# August in Żuławy: the final stretch before the onion harvest Cereals harvested, onion tops going down, machines fresh from servicing. We show what August on our farm looks like just before the onion harvest. August here is the month when one season closes and the next is just getting under way. The cereals are already in the store, the onions grown from sets left for buyers long ago, and on the direct-sown onion fields you can see the first signal of the coming harvest: the tops are starting to go down. Here is what exactly happens on the farm in these weeks, and why they decide how well the onions will keep through the winter. ## Cereals harvested, fields waiting for the rotation The first part of August belongs to the cereals. Wheat and triticale come off the fields, and the straw and stubble are tidied up for the crops that follow. In our rotation, cereals are not an extra, they are the foundation: fields after wheat rest from vegetables, and in a few seasons the onions will return to them. With more than 800 hectares, this logistics has to run like clockwork, because the same tractors and trailers that carried grain will be needed with the onions in a moment. ## The onion tops go down, we count the days On the direct-sown onion plantations, August is a time of watching. When the tops start to break over and lie down on the soil, the onions are ending their growth and starting to mature. From that moment we walk the fields more often than usual, because the lifting date is chosen for a specific field and a specific variety, not for a date in the calendar. What exactly tells us the crop is ready, we describe in our post on the [onion harvest season](/blog/sezon-zbiorow-cebuli). {% callout tone="info" %} Onions are not harvested "green". The better they mature and dry off in the field, the longer they keep in the storage facility. That is why August patience pays back in February, when batches from the store still look freshly harvested. {% /callout %} ## The sets are sold, continuity of supply is working It is worth adding that August is by no means a month without onions on sale here. Onions grown from sets, harvested from early summer, have been going out to buyers for weeks and fill the window between the old and the new harvest. Thanks to them, our customers do not have to hunt for produce from middlemen at the turn of summer: one agreement with us covers the whole year, from sets, through the fresh harvest, to batches from the store in winter and spring. Meanwhile the rest of our roughly 400 hectares of vegetables is at work in the fields: the potatoes are putting on bulk before the autumn harvest, the beetroot is building brix, and the green peas came off first, long ago. Eight products in the offer means no week on the farm is ever empty. ## Machines serviced, lined up in departure order The onion harvest here is a chain of machines that has to start without surprises, so August is also the time for the last checks in the workshop. We go through the whole technological line in order: - **Grimme WV 180**, our onion windrower: it lifts the rows and lays the onions into windrows to dry off, - **AVR Puma 3**, the self-propelled harvester that picks up the dried windrows, at the peak of the season up to 150 tonnes per hour, - **tractors and trailers for haulage**, because unloading happens on the move, without stopping the harvester, - **the storage facility and the sorting line**, cleaned and prepared to take in the first batches. How exactly this set works in the field, we show step by step in our post on [harvesting onions with the harvester](/blog/zbior-cebuli-kombajnem-krok-po-kroku), and all the machines can be seen in our [machinery park](/park-maszynowy). {% captionedImage src="/images/galleryPage/7.webp" alt="A red working machine beside windrows of onions in the field" caption="Lifted onions drying off in windrows. The most important free treatment of the whole season." /%} ## The storage facility airs out before the season Before the first trailer of onions rolls into the yard, the 13,000 tonne storage facility has to be empty, clean and technically sound. August is the moment to check the fans, the ducts and the controls, because freshly harvested onions go straight after intake to [curing, which takes 2-4 days](/blog/dosuszanie-cebuli-przed-przechowywaniem). A ventilation failure mid-season would cost the quality of whole batches, so we would rather find the faults now. At the same time, on the commercial side, we are closing the delivery calendar for autumn and winter: buyers who want guaranteed volume from the new harvest are booking batches right now. ## What this means for buyers For our buyers, August has one key meaning: it is the last moment to set up new-harvest onion deliveries calmly, before the seasonal rush begins. Prices for contracts signed before harvest are set on current market prices, and we match sizes and packaging to the buyer's line. You will find the full overview of varieties, sizes and packaging in our [onion offer](/oferta/cebula), and the best way to start booking volume from this year's harvest is a message through the [contact form](/kontakt). ## Frequently asked questions ### When does the direct-sown onion harvest start in Żuławy? The main harvest of spring-sown onions falls at the turn of August and September. The exact date depends on the variety, the field and the weather, and the signal of readiness is the tops breaking over. ### What happens to the onions right after lifting? The onions lie in windrows in the field and dry off, and once the harvester picks them up they go to the storage facility, where they are cured with warm air for 2-4 days. Only then do they move into long-term storage. ### Can onions from the new harvest still be ordered before it starts? Yes, August is the best moment. We take volume bookings for autumn and winter before the harvest starts, and we calculate prices on current market prices. ### Why do you not harvest the onions earlier? Because immature onions store badly. Maturing and drying off in the field is the condition for batches to last in the storage facility until spring.