# The Grimme WV180 onion harvester on our farm

How we harvest onions on heavy Żuławy clay: the Grimme WV 180 windrower lays the onions in windrows, and the harvest is done by a self-propelled AVR Puma 3. Gentle harvesting, less damage and better storage life in the store. Practice from the field.

We do the main onion harvest with a self-propelled AVR Puma 3 harvester. It is a 4-row machine with 469 hp and an 8-tonne bunker, and it picks the onions up, cleans them and moves them onto a trailer, all gently so as not to damage the skin. With about 250 hectares of onions, an efficient and careful harvest is essential. The first phase of the harvest is done by our Grimme WV 180 windrower: it undercuts the onions, cleans them and lays them in windrows to dry.

## What the onion harvest looks like

First the onion ripens and its tops fold over. Then the Grimme WV 180 windrower comes in: it undercuts the onions, cleans them on two rod conveyors and lays them in windrows, where they dry. Once they have dried, the AVR Puma 3 harvester moves in: it picks the onions up from the windrows along with leaf and soil residue, separates them on sieves and belts, and pours the clean crop into its bunker and from there onto the trailer. We do the same across the whole onion area, step by step, just as we describe through the growing season in our post on [growing onions in Żuławy](/blog/cebula-z-zulaw-jak-uprawiamy).

## Why the Grimme WV180 on heavy clay

The Żuławy clay soils are heavy. A machine for such ground has to lift onions gently, so as not to bruise them or leave them in the field. The Grimme WV 180 windrower handles this well: with a working width of 180 cm it undercuts the onions, cleans them on two rod conveyors and lays them in even windrows to dry. It is the first phase of a two-phase harvest, and on clay it matters all the more, because light soil forgives more than heavy soil does.

## Harvesting without damage, where quality starts

A gentle harvest is no whim. Every bruise is a spot where the onion can start to rot in the store. That is why we set up the harvest so the onions leave the field in the best possible condition. The rest of the quality is decided later, in the [store](/blog/przechowywanie-cebuli).

## From harvester to store

From the field we move the onions with a John Deere 6930 Premium tractor and a Wielton tridem trailer, on anti-bruise covers, so the crop reaches the store gently. Then the onions go to further cleaning, drying and grading, and then into a store of around 13,000 tonnes. The whole chain, from field to pallet, has one aim: steady quality and availability all year round, including for [wholesale](/blog/cebula-hurt-dostawca) customers.

## Part of our machinery fleet

The onion harvester is one of the machines we use to run the crop. We also use GPS RTK navigation and auto-steering, which together make up our precision farming. We describe all the equipment in our [machinery fleet](/park-maszynowy).

## Frequently asked questions

### How are onions harvested with a harvester?
The self-propelled AVR Puma 3 harvester picks ripe onions up from the windrows, cleans them of leaves and soil on sieves and belts, and pours them into its 8-tonne bunker and from there onto a trailer.

### What is the Grimme WV180?
It is a mounted onion windrower with a working width of 180 cm. It undercuts the onions, cleans them on two rod conveyors and lays them in windrows to dry. That is the first phase of the harvest, and the harvest itself is done by the self-propelled AVR Puma 3.

### When are onions harvested?
When the tops fold over and the skin is ripe. That is the moment for the harvester to go in.

### Why does a gentle harvest matter?
Because a bruised onion stores less well. Less damage means fewer losses in the store.

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Want to see what else we work with? Check our [machinery fleet](/park-maszynowy) or get in touch through our [contact page](/kontakt).