Onions have been known to mankind for a very long time, and many dishes without them would simply lose their exquisite and unique taste. Appearing more than 4 thousand years ago in Ancient Egypt, this tasty and healthy vegetable remains a favorite among crops grown by gardeners today. But we hasten to note that growing turnip onions from sets can be done not only for your own needs, but also with the aim of making a profit. What does the process of growing onions look like, and what are the features of its agricultural technology?
Process Features
The onion business, as well as growing it for your own needs, requires certain knowledge. If we talk about growing this crop as a business, then many gardeners come to this decision because they are attracted not only by the fertility of the plant, but also by the small initial cash investments in such a small business, as well as by the year-round consumer need for onions. If you delve into all the nuances of the growing process, you can easily turn it from ordinary gardening into a good business. What are the features of such a process that should be taken into account by both ordinary summer residents and those who seriously decide to start their own small business after reading our article?
It should be borne in mind that it is important to choose loose and nutritious soil for onions. It is best to prefer a normally lit area for planting it. This should not be neglected, since experts say that it is the length of natural daylight hours that is of great importance for the proper growth and full development of this vegetable crop. Also do not forget about moderate soil moisture. Watering the plant should be done during the period of intensive growth, after which the onion does not need water. Pay attention to groundwater - it should be located in an area far from the surface. During the growing process, you need to regularly weed the beds so that they are not overgrown with weeds.
If you are planning a business or growing onions for yourself, take care of planting them after predecessors such as tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, and cucumbers. It is not recommended to plant this vegetable crop where onions, garlic or carrots used to grow. Take into account the fact that onions react negatively to soils with a high level of acidity, where they may become infected with downy mildew or have poor absorption of nutrients. Our video will tell you about the features of the process in more detail.
The key advantage of growing onions as a business is that they grow in almost any climate zone. Also, when organizing their business, gardeners make sure that caring for this vegetable will not require too much effort.
Growing technique
Today, the following methods of growing onions are known: sowing seeds in the ground, seedling method, sowing sets and the vegetative way (it is also called multi-bud onion). If we talk about the regions of our country, it is worth noting that residents of the southern regions of Russia prefer to grow turnips by sowing seeds, and in the middle zone they use the seedling method or plant turnip sets. The vegetative method is most often used only by residents of the northern regions of our country.
What does the technology for growing everyone’s favorite vegetable look like, which will also be useful for those who decide to start a business? The first step is to decide on the choice of a good quality onion variety and prepare the soil for planting. When preparing the land in the fall, you not only need to get rid of weeds, but also feed it with superphosphate, and also dig it up. In early spring, cultivation technology involves pre-planting soil fertilization.
To do this, you will need humus, which is added at the rate of about 6 kg per square meter. After which the beds are dug up and formed. Complex fertilizing is also sprinkled on them - nitroammophoska and wood ash have proven themselves to be excellent. The soil is also shed with a solution of copper sulfate, after which it is covered with film until the seed is planted. Our video will tell you more about the technique of growing onions.
Growing onions traditionally occurs in several stages - in the first year it is customary to sow seeds, which are called nigella, in the second year the onion sets obtained from it are planted. And already in the third year, in order to obtain seeds, you can plant adult bulbs. Most often, our gardeners prefer to grow onion sets, which today can be grown independently from seeds or purchased in specialized stores. This is the agricultural technology of everyone’s favorite vegetable, which occupies an honorable place in our diet.
Sowing nigella onion
It is customary to call nigella the seeds of onions, from which they then produce sets - small-sized bulbs for growing them in a two-year plant. The technology for sowing it is not as complicated as it may seem to inexperienced gardeners at first glance. First, you should select large bulbs, which are placed in the ground in early spring. Planting before winter is also possible, and mulch is also formed on the beds for protection. In summer, umbrellas with small black seeds appear from such bulbs. It is strongly recommended to plant dill and calendula on the onion bed, while the former will be able to prevent the appearance of pests, and the latter will prevent the plants from becoming infected with nematodes. Growing carrots next to nigella can prevent the appearance of the dangerous onion fly.
