When to pull my onions?

[JerryL]

This is the first year I have had any success growing onions.

I’ve read a couple of articles that say they are ready to pull ‘when the tops turn brown and fall over’. I’m used to seeing this with the garlic I grow. However, my onion tops are falling over but are still green. The bulbs are all good size and lifting out of the ground.

Should I wait for the tops to turn brown or should I pull them now?

Thanks for any help.

[Worth1]

This is easier than me writing all of this.
I'm lazy and tired.
I hope it clears things up a little.
Here I came back and put in the good stuff.
Harvesting And Storage

Onions are fully mature when their tops have fallen over. After pulling from the ground allow the onion to dry, clip the roots and cut the tops back to one inch. The key to preserving onions and to prevent bruising is to keep them cool, dry and separated. In the refrigerator, wrapped separately in foil, onions can be preserved for as long as a year. The best way to store onions is in a mesh bag or nylon stocking. Place an onion in the bag and tie a knot or put a plastic tie between the onions and continue until the stocking is full. Loop the stocking over a rafter or nail in a cool dry building and when an onion is desired, simply clip off the bottom onion with a pair of scissors or remove the plastic tie. Another suggestion is to spread the onions out on a screen which will allow adequate ventilation, but remember to keep them from touching each other. As a general rule, the sweeter the onion, the higher the water content, and therefore the less shelf life. A more pungent onion will store longer so eat the sweet varieties first and save the more pungent onions for storage.


Worth
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publica.../oniongro.html

[Ruth_10]

Sometimes the stalks fall over because they've turned brown and sometimes they fall over when they're still green. If they're falling over and still green, I'd wait a while yet until at least some of the stalks are starting to turn yellow/brown. They will still be doing some maturing as long as the stalks are green.

[orflo]

Most onion varieties are fully developed when the stems have turned pale/brown, when they are still green they still put up a bit of weight. I preserve them in wooden boxes, uncovered,about 20 pounds each box, frost-free ,temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees celsius, and I can store them until end of april,
Frank

[JerryL]

Thanks for the responses.

[feldon30]

Yeah, I'd pull 1 and see if it's the size you want, but otherwise you can probably leave the others with green tops in the ground and maybe they'll put on more weight.