure to adjust the storage conditions of the crop, achieving the desired level of humidity and temperature.
Be sure to get rid of any plant debris and soil residues. They can act as a source of infection, causing neck rot, fusarium and other vegetable infections.
How to store it correctly?
To prevent onions from rotting, you need to properly prepare and store them.
Basic recommendations:
- store only those onions that have been thoroughly dried;
- sort vegetables before storing them for the winter;
- any copies that are questionable must be removed;
- the neck of each vegetable must be cut at a height of 5 cm;
- place the crop in a cellar in which optimal conditions are created for it: air humidity - up to 70%, temperature - from -1 to +1 degrees;
- onions can be stored in boxes, in nets and in bundles suspended from the ceiling, on pallets made of boards.
It is not recommended to keep onions in the refrigerator. Even in the vegetable shelf, it quickly loses its freshness, begins to grow and deteriorate. At best, it will last 30 days.
The vegetable spoils because the starch contained in the fruit turns into sugar in the refrigerator.. The heads become damp, begin to smell unpleasant, become moldy and rot.
The onion must breathe.It should not be kept in plastic or paper bags. You will find all the most important things about storing onions here.
Helpful information
To prevent the bulbs from rotting during storage, The following tips should be taken into account:
Carefully remove vegetables from the ground without forcefully pulling them out. Otherwise, you can damage the vegetable bottom, from which rotting will begin.- Onions need to be dried for at least 3 weeks before storing.
- Each head is thoroughly cleaned of soil, as bacteria and mold spores may remain in it.
- Avoid overcooling fruits. They begin to freeze if the air temperature drops below -3 degrees.
- Do not store early-ripening and late-ripening varieties together.
- Maintain stable storage conditions. Constant temperature changes have an extremely negative effect on onions. For this reason, it is not recommended to store it on the balcony.
Conclusion
It is not difficult to understand why onions rot during storage if you know the main risk factors.
Most often, damage to it is caused by violations of the conditions in which the crop is kept, or its poor quality preparation.. Having found out the cause of the disease, it must be eliminated as quickly as possible so that rot does not affect healthy fruits.