What is the agricultural technology of nigella? All weeds and their roots must be removed before sowing. The best predecessors for nigella are cucumbers, peas, cabbage, potatoes, and beans. If during the process of growing them the land received a sufficient amount of manure, then when sowing nigella, you can do without adding either compost or humus. If the soil for sowing is moist enough, then nigella does not need to be germinated before planting. The technology for sowing nigella allows it to be planted both in rows and scattered. Seeds should not be buried too deep in the soil - it is enough for them to be placed 2 cm from the surface.
Before the emergence of seedlings, it is necessary to properly water the beds. If you are dealing with a clayey or floating type of soil, then the crust that appears on the surface must be loosened in order to allow the sprouts to hatch normally. For the first time, seedlings need to be thinned after emergence. It is recommended to leave a distance of at least 2 cm between seedlings. Then, during the second thinning, it should be increased to 6 cm. All watering should be stopped approximately 20 days before harvesting the nigella. Experts advise growing onion varieties such as Belovezhsky, Yantarny, Spassky, Strigunovsky, Stuttgarten, Myachkovsky, Bessonovsky through nigella. Our video will tell you best about growing nigella.
How to grow from seedlings
Growing onion sets from nigella is now the most popular method among gardeners in all regions of Russia. But this method is most suitable for residents of the northern regions, where, due to the climate, the bulbs do not have the opportunity to ripen normally. That is why growing onions from seeds is so relevant and practically the only possible for them. This onion has almost 100% germination rate. Before planting, it, like nigella, should be sorted out. It is best to plant bulbs that are up to 2.5 cm in size. Seeds that you have grown yourself do not need to be preheated.
If you bought it in a store, be sure to place it in a cardboard box on the battery before planting; the warm-up time is at least 8 hours. The seedlings also need to be soaked in a complex mineral fertilizer, such as nitroammofoska. It should be dissolved in 10 liters of water. Processing time is up to 10 hours. Growth stimulants such as Epin, Zircon, Humisol have also proven themselves well. It is also recommended to disinfect the sets, and a solution of copper sulfate at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water will help you with this.
To prevent the onion from going into the shoot, it must be planted at a time when the ambient temperature rises to +10 degrees. There are some features of agricultural technology for sowing. In the northern regions of the country, it is recommended to plant it at the end of May, and in the middle zone this time falls in the middle of the month. Sowing should be done in rows, the distance between which should be about 20 cm. And between the bulbs themselves you should leave up to 10 cm. Be sure to dip the root of the bulbs in wood ash. After planting, the bulb should ideally be at a depth of about 6 cm. After planting, the soil should be sprinkled with peat. The first shoots should be expected after a week. This is the agricultural technology of sowing in a nutshell, a video about planting which you can watch here.
Care
Caring for onions that you grow either for yourself, or in order to organize a business and receive a stable income, includes several important stages. At least twice a week you need to provide your beds with sufficient moisture. Regular watering should be reduced only after a period of intensive crop growth. And a couple of weeks before harvest, they should be stopped altogether. Also, the soil must be loosened, and done as often as possible. In order for the bulbs to have the opportunity to grow well, after they become medium in size, it is recommended to clear away the soil from them. Proper care also includes weeding. It is in beds overgrown with weeds that favorable conditions are created for the development of fungal infections. And the onion may well grow a neck that is too thick, and then it will not be easy to dry it.
Caring for plantings also involves fertilizing with organic and other fertilizers. For the first time it is carried out two weeks after planting the seeds. Among organic fertilizers, bird droppings, mullein, and ammonium nitrate have proven themselves well. The first two products should be used at the rate of 1 liter per 10 liters of water, and saltpeter takes about 30 grams. The second time, with proper care, fertilizers are applied after 2-3 weeks. To do this, it is best to take chicken manure or mullein, to which superphosphate and potassium fertilizer are added - about 30 grams of each product.
