Undercut with a blade prior to harvest to make harvesting easier. Pull off the discolored outside skin leaving the basal part of the plant white and clean. Growers should check with their markets to determine the size of green onions their particular market prefers. Trim the yellow leaves and tips off of the tops and pack in crates for sale. The quality and color of green onions deteriorates very rapidly, thus the onions should be kept cool for nearby sales and placed under refrigeration for distant markets.
Crushed ice is used in some instances.
General - Bunching onions respond to irrigation and fertilizer. The most successful growers manage both of the factors to keep onions growing rapidly. Forcing - Some growers get rapid growth with uninjured tops by planting onion sets in protected beds. Protection may consist of anything from a hedge row or building as a windbreak, to covered coldframes or even plastic greenhouses. Recommendations for the use of chemicals are included in this publication as a convenience to the reader.