When to harvest onions from the garden? (Pointers needed from experienced gardeners, please.)

[Halftime Hope]

I'm a newbie gardener on growing onions and potatoes, in 8A.  My white, short-day onions have all flopped over, but the tops are almost entirely still green. I pulled up about 5 out of 70 onions. Two were very soft/withered in the neck, one was decidedly still "full" of fluid, i.e. not dried out. 

I need to know when to pull them, because they're all flopped over, but quite a few look like they might need more time in-ground to wither or dry out. ??

1) How does one know when to harvest them?  Thank you!

2) Tips for drying? Inside? Outdoors? Is there such a thing as it being too hot to properly dry onions; will they rot instead of dry if the humidity is too high?

Thank you so much to anyone willing to coach a newbie! ❤️ 

ETA: I edited the subject line for coherence. 🤪

 

Edited May 20 by Halftime Hope

[Halftime Hope]

Bumping to the top. Pretty please?

[GoVanGogh]

I am a long time gardener but not an onion growing expert by any means. 
From my understanding, once the tops flop over, they will no longer be growing. I was talking to several local growers at the farmer’s market over the weekend and they were all saying that our weather has been too harsh this spring for growing onions. I am also in zone 8a. I realize it is a large swath of the nation, but in my area, we have had record rainfall and swings in temperatures, neither of which are good for in ground, bulb forming crops. 
I am harvesting the onions that have flopped over or are trying to flower. The onions are still small, but I am also using the tops. 
No tips for curing or storing, as I use them quickly or freeze for later use. 

[Faith-manor]

I am only responding in order to bump this to the top for you. No idea! Did you also post this question in the May Gardening thread? If Melissa is lurking there today, she might have an answer for you. I think she grows just about everything! She is my go to source for vegetable knowledge.

[kbutton]

We grow yellow onions to harvest as scallions primarily, but some get away from us before we can use them.We leave them until the end of summer. If we forget them then, they come back in the spring. No real waste, just different timing. I’m in 6a or 6b though.

Once harvested, if you want to store them, you need to let the outer layers dry out like paper. You kind of rub off the really dirty out layer when it dries and store them with a clean, papery layer still intact. I think they recommend “curing” them at a moderate temperature in the dry to get them to do this.