The third time fertilizer is needed is when the bulbs grow to their maximum size. To do this, it is recommended to use the Breadwinner fertilizer with 1 tablespoon of superphosphate dissolved in 10 liters of water.
Another important stage of care is treatment with a solution of copper sulfate - 1 teaspoon of product, 1 tablespoon of liquid soap per 10 liters of water. This is the best prevention of fungal development in onion plants. Treatment is carried out at the rate of half a liter of solution per square meter. A mixture of tobacco dust and wood ash is also good for these purposes.
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Problems when growing onions - of course, many summer residents are engaged in growing onions, but very often, due to improper care, many problems arise that can lead to a complete lack of harvest in the future.Many gardeners believe that growing onions is very easy, but in reality this is not true. So, first of all, you should remember that crop rotation is very important for onions. Therefore, it is necessary to change the place of sowing onions every year. The optimal solution would be to plant this plant in place of cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers or tomatoes.
Onions grow very poorly in acidic soils; in such beds there may be no harvest at all. The soil reaction for the favorable development of onions should be as close to neutral as possible, so the optimal solution would be fertile loamy chernozems. Soils containing high levels of sulfur are also important for onions. For this reason, it is recommended to bait with superphosphate, ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate.
It should be noted that onions do not tolerate weeds. Therefore, it is recommended to always destroy them. At the very beginning of growth, onions will suffer greatly from insufficient watering. You should constantly loosen the soil between the beds, and also regularly water the plantings. However, it is very important to remember that watering should be done along the furrows, but in no case by sprinkling. If you choose this particular method of watering, the plant may develop downy mildew, known as peronospora.
Hilling up plants is not recommended, so the best solution would be to loosen the soil. Onions have a fairly shallow root system. It is for this reason that the soil should not be over-moistened, and watering should also be stopped three weeks before the harvest. Also during this period, fertilizing is not allowed. This period actually begins around mid-July.
When planting onions, it is very important to lay out the bulbs and under no circumstances press them into the soil. The seeds should be placed in grooves that have been prepared in advance. After this, the grooves should be sprinkled with earth.
The deficiency of certain microelements can be determined by the color of the feather. If the leaves are pale and thin, then this is a sure sign of nitrogen deficiency. When the tops of the leaves slightly wither and turn black, this indicates a phosphorus deficiency. When a plant is deficient in potassium, the leaves will turn yellow and become wrinkled. Fragile feathers combined with white spots warn that the plant lacks magnesium. If the plants themselves begin to wither and their leaves turn pale yellow, this means that it is necessary to supplement the plants with copper.
Actually, cleaning and proper storage are also very important for onions. The harvest date can be determined by the lodging of the leaves themselves. After the onion has been pulled out of the ground, it must be left in the garden bed to ripen and dry. After this, you should move the onion to a well-ventilated area.
So, the optimal day for harvesting will be dry, windy weather and bright sun. After all, this is how you can dry onions. It should be noted that the rays of the sun will also help disinfect the bulbs. Allow the onion to dry before the end of the day, and then cut off the leaves. The bulbs are transferred to a storage place, where they will dry for the required amount of time: this usually takes several weeks.
Actually, you can leave the onions to dry directly on the floor, but this room should be well ventilated. After this, the onions are placed in baskets, because this is how they will be stored for the rest of the time. It is recommended to choose wicker baskets; buckets and basins are not the best solution. In such containers, the onions will lack air, which will lead to them rotting completely over time.
Onions are one of the first plants that humans began to grow. It is about four thousand years old from the moment of cultivation and the beginning of cultivation.
It is impossible to imagine any kitchen in the world without this vegetable, because most dishes without its use seem bland and tasteless. There are quite a few varieties of onions, and each has its fans.
