Content:
What is an onion set? This planting material is a seedling obtained by growing from seeds. A seedling is needed to get a harvest of onions. Gardeners either grow it themselves from nigella, or buy it in the spring before planting. The second option is less troublesome, since storing the seedling is not easy, and the process of growing and collecting is laborious. Regardless of whether your material is from gardeners or purchased, you need to properly prepare this onion for planting, and plant it correctly in order to get a good harvest of this basic food product.
Selection criteria for onion sets
The parameters by which the choice of a variety released in a given region is made are taste characteristics, shape, resistance to weather conditions. When choosing a set, you need to feel the smell that comes from the bulbs. It should smell like an onion, but not damp, rot, or mold.
A good quality set should rustle when poured. The bulbs should be free of traces of pests, diseases or damage, as well as mechanical damage. Hull color is uniform without spots.
Bulb size plays an important role. Sevki are small-nested, medium-nested and multi-nested. The last two groups are planted in the spring, the first group can be planted before winter. The size of this set is 10-15 mm.
Onions do not belong to picky crops, but, like any garden plant, they require attention. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the ecology and climatic conditions of the growing areas (middle lane, the Urals, Siberia) and create the most favorable climate for the bulb beds. In this case, they will respond with a good harvest.
Soil preparation
In early spring, after the end of the frost, onion sets are planted in the prepared soil. There are folk signs according to which the sevok is planted during the flowering of bird cherry, in the spring month of May. The soil for planting is prepared in the fall. It must be loose so that air can flow to the roots of the plant. The site for planting should be lit, warmed up by the sun during the day.
First of all, you should take into account the laws of crop rotation. Onions grow well in the beds where peas, cabbage, pumpkins, radishes, zucchini, cucumbers used to grow in the season. Poor predecessors at the proposed seedling planting site are garlic, tomatoes and carrots. This should be taken into account so as not to be disappointed in the fall without receiving the expected harvest.
Another important condition for a good harvest is the right choice of onion variety that is suitable for growing in a particular region. The last one is the rules of agricultural technology. Gardeners using organic matter on their site bring rotted manure into the autumn digging. It is not recommended to apply fresh manure, as it may contain a large amount of weed seeds. Complex fertilizers, which include potash and phosphorus fertilizers, are applied in the spring in several stages.Onions are not very fond of the high concentration of mineral fertilizers. A powerful, beautiful onion grows on fertile good soil.
Methods for preparing onion sets for sowing
In addition to the above soil preparation, you need to know how to prepare the onion sets for planting in the spring. Planting material is usually prepared in the fall. If this is an onion set grown from nigella, you need to store it at the correct temperature in a room without high humidity.
Using the rich experience of vegetable growers and their recommendations, before planting a seedling in the soil, you need to sort the planting material by size. After that, carry out a comprehensive treatment: to disinfect and treat the seedling with phytosporin from onion diseases, bacteria and fungus; to take measures to prevent rotting of the turnip, as well as to increase resistance to all kinds of pests and disasters of nature.
From a seed sorted by size, you can immediately use a very small (wild oat), which is difficult to store until spring, and use it for winter sowing. Also in the winter planting is the so-called onion-picks, the diameter of which is up to 3.5 cm. The heads of this onion are not used in cooking, it goes on a green feather in the spring.
Warming up method
Planting material purchased in the store must be dried by scattering the onion in a warm place at room temperature +20 - + 24 ° С. If the onion is grown by gardeners and was stored for the entire period before planting at a low temperature of + 18 ° C, it also needs to be warmed up in order to start the growth processes. The heating method prevents the formation of arrows in the future, as well as various onion diseases.
Warming up should be started two to three weeks before planting from a temperature of 20 ° C. The next stage of heating is up to 10 hours at a temperature of 30-40 ° C. Overheating of the seed should not be allowed, otherwise its germination will noticeably decrease.
Soaking method
Another method of preparing for sowing is to soak. This is an important point, since the onion sets are disinfected, which is necessary for growing a healthy turnip. The seedling should be immersed in hot water for 10-15 minutes. It is better to do this in a net so that it is convenient to take it out of a dish filled with water. Water temperature - from 45 to 50 ° С. After this sharp heating, drain the water, cool the onion sets with cold water.
Growth stimulation
Regardless of the heating method, experienced gardeners recommend stimulating the growth of the pre-sowing material with drugs such as, for example, Humisol, Zircon, Epin-Extra or others. How much to stain onion heads in a chemical solution is indicated on the instructions for the preparations.
In addition, vegetable growers, as an option, recommend soaking the seedlings in a solution of complex fertilizers for five hours. The dosage is as follows: for 5 liters of water, a teaspoon of complex fertilizer for vegetables.
Currently, there are enough drugs that accelerate the distillation of roots and disinfect the head of the onion, they are always available in specialized stores. Growth stimulants are good help to speed up emergence and increase yields.
Traditional methods of preparing onion sets
Before planting, preventive work is carried out with the planting material in order to prevent all kinds of diseases of the bulb turnip. For this, the planting material is soaked for 15 minutes in a prepared solution of copper sulfate, at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water. A weak solution of potassium permanganate is a good disinfectant material. This method has been proven by many years of onion gardeners' experience. Soaking the onion in these solutions prevents microorganisms and fungal spores from entering the ground along with the planting material.
Wood ash treatment
Another method from the popular practice of preparing onion sets for planting in spring is to process the planting material with wood ash, rich in potassium. In the prepared ash water (for 5 liters of water - 250 grams of ash), lower the onion for 5-7 minutes. Dry in the sun and start planting. Why is this method of preparing sets good? Ash processing helps to grow a good harvest, protects against various types of rot, makes the seedling stronger, raising its immunity. In addition, it is a natural fertilizer with a mass of microelements, which, with the planting material in dried husks, enter the soil and give a start to the development of the plant.
Saline treatment
Do not forget about such a proven "grandmother's method" of dealing with onion fly, like soaking the planting material in a saline solution. Reviews about this method are only positive. It consists in the following: the seedling warms up for 5-7 days at room temperature, after which the onion needs to be salted for 3 hours in a salt solution, at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water. Next, the seedling is washed and dried. He's ready to land. On such a disinfected planting material, the fly does not lay eggs, that is, the death of seedlings is prevented. This method will protect the culture from ticks and thrips - fringed pests. Gardeners recommend watering the beds with a lower concentration of saline solution before planting, in order to disinfect the soil. But this procedure is done once, so as not to spoil the soil for a long time.
Trimming the tops of a sevets onion
The popular methods of accelerating the germination of the shoot include cutting off the top of the head. With proper pruning, the soaking procedure is more effective, since it is easier for the solution to penetrate between the scales of the seedlings. You can trim the sevok in different ways, depending on the final goal:
- When grown for greens, 1/3 of the top is cut off so that the feather of the onion sprouts unhindered and quickly;
- When growing a root crop, only the top is cut off, without affecting the white part;
- To accelerate the growth and development of the root system, both the upper part and the bottom are cut off.
How preparation of onion sets affects the harvest
Currently, many gardeners in their personal plots and dachas are switching to natural, organic farming - a complete rejection of chemistry. Using the example of preparing onion seedlings for planting, it is clear that it is quite possible to do without chemicals by using folk methods of preparing seedlings, as well as by introducing organic matter into the soil instead of chemical fertilizers.
You can ignore the advice of gardeners and not carry out preliminary preparation before planting a seedling, but this can affect the yield and size of the turnip. You can do without heating and soaking, but, as noted by vegetable growers, the onion will go into the arrow and will not give large heads. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out pre-planting procedures with onion sets. This is what guarantees a high yield of onions.