At what depth to plant onions before winter. Planting onions before winter: the best varieties, growing conditions and care. Planting onions before winter in the Urals

Onions are perhaps the most popular vegetable crop. The consumption rate of onions is 8-12 kg per person per year. Every gardener dreams of getting as many tight golden bulbs as possible.

The agricultural technology for growing this crop is simple. Onions are grown in a two-year cycle. In the first year, commercial heads can be obtained using only a limited number of varieties.

Therefore, in the first year in central Russia, seed cultivation of planting material is practiced. The grown onion sets are then planted in spring or autumn to produce marketable onion heads.

To get a good harvest, you need to take into account the following biological characteristics of onions:

• onions are a biennial plant;
• onions are a cold-resistant crop. Onions tolerate light spring frosts down to -3°C without damage;
• the root system of onions is fibrous, the roots are not very long, and therefore have little suction capacity;
• onions do not tolerate lack of lighting well.

An increase in temperature in spring above +25 degrees delays the regrowth of leaves. Onions are a very demanding crop in terms of moisture, fertility and soil structure.

Bulb sets must be stored at a certain temperature. This condition cannot always be met. If the storage temperature is high, the bulbs will dry out; if it is too low, then after planting the sets will throw out their flower stalks.

Autumn planting of sets eliminates this problem. When the air temperature drops to +2.3°, you can start planting onions. This rule must be followed so that the roots of the bulbs grow, but the leaves cannot begin to grow.

In the spring, thanks to the already formed root system, onions quickly grow at the end of March, beginning of April, when the air temperature rarely rises above +20°.

The spring moisture accumulated in the soil gives a good starting impulse. Daylight hours are still short. Onions quickly grow roots and green mass.

Strong plants are less affected by onion fly and downy mildew. Plantings are easy to weed because onions outgrow annual weeds. To get a good harvest, you need to select winter varieties suitable for growing in central Russia.

Onion varieties suitable for planting before winter

So, the following onion varieties are suitable for planting before winter:

1. "Strigunovsky". An early ripening variety with a sharp taste.
2. Variety "Stuttgarten Riesen". High-yielding variety resistant to downy mildew.
3. "Myachkovsky". When planted in winter, it produces a stable harvest.
4. "Carmen" A variety with dry purple scales. The bulbs reach a mass of 100-120 grams.
5. "Silver Prince" Medium late variety. Considered the leader in yield for winter sowing
6. "Small nest." This variety has good keeping quality.

Preparatory work for autumn planting

The bed needs to be prepared in advance. The place for the garden bed is chosen with a slight elevation and well illuminated by the sun's rays. The best soil composition for growing onions is sandy loam or light loam with a granular or lumpy structure.

It is better to plant onions after the following crops:

• vegetable peas;
• zucchini;
• early and mid-season cabbage;

Note: replanting of this crop in the old place is allowed after 4 years.

The soil in the beds must be dug up and at the same time humus must be added at the rate of 2-3 kg of humus per square meter, as well as mineral fertilizers: superphosphate and potassium salt.

Then everything is leveled and the soil is left to settle.

Before planting, onion sets are cleaned and sorted by size. Furrows are made every 35-40cm between rows. Bulbs up to 1 cm in diameter are planted at a distance of 4-5 cm from each other.

For sets measuring 1-1.4 cm, the distance is increased to 6-8 cm, and the largest ones (1.5-2.2 cm) are already placed at a distance of 8-10 cm from each other.

Note: from bulbs with a diameter of more than 2.2 cm in the first year a flower “arrow” can already form.

When planting seedlings, the soil is compacted around the bulbs with the palm of your hand or a board so that when they grow, the root system does not push the bulb to the soil surface. The surface layer of soil above the bulbs should be no thicker than 2 cm. Because when the bulbs are buried, their growth is delayed and their yield decreases.

When planting onions in the fall, you cannot:

1. Plant onions in beds located in lowlands so that in the spring the plantings are not flooded by melt water.
2. Apply (urea, saltpeter) so as not to provoke leaf growth.

Harvesting

From the second half of the growing season, in July, watering is stopped. Harvesting begins when the bulbs are fully formed. This can be determined by pulling out the onion. The signal to harvest onions is the yellowing of the leaves. The “neck” dries, becomes thinner and the feather lies down.

There is no need to wait for the leaves to dry completely. The collected onions need to be removed from the garden bed and laid out to dry under a canopy or in the attic.

Worth considering: The leaves of well-dried onions are trimmed, but the neck is left 3-4 cm long to prevent infection with downy mildew.

