Planting onion sets in spring is a painstaking process, although you cannot call it too complicated. It is important to choose the right beds for the crop, prepare the bulbs and plant them correctly in the ground. It is necessary to maintain the timing of planting, on this largely depends on productivity. Harvest sevoc on their own from onions grown last year by seeds. If this is not possible, it is easy to buy bulbs in the market or in the agricultural store.
If onions used to grow on the site, the next time it is allowed to plant them in that place after 3-5 years, otherwise the chance of infection of plants with diseases specific to them will increase. Pests that love onions also remain in the soil. In addition, plants take away many trace elements from the soil. If you plant the same crop in the same place, its productivity will decrease, neither a large head, nor a good feather will be able to grow.
If you decide to plant the onion sets in the spring, it is better to prepare the site in the fall. To do this, add compost or overripe manure to the soil, then dig up the soil to a depth of about 15-20 cm. If the soil in the garden is acidic, you need to additionally sprinkle the bed with dolomite flour, limestone, crushed chalk or wood ash.
In spring only mineral fertilizers are applied to the bed. Their number should be moderate: onions do not like too much nourished soil. For example, with an excess of nitrogenous components, the turnip grows weakly, all the power goes into the pen. Too much superphosphate or wood ash can burn the roots, slow down the growth of bulbs and feathers. Together with fresh humus, fungal diseases are often brought in, therefore this fertilizer is applied only in the fall.
Planting time
To grow a good turnip from the onion sets, get plentiful greens, it need to be planted at the right time. In many ways, they depend on the region. In the Leningrad Region, the Urals, the Moscow Region and Belarus, it is best to plant turnips in May. By that time there are no frosts, the air temperature rises to 10-15 ° C, and the soil warms up to 7-8 ° C.
In the south, onions are planted faster in the ground. For example, in the Kuban, Ukraine, in Moldova, you can plant sowing in the second decade of April. Pre-warm the soil, covering it with a film. If the air temperature during planting is too high, about 20 ° C, the onion will grow in the feather, but at the same time give too little head.When planting in the early stages, both the bulb and the greens develop poorly, arrows quickly appear.
If you grow onions in the greenhouse, you can plant them there at any time, the timing does not matter. If there is heating, the crop is harvested year-round. When the greenhouse is not heated, sowing is allowed in it from the second decade of March. Many farmers prefer to plant onions according to the lunar calendar, but it is everyone’s business to believe in signs or not.
Preparing the onions for planting
to get a good harvest onions, it must be properly prepared before planting. Bulbs of medium size weighing 4-6 g are selected. Too small give little green and a small turnip. Large quickly shoot arrows. They should be planted only if you want to grow seedlings in the future.
After sorting, you need to trim the tips, then it will be better to grow a feather and develop a bulb. If the planting material is bought in a store, it is sure to be dried, then the turnip is heated to activate growth processes. There are several options:
- Holding the sevka at a temperature of 20 ° C for 2-3 days, then another 8-10 hours at a temperature of 30-40 ° C.
- Soaking with water with a temperature 50 ° C for 10-15 minutes.
- Soaking with water at a temperature of 70 ° C for 2 minutes.
It is advisable to treat the heated planting material with antiseptics.You can protect against onion flies by lowering each head in a saturated salt solution. Manganese and copper sulfate well protect against fungi. To prepare a solution of copper sulfate take 1 tbsp. liters and diluted in 10 liters of water. The potassium permanganate solution should be slightly pink. It is necessary to disinfect sevs for 15-20 minutes. Before planting, the bulbs must be dried.
Planting the onion sets
How to plant the onion sets in the spring? After preparing the bulbs, you need to dig a bed. The earth is dug up to the size of 1 shovel. Be sure to remove all weeds that can drown out cultivated plants. A few days before planting make mineral fertilizers. Their composition can be as follows (calculated per 1 sq. M):
- Nitrous compounds – 1 tbsp. l for 10 liters of water. Contribute when sowing is grown on greens and feather.
- Superphosphate – 1 tbsp. l for 10 liters of water. They make it when they grow onions on turnips.
- Wood ash – 1 cup per 10 liters of water.
It is advisable to make the garden high, especially when the site is located in the country in the lowland. Plant the onion as follows:
- Dig grooves to a depth of 3-4 cm.
- Between each groove should be at least 15-20 cm.
- Each head is deepened into the ground separately, at a distance of 7-8 cm from each other.
- Sprinkle turnips with earth.
- Lightly tamp the soil.
If it’s cold outside, cover the bed with a film for a couple of days. Such simple care will increase germination and protect the bulb from diseases and pests. It is advisable to plant first large bulbs, and then small ones. Arrows may form from large ones. They are left if they plan to plant onion seeds next year.
Onion care
Planting onion sets in early spring allows you to get a fresh feather in 2-3 weeks, and by the end of summer – a large head. But a good crop can be obtained only if the plants are properly maintained. During the summer, onions are watered 1-2 times a week, depending on the weather. They use a watering can with small holes.
Push the ground 3-4 cm deep. You need to do this after watering, simultaneously weeding all the weeds. It is necessary to feed it several times with wood ash or superphosphate. Fertilizers are applied for the first time when 2-3 feathers appear, then top dressing is repeated every 2-3 weeks until mid-July. It is also advisable to water the greens only until mid-July, then stop watering so that the turnips do not absorb too much moisture and are well stored in the winter.
How to grow a seed from seeds
If you do not want to buy new bulbs every year, you want to keep your favorite variety, you can try sowing and growing seeds. To do this, the largest turnip is left on the arrow. At the end of July, you will see a round head with white flowers on it.Seeds ripen in mid-August. They need to be collected and stored in the winter in a dry place with a temperature of 10-15 ° C. There can be several heads, then more seed can be collected.
Before sowing, the seeds are hardened. To do this, they are poured first with cold, then with warm water. When the water has cooled, put in the refrigerator for a day, then the seed is soaked for several days until it swells. It is useful before sowing treatment from fungi: you need to soak the seeds for 10-15 minutes in potassium permanganate. You can plant seeds on the beds in early May. The planting scheme is as follows:
- On the beds they dig grooves about 1.5 cm deep at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other.
- Seeds are planted to a depth of 1 centimeter.
- Between two seeds, the distance should be about 2 cm.
- Sprinkle the sowing soil and ram it.
When the first seedlings appear, be sure to thin out the bed. First, leave plants that are 2 cm apart, then in 3. Ultimately, the distance between the two bulbs should be 6 cm. Care for crops also includes regular weeding, top dressing and watering until mid-July. Around the middle or end of August, turnips are dug up, dried under the sun or in the attic. They are best stored in nets by hanging in a basement or a cool pantry.
The following spring, the planting material warms up, it is processed from fungi and pests, as described above. Bulb preservation is largely dependent on size and variety. Medium sized heads are best stored. If you follow all the storage rules, until spring, germination will remain in almost all onions. The quality of the material we plant depends on us.
