Growing Black Onion

Black onion is not a separate variety, but a crop grown from seeds. It is bred as a biennial or annual plant. The first option involves planting the next year sowing obtained from seeds. In the second variant, onions are sown in early spring or before winter. Also, in one year you can get large bulbs if you sow seedlings at the end of winter. In the southern regions, almost all varieties can grow large bulbs from seeds in one season. In Siberia, this is more difficult to achieve.

Black onion

Where to get seeds

Ready-made black onion seeds are sold on the market and in many specialized agricultural stores. When buying, you need to carefully look at the expiration date. Onion germination persists for 1-2 years, no more. If seeds are bought on the market, their appearance should be examined. The color of the seeds should be black, without spots and damage. At home, the seed should be soaked in potassium permanganate to neutralize the fungi.

You can grow onions on the seeds yourself. For this, large turnips are selected when planting the seedlings, the appearance of which is fully consistent with the characteristics of the variety. Bulbs are well soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate before planting. It’s nice to sow calendula and dill nearby, and a carrot on the adjacent bed: these plants disinfect the soil, counteract the damage of turnips by the onion fly.

How to collect the seeds of the onion-black onion?Around the middle of summer, onions start arrows, on which white inflorescences appear in the form of umbrellas or balls. The seeds ripen unevenly, therefore it is advised to tie the queen mother with gauze or put on a nylon sock, then the seed can be collected without loss. When all seeds have ripened, the heads are cut. If the weather is rainy, you can do this 1-2 weeks earlier and dry the queen cells in the room

After collecting the seeds are separated from the husks, washed under running water, then blot with a napkin, sprinkled on newspapers to dry. Only well-dried seeds can survive the winter. Store the material in a sealed container, in a dry place, at a temperature of 15-18 ° C. It is advisable to plant it next year.

Preparing the seeds for planting

Before planting the black onion, it is necessary to prepare and germinate the seeds. Preparation consists of the following stages:

• Disinfection. The seed is soaked in a light pink solution of potassium permanganate for 30 minutes or in a solution of ash (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water) for half a day.
• Check for germination. Seeds are placed on a damp cloth, placed on a windowsill or in another bright and warm place. Normal germination of seeds is 70-80%, after a year it drops by half, and after 2 years it disappears almost completely.
• Disinfection and germination of the remaining seeds.

Seeds germinate when in this way after about 2 weeks.To accelerate the appearance of sprouts, seeds can be soaked for a day in a solution of Epin or another rooting stimulant. The method of germination in plastic bags has proven itself: wet seeds are put in a bag of polyethylene, filled with air and put in a warm place. The first roots of the sprouts appear after 4-5 days.

Preparation of the garden

In order for the cultivation of black onion to be successful, you need to properly prepare the garden for it. The best culture grows on the ground, where last year were planted legumes, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin. You can not plant onions 2 times in the same place, the break should be 4-5 years. It also grows poorly after carrots and garlic, although it is necessary to plant carrots nearby: it counteracts infection with the onion fly.

Preparation of the garden should begin in the fall. The place is carefully excavated and fertilizers of the following composition (per 1 m²) are applied:

• humus – 0.5 buckets;
• superphosphate – 20-30 g;
• potassium chloride – 20-30 g.

In the spring, they again dig up a bed, clear the soil of weeds. Weeds must be cleaned carefully so that they do not drown out the crops later. You can fertilize the ground again before planting. To do this, take:

• Option number 1 – nitrophoska (50-60 g).
• Option number 2 – carbamide (20 g), superphosphate (5-10 g)
• Option number 3 – wood ash (2 cups), urea (20 g)

You can buy ready-made complex fertilizers, make them into the ground according to the instructions. Each gardener chooses the best option for himself. The place for planting black onion is light and dry, preferably on a hill. The bed is raised above the ground, forming a mound 10-15 cm high.

Planting an onion

When to plant a chernushka on open ground? It is best to do this until mid-April, then until the end of summer you can get well-matured large turnips. If the yard is still cold, you can warm the ground for several days under a film. The landing stages are as follows:

• Make grooves on the bed 2-2.5 cm deep at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other.
• If the weather is dry, water the grooves with water.
• At the bottom of the grooves you can pour light sand mixed with salt. Sand will allow you to better see the seeds, and salt will prevent damage to the onion fly.
• Sow dill onions thickly, this plant does not grow well with a rare planting.
• You need to deepen the seeds into the ground by 1 -2 cm.
• Sprinkle a thin layer of earth on top.
• Tamp the garden bed so that it does not lose its shape from the rain, retains moisture well.