After harvesting the onions, the bed is dug up, weeds are removed and treated with fungicides - Oxyx, Ridomil Gold.

By following these simple rules, you can get a good harvest of golden bulbs.

See overview video about planting onion sets before winter:

Onions are a terribly useful crop. We can talk endlessly about its benefits. That is why every self-respecting gardener grows onions for himself. This is not a store-bought onion, generously overfed with saltpeter. Your bow will definitely bring only benefits. There are several sowing dates. But winter planting is of increasing interest.

WHAT ONIONS ARE SOWED BEFORE WINTER?

Southern varieties cannot be planted before winter. They are unlikely to survive the winter, and if they survive the winter, they will disappear in the spring. Therefore, during the winter sowing season, varieties from the Middle Zone are in use, which winter well, start growing early and produce good bulbs.

WHEN TO SOW ONIONS BEFORE WINTER?

The best temperature for winter sowing is from 0° C to +5° C. It is advisable that at this time the thermometer at night does not fall below -3° C. That is, they plant onions when the soil is not yet frozen, but the weather is cool. The landing site is important. The bed should be sunny, preferably on a hill, with loose, fertile soil. Onions work well in the place where carrots grew before.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO SOW ONION BULBS AND SEEDS BEFORE WINTER?

Of course you can. But the set should be no larger than 1 cm in diameter, and the nigella seeds should be dry, not wet or soaked. Plant the seedlings at a distance of 4-6 cm from each other so that after thinning the plants are no closer than 8 cm from each other. WHEN

SHOULD YOU SOW ONIONS BEFORE WINTER?

Black onions grow especially well when planted in winter. The optimal time for sowing it is November-December. During frequent thaws, when the soil is not yet frozen or the furrows are prepared in advance.

If you sow nigella at this time, it will sprout early in the spring and produce a harvest almost two weeks earlier. Not to mention the fact that the bulbs will be especially large.

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In early spring, you really want to enjoy fresh onion greens, but it takes a long time to wait for onions planted in the spring to grow. And you can get an early and abundant harvest from winter onions, and in the remaining time you can occupy the bed with another crop. You can also make good money growing winter onions if you approach this matter wisely.

Somehow, historically, we mostly plant onions in the spring, trying to select larger and juicier sets. If anyone has grown sets on their own, they know how difficult it is to preserve small bulbs of sets in winter. During storage before spring planting, they have time to completely dry out and turn into “nothing.” Such an unjustified loss of invested labor. But small sets can be planted in the fall and not worry about their safety, but in the spring you can feast on green feathers and in July get a great harvest of onions.

I will share my experience, why I plant onions in the fall and what secrets there are in this technology. Moreover, this method is inevitably gaining popularity for its simplicity, and small-sized winter onion sets are sold more expensive than large ones during the autumn planting season.

How to get winter onion sets

For those who like to do everything themselves, I’ll tell you how to grow seedlings yourself. As early as possible, as soon as the snow melts and the soil warms up at least slightly, we sow nigella (onion seeds). We sow thickly, make a wide strip about 5 - 6 cm. We make such a distance between the strips that it is easy to weed. Cover it with a layer of 1–2 cm of soil, roll it lightly, like sowing carrots, and mulch with compost or humus.
We water the crops, and after the emergence of seedlings in hot and dry weather, we repeat the watering.

As the onion sets grow from seeds, we weed the bed and loosen the soil after each watering or rain. Sets do not need fertilizing.

An indicator that it is time to dig up the onion sets is that the leaves turn yellow and lie down. Then we dig it all up at once and leave it in the garden to dry. When it dries, the leaves peel off quickly and easily directly with your hands.

The crucial moment comes: select and sort the bulb sets. First of all, we winnow our harvest in the wind and sort it: large bulbs (more than 1 cm in diameter) will be left for spring sowing, and small ones (all less than 1 cm in diameter) will be planted in the fall.

Why should onion sets be small for planting in the fall?:

• Small onions do not shoot, so you can get a great harvest of high-quality onions without fear of frosts and spring frosts. This happens due to the fact that the supply of nutrients in them is very small; it is not enough to form an arrow with seeds.
• Over the winter and early spring, the bulbs gain enough nutrients to please them with excellent greenery and feathers in the spring, and already provide turnips in late June - early August.
• The area after early onions can be used for other vegetables.
• It turns out to be very economical, since small seeding will not “survive” until spring planting anyway, but it still produces a good harvest.

