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daninthedirt

onion storage temperature

5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

So I've just harvested about 120 onions - 1015s and Red Creole. I look forward to several months of huge sweet onions (1015s), followed by many more months of "storage" onions (Red Creole). Gardening sources say that you should find a cool place to store your onions. Sorry, but down here, in the summer, there ain't no cool place, and I'm not hanging all those onions inside the air conditioned house. As it turns out, the 1015s do seem to survive three or four months in my converted garage at an average 80-85F, but just about everyone says I should be doing better with the onions stored in a much cooler place.

Except for these folks. https://www.onions-potatoes.com/storage/onions.php.

These are Dutch ag harvest and storage people who work with onions and potatoes. They say that onions should be stored EITHER cold, at 0-4 C, or warm, at 25-31C. Duh? They say that in between these ranges, "bacteria and fungi, enemies of the onion, are most active."

Now, I am delighted to hear this, but I'm confused. Bacteria and fungi don't like warm temperatures? That's news to me. No references are given here.

Does anyone have any insights about this? Is it true that middling temperatures are bad for stored onions?

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