If you sprinkle the bed with salt, you can water the crops with salt solution in a couple of days. To do this, take 300 g of salt and dissolve in 10 l of water.Top landing can be crushed with humus or compost, but only if they were not brought into the ground for the winter. How to plant onions in the ground, you can see the photo and video.

Growing seedlings

Onions need to be sown on seedlings in February. Soil is poured into the tank, it is best to use a mixture of sod land and humus in equal parts. The soil should be moist, but not wet. Before sowing, it can be fried in the oven at 60-80 ° C for 10 hours, for disinfection. Another option is to pour a weak solution of potassium permanganate. After processing the soil, it is recommended to freeze it.

For growing seedlings, it is best to take annual varieties. Suitable for this:

• Stuttgart rizen;
• One-year Siberian;
• Exibishen;
• Danilovsky 301;
• Strigunovsky;
• Red Baron;
• Mayachkovsky 300;
• One-year Hawsky;
• Odintsovets;
• Spirit F1;
• Early pink.

Preparation of seeds before planting onion sets for seedlings is carried out in the same way as before planting in open ground. Sowing black onion in a box is best done with tweezers. Furrows are made at a distance of 5 cm from each other, the distance between two seeds is 2-3 cm, the immersion depth is 1 centimeter. If different varieties are sown in a box, a label with their name is attached at the beginning of each row.

Seedling care is simple.From time to time they brush the soil, weeds are removed, watered as necessary, approximately 2-3 times a week. When the onion feather reaches a height of 15-20 cm, the seeds are planted in the garden. It is best to do this in early May, when there is no longer a strong threat of frost. Bulbs gently pulled out of the ground, pinch the roots. Pits are made in the garden, the optimal distance between them is 7-8 cm.

Sowing onions for the winter

Planting the cherries onions at home for seedlings requires space. Transferring plants to the garden is a waste of time. When can I plant black onion so as not to waste time and extra effort? In order to get a full-fledged harvest, juicy greens and a large turnip in the next years, sow onions not in spring but in autumn. The seeds of this culture are not afraid of frost, they survive the winter perfectly. Crop care is not needed. The first shoots appear already in late March. Since the onion vegetation lasts 130 days, by the next fall it will not grow a shallow sowing, but full-fledged large bulbs.

To plant spring onions, you need to wait for the first frosts. The bed is prepared in the same way as in the spring planting. It is advisable to treat the seed with potassium permanganate, but not soak in water or growth stimulants, it is better to sow them dry. In the grooves, the seeds are deepened by 2 cm, sprinkled with soil on top and rammed. In the spring, after the first shoots appear, the onions are thinned out. The optimal distance between two bushes should be 7-8 cm.

Growing onions

Growing onions only partially depends on the method of planting. In any case, the plant needs care, it must be watered, weed, fed and fight pests and diseases. Watering onions should be regular, 1-2 times a week, more often watered in dry weather. In dry land, the plant “hibernates.”The feather is weak, and the onions are small. Watering is completed in mid-June so that the bulbs do not collect too much moisture, otherwise they will deteriorate in winter.

After watering, you need to fluff the ground and remove weeds. They do this already when the first sprouts appear, otherwise the weeds will drown out the weak onion feathers. As the stems grow, they are thinned out. First, 2 cm between the two plants is left, then the distance is increased to 3-4 cm, at the end – up to 6 cm. After thinning, the torn black onion goes to the greenery.

Fertilize twice a season. This significantly increases the yield of onions. The first top dressing is:

• mullein, diluted in a proportion of 1:10;
• ammonium nitrate – 1 tbsp. l 10 liters of water.

About two weeks after the first, a second top dressing is performed. Here is the amount of fertilizer to be added to the earth:

• Superphosphate – 20-30 g per 10 liters of water.
• Potassium chloride – 10-15 g per 10 liters of water.

Calculation of fertilizers is given for 1 m² of bed area. In addition to the above options, ready-to-feed supplements are used, diluted according to the instructions.

Harvesting

Sowing and growing black onion ends with harvesting. Harvesting is carried out in early September, when the onion greens completely yellow and dries. Bulbs are carefully dug out so as not to damage the scales, then they are dried for several days in the sun or under a canopy.If it is cold outside or raining, chernushka is dried indoors.

Keep sevok until next year in a cool and dry place. Can be folded into plastic bags with holes and put on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Sometimes onions are put in a box, sprinkled with dry sand and put in the basement. Next year, in the spring, sowing can be planted in the beds.

As you can see, obtaining seeds and good onion sets is a simple process. It is cheaper to grow a culture in this way than to buy onions annually in the market. The main condition is to keep the seed until next year. This applies to both turnips and seeds.