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Increasingly, gardeners are sowing onions before winter. Autumn sowing allows you to speed up the process of crop ripening, increases productivity and improves the quality of the resulting vegetables. Onions sown in autumn are highly resistant to diseases and pests. Having completed the necessary work in the fall, the farmer saves precious time during the spring sowing period. To appreciate all these benefits and get a good harvest, you need to know which onions to plant before winter. Not all varieties of this crop are able to successfully withstand wintering, so you should choose winter crop varieties. The best varieties of winter onions We will try to describe it later in the article.
Advantages and disadvantages of winter onions
We have already listed some of the advantages of winter onions above, and we will not repeat them. But in addition to the above arguments, there are also significant advantages of autumn planting of winter onions:
- Planting material in the fall is much cheaper than in the spring.
- If the seedlings were collected independently, then autumn planting allows you not to worry about storing them in the winter.
- Winter onion heads are larger and juicier. This is due to the fact that the seedlings in the spring during the period of snow melting have the opportunity to gain the required amount of moisture.
- There is no need to water the crops until mid-May.
- Green feathers of winter onions appear in early spring and are the very first source of vitamins.
- Winter onions ripen 2-4 weeks earlier than their spring “neighbors”.
Advantages winter planting a lot, but the proposed technology for growing vegetables also has some disadvantages:
- Winter onions are stored worse than spring onions.
- For autumn sowing, you need to choose the right time, since successful wintering of plants will be ensured only if they are well rooted.
- In winter, some bulbs die due to poor quality. In the spring, empty areas of the ridge will need to be sown with fresh seedlings.
- As a result of natural selection of planting material in winter, crop yields are slightly reduced.
To eliminate some shortcomings, planting material in the fall must be carefully selected and prepared. Only healthy, small-sized bulbs are suitable for planting before winter. Large sets can be sown on greens. Before planting, the seedlings need to be treated with a saline and manganese solution. Garden soil in the fall can also harbor some pests that can eat the seedlings even before frost arrives. You can destroy them with a solution of copper sulfate.
The right approach to choosing a variety
Having decided to sow onions before winter, you need to choose a variety suitable for this. Of course, it is best to give preference to special winter varieties and hybrids, but if this is not possible, then from the general variety of varieties, you can choose the most suitable onion, taking into account the following nuances:
- Varieties with a high level of frost resistance and hybrids with short daylight hours are suitable for autumn sowing.
- The sharper the taste of a vegetable, the higher its resistance to freezing.
- It is impossible to plant “outlandish” varieties zoned for the southern regions before winter.
- Experience shows that before winter it is better to sow onions with yellow colored husks.
Thus, for pre-winter planting, it is better to choose onions that are zoned for a specific area and are highly resistant to freezing. Winter varieties obviously have all the necessary qualities for successful wintering.
Description of the best winter varieties
Farmers recommend sowing domestic, zoned onion varieties. They are genetically adapted to specific climatic conditions. But as practice shows, high resistance to bolting and freezing is also characteristic of some winter Dutch varieties. We will try to provide a description of the best types of winter onions from domestic and foreign sectionals further in the section. Based on the proposed characteristics, photos and descriptions, each farmer will be able to decide which type of onion to sow on his plot.
"Shakespeare"
This excellent onion is one of the TOP 5 best varieties of the crop. A bright representative of the Dutch selection tolerates winter well and is capable of producing an excellent mid-ripening harvest. Its important advantage is its resistance to freezing and bolting. "Shakespeare" can be safely called the best winter onion for all regions of the country.
The fruits of this variety are distinguished by excellent commercial and taste qualities.The round bulbs are tightly wrapped in brown-yellow husk; when cut, the vegetable is snow-white and juicy. The crop yield level is high: 3.5 kg/m2. The Shakespeare variety is sown only before winter. The recommended sowing period is October-November. The bulbs of this variety ripen in literally 70 days. In winter, vegetables are at rest, and begin to grow at temperatures above +50C and a photoperiod duration of 10 hours or more.
"Radar f1"
Winter onion variety "Radar f1" is a hybrid of Dutch selection. Its main qualities are similar to the description of the Shakespeare variety. A distinctive advantage is the size of the grown bulbs (up to 300 g). A comparative disadvantage is the likelihood of bolting after suffering winter frosts with temperatures below -150WITH.
"Centurion f1"
A very productive hybrid, capable of producing up to 8 kg of vegetables per 1 m2 land area. "Centurion f1" is not a winter crop, but is highly resistant to freezing and bolting. You can safely sow it before winter and enjoy lush greenery in the spring. Onions need only 70-77 warm days to ripen.
