Storage Onions and Shallots for Northern Climates

Storage Onions and Shallots for Northern Climates

​I compiled a list of onions and shallots that grow well in northern climates and store well for the winter. These are long-day or long-intermediate-day onions. I have included their best-growing latitudes (when known), days to maturity, whether they are open-pollinated or hybrid (F1) varieties, and how well they store under ideal conditions. If you do not know if you are in a long-day onion zone you can check out Johnny's Selected Seed map of long-day, intermediate-day, and short-day latitudes. The zones do overlap and you can also choose day-neutral onions as well.

Several yellow onion varieties are compared to Copra. Copra was an F1 hybrid yellow onion that was the gold standard for storage onions. Copra was discontinued but, Patterson F1 is now one of the best, if not the best storage onion available. So, if an onion is compared to Copra, you can expect extremely long storage potential.

I did not include any sweet onions in my charts. Due to their high sugar content sweet onions do not store well. In some cases, Walla Walla (90-125 days to maturity), an intermediate-long day variety, can store up to one month but is best eaten fresh. Another alternative is Ailsa Craig OP (110 days, long-day, 38-60° latitude), a large, sweet, Spanish-type yellow onion that stores for up to one month.

Pictures of many of the onions I have grown are shown with a tennis ball for size reference. These were some of the biggest onions I grew, please note not all got to these sizes. At the end of this post, I include the seed companies used to compile this list. If you have any other favorite long-day storage onion varieties I missed in this list please let me know and I will update the charts! Also, read my blog post on growing onions if you want more information.

Red Onions

                                                Ruby Red OP                                                                            Red Wethersfield OP

                                         Red Mountain F1                                                                                  Red Bull F1

Yellow Onions

                                         Patterson F1                                                                                             Talon F1

                                     New York Early OP                                                                            Yellow of Parma OP

White Onions

Southport White Globe, the only white onion I have grown thus far.

Shallots

                                     Val-Aux-Vents OP                                                                                    Zebrune OP

References and Resources

1. Baker Creek. https://www.rareseeds.com/search/onion
2. Dixondale Farms. https://dixondalefarms.com/product-category/onion-plants/long-day-onion-plants/
3. Fedco. https://fedcoseeds.com/seeds/search?search=Onions
4. High Mowing Organic Seeds. https://www.highmowingseeds.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=onion
5. Johnny’s Selected Seeds. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/search/?q=Onion&search-button=&lang=en_US
6. MIGardener. https://migardener.com/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage%2Ccollection&q=Onion*