Winter onion varieties: description

• Senshiu yellow,
• Radar,
• Kip Well,
• Ellan,
• Mstersky,
• Danilovsky,
• Stuttgarten Riesen,
• Strigunovsky local,
• Odintsovets,
• Myachkovsky 300,
• Zolotnichok,
• Carmen MS,
• Sturon.

Not every onion variety is able to survive frosts, but breeders have developed varieties and hybrids that can remain dormant in the soil under the snow and grow in conditions of not too long daylight hours.

For example, bulbs of the variety Shakespeare able to withstand frost down to -18 degrees, so it is most often used for planting in the fall. It is unpretentious and does not require special care. The bulb itself is round with white flesh and brown outer scales.

Varieties Radar And Ellan characterized by good germination, excellent taste, and early ripening. So Ellan can be consumed already in June, when spring onions and garlic are still growing, and last year’s harvest is over. Turnips are of medium size, weighing 100-150 grams, and Radar, with good care, can please even large ones - up to 300 grams.

These winter varieties are deservedly popular Sturon, Baron, Centurion. It takes 2-2.5 months from the beginning of the set’s growth to full maturity. Sturon keeps well for at least 8 months, and Centurion is distinguished by its high vitamin C content and spicy taste.

Somewhat flat fruits of golden brown color with a sharp taste of the variety Stuttgarten Riesen ripen in 2 months and grow to 150-200 grams.

Variety name Keep Well speaks for itself: they prefer to grow it for long-term storage. It has the same elongated bulb shape as the variety Bamberger, but slightly larger. Winter onions of these varieties have proven themselves to be unpretentious in care and convenient for planting in the fall.

Mstersky onions are cultivated in the village. Mstery of the Ivanovo industrial region. Forms a not very large flat bulb. The color of dry scales is yellow with a pink tint or light brown. Fleshy scales are white. Only sets and small selections are used for planting turnip crops. Larger samples are used for pen culture. Mstera onion is quite resistant to downy mildew. It is relatively unpretentious to soil. It works well in the northern regions.

Myachkovsky onions are cultivated in the village. Myachkovo, Moscow region, from where it has spread in recent years to other areas. Forms a very large bulb of flat and round-flat shape. The variety is very productive and relatively undemanding to the soil, but in winter storage it has a reduced shelf life. It exhibits fairly good resistance to downy mildew disease. It has no export significance; it is of interest for cultivation at the latitude of Moscow and somewhat to the north for the purpose of sales on domestic markets.

Planting onions in autumn

When to plant onions before winter

The timing of planting onions is quite definite - planting should be completed 3 - 4 weeks (25 - 35 days) before the soil freezes, that is, before stable frosts begin. These deadlines may vary in different regions. For central Russia, for example, for the Moscow region, the favorable planting time is the period from October to early November. Our weather is unpredictable, sometimes it’s cold, sometimes later the “Indian summer” will clear up. So keep an eye on the weather forecast. Keep in mind that if the temperature drops to +5°C and stays the same, it’s time to plant.

Also, when determining the time of planting seedlings in the fall, many people look at the lunar calendar. He will tell you the most favorable days for planting onions for the winter. You should definitely not plant during a full moon if weather conditions allow you to move the planting to a more suitable time. From the lunar calendar you can also find out when it is better to start applying fertilizers, which is done in advance, not on the same day as planting.

Where to plant

Onions can be grown in the same bed for a maximum of 2 years in a row, then the place should be changed and returned to the old one after 4 - 5 years. The soils should be light: humus loams or humus-sandy soils. The most luxurious onions can be grown on silt deposits in river valleys, but only in warm ones.

The predecessors of onions can be potatoes, white cabbage, corn and others.

Important! You cannot apply fresh manure to onion sets, as the plants will eventually form large leaf masses and loose bulbs that are unsuitable for storage. If you want to fertilize the beds, use humus or compost. Better yet, bring it under its predecessor.

The area allocated for autumn planting of onions must be dry and ventilated; stagnant water will cause the onions to simply rot. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure unhindered drainage of melt and rainwater to the side, and even better if the site is on a hill so that high groundwater cannot interfere.

How to plant onions before winter

We cut grooves at a distance of 10 - 15 cm from each other. We plant the sets in increments of 3 to 10 cm to a depth of 3 – 4 cm. The distance between plants in a row depends on the variety. The larger the bulbs that the variety forms, the greater the distance should be. So the power supply area will be sufficient.

The planting depth of 3–4 cm is due to the fact that at a shallower depth, the bulbs begin to stick out of the ground in the spring, becoming bare. We do not cut off the necks of the onions.