Each gardener has his own secrets for good ripening of onions in the garden, but the most important thing is to adhere to the correct agricultural technology in order to obtain a large harvest, whether planted in a ridge or from seeds.
Not the most fastidious plant is considered cold-resistant, grows well at temperatures of twelve to sixteen degrees Celsius, seeds germinate even at five degrees in the cold season. Spicy varieties tolerate frost better; sweet varieties can die in open ground at a few degrees of frost.
Onion responds well to watering in the first stages of growth, in the future it needs dry soil in order to ripen better. It needs more sunlight. Despite its small mass, onions require special attention to the soil composition. The soil in the garden bed should be quite loose and nutritious.
Onions should not be planted in places where groundwater is close to the surface of the earth.
Weeding of the beds must be carried out regularly, since the crop does not tolerate proximity to weeds.
The right decision would be to organize onion beds and plant vegetables in the places where they grew before. cucumbers, cabbage, tomatoes or potatoes. These are the vegetables for which organic matter is added to the soil.
Increased acidity of the soil is harmful to the plant, as it absorbs nutritional components worse and can be affected by downy mildew.
Before planting onions does not tolerate liming of soil composition, it is recommended to use wood ash.
How to grow large and good bulbs in open ground
One of five options is most often used - sets, seeds, seedlings, vegetative method, Chinese.
The Chinese way - how to plant using technology in ridges
This option might help increase productivity. The main feature is planting onions on ridges, and not in the beds themselves. The heads grown in this way are distinguished by their flattened shape and large size. The tops of the vegetable are well illuminated by sunlight and warm up, from which the onion receives good protection from the effects of rot.
It should be added that it is better to loosen and water such beds, and remove weeds from them.
You can sow at air temperatures equal to 5 degrees. The planting material must be sorted out; smaller bulbs can be planted as the soil warms up. Larger ones should be held back until May. This measure will give you the opportunity to harvest at the same time.
After sorting, the seedlings are warmed up a couple of weeks before planting. To do this, it is placed in a box and placed near the battery.
Be sure to be careful with each bulb the tail is trimmed, excess scales are removed. If you damage the growth neck, you can put the material aside. It is no longer suitable for landing.
One day before planting, the material is soaked in warm water to give impetus to the formation of the root system.
The soil for planting must be prepared in the fall. A spoonful of superphosphate, a teaspoon of nitroammophosphate, and two teaspoons of dolomite flour are added to each square of the plot. In the spring, the bed needs to be dug up again; you can add a little manure, but not too fresh.
Ridges are arranged, the height of which should be about fifteen centimeters, the interval between them is up to thirty. The sets are planted every ten centimeters to a three-centimeter depth. The seeds should not be trampled; it would be better to lightly sprinkle them with earth.
In the first month of growth, if the weather is dry, the onions should be watered twice. But this is only if it rained between waterings.
You can feed three times. In mid-May, mullein is added. In June it is the turn of potassium salt, urea and phosphate fertilizers. It is necessary to fertilize the third time at the moment when the bulbs begin to form.
Another feature of the Chinese method is that Weeding the beds is necessary as the weeds grow, which happens quite rarely.
Copper sulfate is used as a protective measure against powdery mildew.
Method of planting and sowing seeds in the soil
In mid-spring, the seed material is calibrated, more large specimens. After dry sowing, the first shoots will appear in three weeks. To speed up the process, you can soak the seeds in potassium permanganate, and after a day, scatter them on fabric and leave them alone so that they hatch. But at the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the planting material remains sufficiently moist.
Furrows are made at a distance twenty centimeters. One gram of seeds is enough for two meters of sowing, planting depth is up to three centimeters. For convenience, you can mix the seeds with sand and sprinkle the furrows with dry soil after planting.
When to plant in the garden
Landing time depends on weather conditions. If the weather is warm in the spring, then sowing can be done in the last days of April. Otherwise, you will have to wait until the earth warms up.
