Fallen onions - just checking

[endymion]

It seems a bit early, but about half our onions, both red and white, have fallen over. Their tops are still green, no brown tips to the foliage.

Should we harvest the lot, now (tomorrow, if it doesn't rain), should we wait until they've all fallen over, or should we do as we've done in previous years and wait for the foliage to start turning brown before lifting them?

When we get them out of the ground is it better to lift/dig them with a fork or to pull them? (Always used a fork in the past, to gently lift the plants onto the surface, but have seen videos of them being pulled up, using the foliage.)

Our shallots (which we've haven't grown for years, because we haven't had room) are starting to go brown at the tips. The bulbs are pushing each other apart but there's no sign of the foliage toppling. Should we wait for the tops to fall over, or should we start lifting them now?

Oh, and probably an even dumber question, but does onion fly attack onions once they're out of the ground?

[Florence Fennel]

Personally I'd wait until they do go brown and fall, I wouldn't do anything to hasten the process, but I'm no expert with onions, very much still the amateur. Zaz is around, so she'll probably be along in a minute, she's a Guru with onions!

[horticultural_hobbit]

I pulled my onions and shallots up the other day. Was only a small crop, but the foliage had keeled over and was yellow and strawlike. The tops were also pushing up through the dirt, as though trying to make a break for it. Was a little early, but the instructions that I had were a generic 'will be ready in july', so I took a punt. Onions themselves were small, not diddy, but a nice compact onion sized. I was amzed by the shallots. Some were a nice meaty size, others not so much.All had split though. Are now drying.

[morverngirl]

My onions that had fallen over,also garlic and shallots, all had a white rot on the botton, no root to hold them up, so i would pull 1 or 2 to check.

[endymion]

My onions that had fallen over,also garlic and shallots, all had a white rot on the botton, no root to hold them up, so i would pull 1 or 2 to check.

Phew, I hadn't thought of that. Thankfully the ones I tested are very firmly rooted.

Good job I checked though, because for the first time since the sets were planted there was a small bird in with them, under the netting. Really odd, because the netting is pegged down and all four edges are protected with a layer of soil. I couldn't see any gap where it could have got in.

My instinct is to leave the onions and shallots alone, keep them netted, and let them ripen in their own time but we're away for a week at the end of the month, and can't ask anybody else to check regularly for trapped birds. If I were to take the netting away now would there be a risk of onion fly attack from any recently hatched flies?

[Aberdeenplotter]

Even although the stems have fallen over, the onions will continue to swell. I wait until the onions look ripe before loosening the roots with a fork and then harvest after a few days or when it looks like a dry spell is imminent.

[endymion]

I spent ages re-netting them, couldn't find a gap where the bird got in, so that'll have to remain a mystery.

Will leave them until they've all fallen and started to crisp up.

I've read, somewhere or other, that it might be an idea to give them a feed to boost their roots. Will it be a waste of time?

[Potstubsdustbins]

I seem to remember that fallen onion leaves that are still nice and green can be caused by to much nitrogen and that a high potash feed helps.

Colin