We fill the furrows with soil and mulch, but do not water. By the way, it is necessary to mulch autumn plantings immediately before the onset of cold weather. To do this, you can use dry leaves, dry humus, spruce branches, tops of other plants, flower stems, sawdust, pine needles and other material.

In winter, it would be a good idea to keep the snow in the garden bed so that the onions do not freeze out in severe frosts, more than -20°C.

Caring for winter onions in spring

As soon as the snow melts, we immediately remove the mulching material so that the soil warms up faster. The soil is loose and in the future it needs to be loosened after heavy rains and heavy watering. Then you can feed the plantings: add diluted chicken manure.

The second feeding can be done no earlier than the leaves appear. And here you can use the drugs that you like to use: antistress agents, immunomodulators and growth stimulants, for example, Plantafol.

How to protect onions from pests

To protect your plantings from onion flies, you can sow marigolds and calendula around the garden bed or even inside it. If you use chemicals in the fight against the enemy, then remember that you can harvest onions only 7 to 10 days after such treatment. You can also sprinkle tobacco dust between the rows (on its own or mixed with lime), this also repels the onion fly. Since there are 2 generations of flies, there should be 2 treatments with an interval of 8 - 10 days.

Important! The first generation of onion fly larvae causes damage in June, and the second generation in July (middle).

As the onions grow, it is better to take those with more developed leaf mass, giving the neighboring, less developed ones the opportunity to grow and develop. When weeding, you should be very careful not to damage the bulbs with a sharp tool. Wounds on bulbs contribute to the occurrence of various diseases; such onions cannot be stored even for a month.

When to Harvest

A signal that the bulbs are fully formed is that the leaves lie down, and the integumentary scales have acquired a color characteristic of the variety, for example, blue or orange, red.
Sometimes leaves are specially placed to speed up ripening, but we’re not in a hurry, are we? So we wait as long as necessary.

We dig out the bulbs very carefully and leave them to dry in a ventilated place. Storing should be done only after the onion has dried well and its leaves and roots are dry.

Important! We eat unripe bulbs or those that have a thick, juicy neck first; they will not be stored.

In the vacated garden bed, you can plant other vegetables, for example: sow carrots, radishes, turnips, daikon, beets, and herbs.

The remaining time is enough for them to ripen. Moreover, carrots and beets, for example, are not afraid of light frosts and develop well in cool autumn weather.

In conclusion, I would like to note that if you plant not onion sets in the fall, but just small turnip bulbs, then in the spring you will be unpleasantly surprised, as they will all shoot out arrows.

By the way, multi-tiered onions are also planted before winter. This is the name given to varieties that are perennial frost-resistant branching plants that reproduce only vegetatively - by aerial and basal bulbs. The best time to plant multi-tiered onions is September, the very first days. It then has time to take root, germinate, and also accumulate a supply of the nutrients it needs.

The landing technology is similar to the previous one.

Leeks, trumpets, shallots and other types are also planted before winter. Moreover, they plant onions before winter even in such harsh regions as the Urals and Siberia. True, gardeners there additionally cover the beds planted with onions and garlic with spruce branches so that they do not freeze in the harsh winter.

Ways to plant onions before winter, video

It is very clearly explained which onions are best planted on turnips in the fall. The secrets of seed planting technology have been revealed. The preparation of planting material is explained and the optimal planting time is determined. Thanks to the author, let's take a look!

Planting winter onions is recommended in order to get the harvest at least two months earlier. In addition, onions planted before winter are more resistant to disease and are inaccessible to pests. In this article we will look at how winter onions are planted in the fall, what the planting and cultivation scheme is.

What are the advantages of winter varieties

Autumn planting of onions is convenient for the following reasons:

• There is no need to create conditions for storing seed material - sets - all winter. For autumn planting in the ground, special seeds called wild oats are used. Their size does not exceed 1 cm in diameter and over the winter they can lose their quality and dry out.
• Early shoots are not susceptible to common onion diseases, since cold soil does not promote the spread of fungi, pathogenic bacteria and pests. By the time they come into force, the onion will have already reached its condition, and then the bute will be removed.
• For planting in autumn, special varieties of onions have been developed that are characterized by frost resistance and resistance to bolt formation.
• Planting in the ground in the fall allows you to get green onions as early as late April or early May. And a commercial onion can be grown by June. For comparison: when planted in spring, the bulb ripens only at the end of July or beginning of August (depending on the region).
• Cultivation area is saved because after harvesting winter onions, some vegetables can be grown. This property is especially valuable in the south of Russia, where the warm period lasts longer than in the middle zone.
• Most of the growing season occurs in the spring, when the soil is still moist. As a result, winter onions need to be watered less often than in summer.