Pre-grown seedlings are transferred to the ground no earlier than mid-May.
Sevok lands in the first decade of May. Residents of the northwestern regions can be guided by the flowering of bird cherry when planting onions.
For winter sowing, the beds are prepared in the fall. Landing is underway in the second half of November, until frost.
Secrets of proper agricultural technology
Do not allow crust to form on the surface of the soil or weeds to appear. For this purpose, the beds need to be loosened more often to a depth of up to five centimeters. It is better to remove weeds in the initial growth phase, when the seedlings are still reddish.
After the turnip begins to form, it needs to be opened a third It must be remembered that onions love to show off. When a turnip begins to form, it must be open a third, releasing the hangers. This technique helps the bulb to form well and fully ripen.
Harvesting turnips and feathers and storing them
As soon as new feathers have stopped appearing and the onion has acquired a characteristic shade, it can be removed. As a rule, this occurs on mid-August – early September. If you skip harvesting time, the vegetable will begin to grow again and will be of little use for storage.
The collected bulbs are washed, cleaned of husks and dry feathers, roots are trimmed. To dry, lay it out in one layer in a well-ventilated room. After a few weeks, new golden scales appear on the bulbs. This means that the vegetable is ready for long-term storage.
As a rule, gardeners prefer to grow onion sets, purchasing them in special stores. It can be planted in winter by first preparing the bed.
The first secret.
Onions do not like clay soil, if you have one, you need to pour sand and peat into the garden bed and mix everything. You also need slightly alkaline soil; if you have acidic soil, be sure to add dolomite flour in the fall (it’s too late to do this in the spring) to deoxidize it.
The second secret.
When planting seedlings, you need to immerse it in a solution of potassium permanganate for 10-20 minutes to disinfect the planting material.
The third secret.
Then you need to trim the top so that the onion germinates faster.
The fourth secret.
Sprinkle a little regular salt into the row, it will help in the fight against onion flies.
Secret five.
Be sure to plant a bed of carrots next to the onion bed, which will again repel the onion fly. And the onion, in turn, repels the carrot fly. So to speak, the benefit is mutual.
Secret six.
Make three feedings. 1st - in the phase of two leaves - slurry (1 liter of manure per bucket of water) or chicken droppings (1 glass per bucket of water) + 30-40 g of superphosphate, previously dissolved in warm water, + a glass of ash. 2nd feeding after two weeks: superphosphate - 30 g + urea 10 g + potassium 5 g per bucket of water. 3rd feeding - at the end of June - superphosphate 30 g + urea 10 g + potassium 5 g. If you feed in early July, exclude nitrogen (urea).
And in no case allow excess nitrogen fertilizers; the feathers will be good, but the heads will suffer. Of the potash fertilizers, potassium sulfate is best suited, since onions are demanding of sulfur. And the preservation of onions depends on potassium. It's still in the ashes.
The seventh secret.
Under no circumstances use fresh manure and potassium chloride in fertilizing (if you add it, do so only in the fall) - you will immediately reduce your yields. Do not neglect phosphorus - the size of the bulbs largely depends on it.
The eighth secret.
Very important because we all want onions to last as long as possible. So, for this to happen, it is necessary to remove onions in central Russia and Belarus in a timely manner, namely before the first August rains. Best time is at the end of July. If you are late, you will spoil not only your onions, but also the reputation of a good gardener - nothing will help preserve the onions for a really long time.
The ninth secret.
Of course, you need to dry the onions as best as possible in the attic, where the wind blows. Then remove all dried dirt, cut off the dried feather, leaving 8-10 cm.
Secret tenth.
I also recommend sorting out the onions from time to time. If at least one suddenly goes bad, others will start to go bad as well. . Believe it or not, I keep onions until the new harvest and longer in paper bags in the kitchen under the table. I wish you to be with onions all year round!