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Onions are a very useful crop, known since ancient times. The history of culture goes back 6 thousand years. The following historical facts are known about it: the builders of the pyramids were fed onions so that they remained healthy and strong. Ancient Greek athletes used vegetables in their diet in preparation for the Olympic Games. In Rus' it was grown in all regions, and it has been known for a long time.
Eating onions protects during colds, thanks to the phytoncides, essential oils and vitamin C it contains. The vegetable cleanses the blood, stimulates appetite, and is widely used in cosmetology and folk recipes. It is used everywhere in the preparation of various culinary dishes.
Every self-respecting gardener will definitely provide himself and his family with healthy vegetables. Therefore, during the planting period on a personal plot, this plant is never forgotten. The question of how to properly plant onions worries gardeners long before the start of the planting season.
When to plant onions
There is no exact answer to the question of when to plant onions in the spring. You should focus on the climatic conditions of your region. There are warm and early springs, then it is quite possible to plant onions at the end of April. But natural disasters also occur in the form of snowfall at the end of April, which delays the planting of onions.
Planted onions tolerate low temperatures well. The root system of the bulbs is developing, and the green part may slow down a little in growth. But among gardeners there is an opinion that spring is too early planting onions leads to the formation of arrows in the future. Such bulbs are poorly stored and have an unsightly presentation.
If the soil warms up more, the green part will grow rapidly to the detriment of the roots, which will not have the best effect on the future harvest.
The motivation for winter planting is as follows: bulbs that are too small dry out over the winter and become unviable. And in this way they are preserved in the soil, in the spring they will not shoot up and will grow to a decent size.
Planting onions spring is a responsible matter, especially when choosing a planting date you should be extremely careful. It is at first that good yield indicators are laid.
Preparation of planting material
Most often, gardeners purchase planting material in the form of small onions so that large onion heads will grow from them. This is the so-called onion set. You can get it yourself from seeds, but the process of planting and growing is quite complex and labor-intensive. Moreover, the resulting small bulbs still need to be able to be preserved until the next planting season. Therefore, most people buy ready-made planting material.
Before planting, it is imperative to prepare the bulbs. First, you need to sort them out, remove rotten, dried out, deformed, damaged specimens.
The simplest action is to soak the onion in a cherry solution of potassium permanganate for 30-40 minutes or in a solution of copper sulfate (35 g per bucket of water). Both substances disinfect planting material. Some gardeners pre-soak the bulbs before planting in a saline solution (2 tablespoons of table salt per 2 liters of water) for 3 hours, then washed and soaked in potassium permanganate for 3 hours.
Another tip: soak the onions first in warm water (15 minutes), then in cold water (15 minutes), and then in a solution of mineral fertilizers for 5 hours before planting.
There are also modern preparations for processing planting material. These are all kinds of plant growth stimulants (Epin, Zircon, Amulet and others).
Preparatory measures are aimed at preventing damage to the bulbs by pests, returning them lost moisture during the storage period and, of course, increasing the future harvest.
Soil preparation
Soil preparation involves choosing the right site. Onions grow well in sandy and loamy soils. That is, fairly light in structure. Heavy clay soils are not suitable for the plant, as they contribute to stagnation of water, which onions cannot tolerate at all.
The area should be sunny and well ventilated. Low-lying areas are also not suitable. Stagnation of water leads to rotting of the bulbs. Onions do not grow in acidic soils.
A simple way to determine the acidity of the soil: place a little soil on glass or porcelain and lightly water it with 9% vinegar. Look at the reaction. If a lot of foam has formed, then the soil is alkaline; if there is not much foam, then the soil is neutral; if there is no foam at all, then the soil is acidic.
You can adjust the acidity of the soil by adding slaked lime, wood ash, chalk, and dolomite flour in the fall.
Another requirement for planting onions to produce a bountiful harvest is soil fertility. To increase it, manure or humus is added in the fall. The soil is prepared for planting in advance.
This will cause rapid growth of the feather, and the underground part of the plant will not grow. So you can be left without a harvest.
Maintain crop rotation. It is undesirable for a crop to grow for several years in a row in one place; it grows best after:
- Early and cauliflower;
- Ogurtsov;
- Zucchini, pumpkin, squash;
- Early potatoes;
- Peas, beans, beans;
- Sideratov.
Bad predecessors for planting onions:
- Salad
- Carrot;
- Spices;
- Turnip;
- Radish;
- Onion;
- Garlic.
