How to Know When a Yellow Onion Is Ready to Harvest

Grown as cool-season annuals, onions (Allium cepa) are food staples that are fairly easy for the average home gardener to grow. If you planted a yellow variety, such as "First Edition," "Ebenezer," "Copra" or "Fiesta," you don't need to wait until the onions are fully mature to harvest them. You can, if desired, harvest them early to use as green onions, or you can harvest them later when they aren't quite as large as they could be. Simply put, there is no one right time to harvest yellow onions, but rather a harvesting season.

Instructions

- 1
  Watch the tops of the onions because they are the best indicator of when is the best time to harvest the yellow onions for your situation.
- 2
  Pull onions when the tops reach at least 6 inches tall. You can wait longer, if desired, but this is the point when your yellow onions can be harvested as immature onions. If you wait a bit longer to harvest though, the onion flavor becomes stronger.
- 3
  Continue to harvest the onions as desired. They are usable during the in-between stages from green onions to fully mature onions. However, allow the onions you want to harvest as large, dry onions to continue to grow. Those will be the ones you can store for use in fall and winter.
- 4
  Wait 10 to 14 days after the tops die back to allow the onions to mature the rest of the way. Pull the onions in the morning on a hot, sunny and dry day, leaving the tops intact. Set them in the sun until afternoon. Then, cure the onions in a dry, shady and airy location for up to three weeks before cutting off the tops and storing the onions.

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