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One of the main crops grown in our gardens is onions. We eat it all year round and use it almost every day. Growing onions is easy, but in order to get a good harvest, you cannot leave them without attention. This root crop has its own specific diseases and is affected by pests. If you do not recognize them in time and do not take action, the turnip will grow small and will not be stored for long.
Onions remove little fertilizer from the soil, their agronorm is only 19. Many owners ignore fertilizing, do not fight pests, arguing that they want to get an environmentally friendly product, and then are surprised at the meagerness of the harvest. We do not advocate the thoughtless use of chemistry in unlimited quantities, but we note that neither the laws of nature nor agricultural technology have been canceled. Onion feeding ammonia does not lead to the accumulation of nitrates, and also protects it from pests. This article will tell you how to use it.
Fertilizing onions with ammonia
Ammonia, or ammonia, is a clear liquid with a strong pungent odor, which is ammonium hydroxide dissolved in water.In fact, it is a nitrogen fertilizer, easily and quickly absorbed by plants, and when used in reasonable doses does not lead to the accumulation of nitrates. Not all crops are affected by ammonia; for example, seedlings absorb it almost completely, but it has almost no effect on strawberries.
Onions are one of those plants that absorb ammonia nitrogen well. Using different dosages, you can use ammonia solution for root and foliar feeding.
Ammonia in pest control
Using ammonia, we not only feed the onion, but also fight its main pests. Insects cannot tolerate the smell of ammonia even in minimal concentrations.
To repel onion flies, it is enough to water the row spaces every week in June-July with an ammonia solution prepared from 10 liters of water and 1 tablespoon of ammonia.
The secretive proboscis, which is the most dangerous pest of onions, requires watering the plantings twice - the first time at the beginning of bolting, the second time 2 weeks later. To do this, 25 ml of ammonia are dissolved in 10 liters of water.
Fertilizing onions with ammonia
It is believed that it is impossible to overfeed a plant with an ammonia solution, and its overdose does not lead to the accumulation of nitrates. But ammonia is a caustic compound; it can simply burn turnips or feathers at high concentrations. Excess nitrogen fertilizers always leads to negative consequences - the development of green mass to the detriment of bulb growth, promotes the development of putrefactive bacteria and reduces shelf life.
When do you need ammonia?
First of all, ammonia is used to fertilize onions when there is an urgent need to add nitrogen - it’s not for nothing that foliar feeding is called fast. Usually the white tips of the leaves are garlic and onions we take for nitrogen starvation. In fact, there may be several reasons and they should be distinguished:
- If only the tips of the leaves turn white, the feathers are even and of normal green color, then the onion lacks copper. Ammonia will not help here - you need to spray the rows with a copper-containing preparation.
- The feather not only turns white at the top, but also curls slightly - a lack of potassium. You can use any potash fertilizer, even one containing chlorine - onions and garlic tolerate it well.
- The entire stem turns white - frost. Here you need fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizer, which can also be ammonia.
- The onion feathers have acquired a yellowish or light green tint, and not just the white tips - actually a lack of nitrogen. An ambulance is needed here; no fertilizer can do the job better or faster than ammonia.
Of course, the white tops of the leaves can serve a sign of acidic soil, but we hope that you did not make such an unforgivable mistake and deoxidized the soil before planting the turnip. If not, add calcium nitrate, dolomite flour or lime. But this will only help cope with excess acidity, and onions require slightly alkaline soils. Water the bed with wood ash, preparing a solution at the rate of 2 cups per bucket of water.
Preparation of ammonia working solution
In order not to burn either the leaves or the onion with caustic ammonia, it is important to prepare the solution correctly. We give recipes for its preparation, assuming that you use 25% pharmaceutical preparation.
- For watering at the root 3 tbsp. l. ammonia dissolved in 10 liters of water.
- For spraying take 5 tbsp. l. ammonia per 10 liters of water.
The point of spraying is to ensure that the active substance remains on the onion feathers for as long as possible. To do this, add an adhesive to the working solution, which is sold in any store or shopping center that sells fertilizers. But there is no need to buy it; we have everything we need to prepare it at hand.
- Add liquid soap or laundry soap pre-dissolved in a small amount of hot water to the ammonia mixture for spraying.
- If you are growing onions for plumes, you should not use soap. Add 2 tbsp to a bucket of water. l. dry mustard.
- You can use the cheapest flea shampoo for dogs as an adhesive for a solution of ammonia, but only if you do not eat greens.
Fertilizer and treatment rules
Ammonia is a volatile compound. If you process onions using a sprayer, you simply will not deliver the working substance to the leaves in the required quantity. Water the plants using a watering can with regular holes (the spray should be visible and not too small).
Foliar treatment with ammonia is carried out in dry, windless weather early in the morning, at sunset or in cloudy weather. Pour water over the onion feathers, being careful not to raise the watering can too high. If you have a large plantation and you carry out all treatments using a sprayer, switch it to spray (look at the instructions, even the most primitive manual preparations must have this function).
If you are growing onions for turnips, first water it with a solution of ammonia at the root, then give 2-3 foliar treatments, and then just water. When the feathers begin to dry out, stop feeding nitrogen completely.
Precautionary measures
As we noted above, ammonia is a caustic substance. It, of course, is sold in pharmacies and is a medicine, and a cotton swab moistened with a drop of ammonia, thanks to its pungent odor, can revive an unconscious person. A drop! We prepare fertilizer for onions using this substance in fairly large quantities. Contact with skin, mucous membranes, or inhalation of ammonia vapor can lead to serious consequences.
Simply wearing latex gloves and a regular respirator is not enough. You should tuck your hair under a hat, wear safety glasses, a plastic apron and a gas mask or a special respirator that allows you to work with caustic volatile substances. Keep others at a safe distance.
Despite all its harmlessness, after a short period of time, at the time of use, this volatile, caustic compound can cause enormous harm to your body. You need to be extremely careful with ammonia.
Conclusion
Ammonia can be used as an ambulance for onions and garlic if there is a lack of nitrogen. It does not turn into nitrates even with an overdose, but it can burn the plant.Do not forget about a sense of proportion and safety rules - this will allow you to obtain environmentally friendly products at minimal cost. Have a good harvest!