Fertilizers are applied in the fall. In spring, the soil is dug up for planting onions, freed from weed, is leveled.
How to plant onions
Onions are planted in long, narrow beds, so that later it is convenient to care for them. The height of the bed depends on the type of soil. If the soils are light, then the height is small, about 6 cm. If the soils are heavy, then the planting beds are made higher so that the soils are well warmed up and ventilated from excess moisture.
Make a furrow in the garden bed, spill it with water if the soil has dried out, and begin to plant onions. Planting pattern: 10 cm between bulbs, 20 cm between rows. The bulbs are placed in furrows to a depth of 2 cm, only slightly recessing them. Then roll the soil around.
You can plant more often if you plan to thin out the onions during the growth process, tearing them out into greens. If you arrange the onions according to size in advance, the distance between the onions can also be varied.
How to plant onions correctly, watch the video:
If you decide to grow onions from seeds, then sow in beds with very loose soil. It is better to sow at intervals of 1.5 cm. The time when you can plant onions with seeds is the same as with bulbs.
How to properly plant onions with seeds, watch the video:
Onion care
Regular onion care:
- Watering is necessary for onion plantings, especially in the first half of the growing season, once a week, depending on weather conditions; before harvesting, you should stop watering the plants 3 weeks in advance;
- Removing weeds prevents fungal diseases from developing in plantings, since the presence of weeds creates increased humidity;
- Loosening the soil after watering and weeding is necessary; do not allow the formation of a dense crust on the surface of the soil. Loosening improves the flow of oxygen to the roots of plantings;
- Fertilize the plantings with urea when the feather reaches 10 cm.
As a rule, no additional fertilizing is required. But, if the feather has begun to turn yellow, and harvesting is still far away, then the plants can be fed with the following composition of mineral fertilizers: dilute ammonium nitrate (10 g) and potassium salt (15 g) in a bucket of water (10 l). Onions also respond well to feeding with slurry (1:10) and bird droppings (1:15).
Regular care is easy.
Diseases and pests
There are about 50 onion diseases. The most common:
- Powdery mildew manifests itself in the fact that a grayish coating forms on the feathers of the crop, they turn yellow and die, and the bulb becomes deformed. Control measures: use potassium-phosphorus fertilizers, do not thicken plantings, weed on time;
- Fusarium disease manifests itself in rot of the bottom of the bulb and death of the root.Control measures: treating plants with ash infusion, purchasing high-quality planting material and preparing it before planting.
If you follow proper cultivation practices, diseases will not occur.
Plant pests are no less dangerous:
- The onion fly lays eggs in the soil near the plant and in its upper scales; the larvae penetrate inside the bulb. It stops growing and rots. Control measures: do not plant the crop in the same place, spill the soil around the plantings with a solution of table salt (300 g per bucket of water), repeat the treatment of the plants in a week;
- The onion moth is a small brown butterfly. Lays eggs on feathers, the larvae gnaw holes in them and descend into the bulbs. Plants begin to rot and die. Control measures: loosening the soil, weeding, removing plant residues in the fall.
The emergence of plant pests and diseases is much easier to prevent than to combat them. Buy high-quality planting material and be sure to disinfect it before planting.
Cleaning and storage
At the end of July and beginning of August, harvesting begins. The signal for this is yellowing and lodging of feathers. The bulbs become dry and yellow. Do not delay harvesting, as the plants will accumulate excess moisture, which can cause the bulbs to rot.
Watering is stopped 2 weeks in advance for the same reasons. Harvesting is done in dry, sunny weather to allow the bulbs to dry out. The bulbs are trimmed right away. Without fanaticism, leaving the neck not too short, otherwise the vegetable will be stored worse.
Then the grown crop is placed in a cool, shaded place for further drying, which will last for at least 2 weeks. During this time, the bulbs will need to be turned over several times.
Storage requires a dry, cool, dark place. It is difficult to meet such conditions; most of us store our crops in a city apartment. Use boxes, crates or baskets for storage. The main thing is that the container is breathable. Regularly inspect the bulbs for the appearance of rot; one specimen can very quickly affect others lying nearby.
Conclusion
Onions are a very useful crop, without which almost no dish can be prepared. And no matter how much you grow this healthy vegetable, there is always not enough of it. Planting and growing onions is not difficult, it is economically profitable, it is grown at minimal cost, and onions can be planted in various ways.