The weight of each Centurion bulb is approximately 110 g. The surface of the vegetable is tightly covered with yellow-brown husk. When cut, the vegetable is yellowish.
"Stuttgarten Riesen"
The main advantage of this variety is its excellent keeping quality.Large bulbs, weighing up to 300 g, can be stored in a dry, well-ventilated area until the next harvest. “Stuttgarten Riesen” onions are mid-season with high taste and commercial qualities, are disease-resistant and can withstand wintering if covered with mulch.
In open areas of soil under favorable weather conditions, the variety produces a yield of 4 kg/m2. Its bulbs are large, flattened and reach 12 cm in diameter. The taste of the Stuttgarten Riesen onion is medium spicy, the purpose of the vegetable is universal.
"Sturon"
A very high-yielding onion variety that can be sown before winter. It is resistant to bolting and freezing. The variety is mid-season, grows and ripens within 100-110 warm days. Single-lobed bulbs have a dense husk, yellow-brown in color. The shape of the vegetables is round, the flesh is white.
It is recommended to sow Sturon onions before winter. In this case, the crop yield can reach 8 kg/m2. This high level is significantly achieved due to the abundance of moisture in the spring.
"Arzamas"
This variety of winter onion is the pride of domestic selection. Onions are highly resistant to freezing and bolting. It has excellent product and taste qualities and is suitable for long-term storage and transportation.
Bulbs of the Arzamas variety are small, weighing no more than 100 grams. Seeds planted in autumn will ripen by mid-summer. The yield of the variety is average, 3.5 kg/m2.
"Strigunovsky"
Another variety of domestic selection that can be planted before winter. Small fruits weigh about 80 g and ripen in 90-100 days. The taste and commercial quality of the vegetables are good. The yellowish pulp of the vegetable has a pungent taste.
If all the basic rules for growing a crop are observed, the farmer will be able to get about 3 kg of Strigunovsky variety vegetables from 1 m2 area of the site.
"Kip-Val"
This variety of onion is not inferior to Shakespeare. It is also the brainchild of Dutch selection and is excellent for sowing before winter. Mid-early onions have a consistently high yield of 6-7 kg/m2 and high resistance to shooting.
The vegetables are quite large, covered with a yellow-brown dense husk. The weight of each fruit can vary from 150 to 250 g. The harvest has a medium-sharp taste and is well stored.
It is generally accepted that onions with yellow husks are the most winter-hardy, but there are exceptions. If you want to see a red or white vegetable on your table, then you should pay attention to the following varieties that can be sown before winter, provided the beds are mulched:
"Red Baron"
The onion has an excellent appearance: its husk is deep red, and in the cross section you can also see alternating red and white rings. The vegetable is quite spicy and aromatic and can complement a fresh salad or canned pickle.
The bulbs are medium in size, weighing no more than 150 g. The yield of the variety is 3.2-3.8 kg/m2. Manufacturers recommend sowing Red Baron onions in early spring, but as practice shows, sowing onions before winter is preferable because it allows you to increase the yield and prevent the development of certain diseases.
"Snowball"
White onions of Dutch selection are highly resistant to bolting and freezing, so they can be safely sown before winter. In addition to rare external qualities, the variety is characterized by a semi-sharp taste, average fruit weight (140 g) and a fairly high yield of 6 kg/m2. When planted in spring, the variety cannot resist powdery mildew and neck rot. Sowing the Snowball seed before winter allows you to avoid these problems.
Conclusion
To decide which onions are best to plant before winter, you can be guided not only by the description above, but also by the recommendations offered in the video:
The video contains the names and some characteristics of the best varieties of Dutch selection. Some of the varieties proposed in the video are “colored”, including the farmer demonstrating and offering “Snowball” and “Red Baron” for winter sowing.
Growing winter onion varieties is quite simple if you choose a good variety of this crop. Onion varieties for planting before winter should have a high level of resistance to bolting and severe frosts. The best variety for sowing in the fall can be called “Shakespeare”. It is this onion that can withstand the lowest temperatures. Even without snow cover, it is able to maintain its quality at a temperature of -180C. For the remaining proposed varieties, this indicator is at the level of -150C. The difference in indicators is small, and creating a mulch shelter will not be particularly difficult for an experienced farmer, but it will help preserve the crops. That is why some gardeners plant “colored” onions of foreign selection, which are not winter ones. Under reliable peat cover, even some fastidious varieties demonstrate their best qualities for next year.