One of the advantages of growing winter onions is that the heads grow large

Where can I get seedlings for winter sowing?

Since the bulbs of winter onions are not large - up to 1 centimeter in diameter, they are not able to form arrows, since they do not have enough energy to deliver nutrients to the height of the formation of new seeds. However, they have enough strength to form a juicy green feather, and then a bulb.

Sorting of seed according to bulb size is carried out according to the rules given in the table.

Material name	Landing time	Bulb size
"Ovsyuzhka"	Winter	Less than 1 cm
First category	Winter, spring	From 1 to 1.5 cm
Second category	Spring	From 1.5 to 3 cm
"Selections"	Spring	More than 3 cm

Usually seeds are purchased in specialized stores. The assortment of sellers includes such varieties as: “Wolf F1”, “Kip-Well”, “Senshui Yellow”, “Buffalo”, “Avanti”, “Augusta”, “Radar” and “Radar F1”, “Sturon”, “ Danilovsky", "Odintsovets", "Stuttgarten Riesen", "Ibis F1", "Imago F1", "Balstar F1", "Extra Early Gold F1", "Music F1", "Panther F1" and others. They are frost-resistant, not susceptible to bolting and produce high yields.. In some varieties, the sets are larger than the usual size of a winter bulb, 1 cm.

Sets of the Sturon variety. It is better to buy sets in advance during the period February - March, when you can find any variety

Experienced gardeners prefer to grow winter seedlings on their own. The process looks like this:

• In the spring, after the snow melts, nigella - onion seeds - is sown thickly in strips up to 5 centimeters thick.
• The row spacing is formed so that it is convenient to weed.
• The crops are covered with a small (2 centimeters) layer of sifted soil, rolled slightly to prevent wind erosion of the soil and mulched with humus, straw or other suitable material.
• The crops are watered, which is repeated after the first shoots appear, and then when the soil dries out.

Every time after heavy rain, the beds should be loosened to facilitate air access to the roots.

This is what the buds in which nigella is formed look like in the middle of the growing season.

Tip #1 It is not recommended to heavily feed grown onion sets. Otherwise, there is a risk of loss of seed properties.

After the onion leaves turn yellow and lie down, the plant is removed from the soil and left on the ridge to dry. Then the bulbs are separated from the dried leaves and sorted: all that are less than 1 centimeter are intended for planting in the fall, all that are more than 1 centimeter are set aside for planting in the spring of next year. All damaged seed material is disposed of.

What predecessors will not harm onion crops?

Before planting winter onions, you should carefully look at their predecessors. It is preferable that the following grow in the chosen place:

• peas, beans and other legumes;
• grain crops (rye, corn and others);
• various types of salads and cabbage;
• early ripening potatoes;
• tomatoes;
• cucumbers;
• carrots and beets.

The best results are achieved when the previous crops on the site were corn, potatoes or white cabbage. It is not recommended to plant winter onions after oats.

How to prepare the soil for planting winter onions?

For winter onions, a dry, ventilated area is allocated. Wet soil, especially in winter, will ruin the plantings. The best soils for onions are humus mixed with sand or loam. . If the site has close groundwater, it is necessary to make drainage.

The soil is prepared in advance, for which purpose the area allocated for onions is dug up, humus or fertilizers given in the table are added.

Immediately before planting the seeds, wood ash is poured into the holes.

However, it is better if the humus is applied under the predecessors, then by the time the onion is planted it will completely acquire the soil structure.

When choosing an area for planting onions, one must also proceed from the fact that it is undesirable to plant onions in one place for more than two years in a row. Then a plot of at least five should be occupied by other crops. If this condition is not met, the soil becomes infected with pathogenic substances that even frost cannot destroy.

The planting scheme for onion sets is as follows. Plant the bulbs at a distance of 12 cm between seedlings and 25 - 30 cm between rows. Onions are planted with their roots down and covered with soil.

When to plant winter onions?

Before winter, onions are planted in September if the site is located in the southern regions of the country, in August if in the middle zone. Bulbs must be planted in the ground at least a month before the onset of persistent frosts. Usually they focus on a stable temperature of +5°C; when it lasts for a long period, it’s time to plant winter onions. If the specified conditions are met, the plants manage to produce 4-5 leaves, and the diameter of the neck reaches 5 millimeters.

However, varieties have appeared that should be added to the soil before the end of August. The main condition remains one thing - to collect 3-4 sheets before frost. Such plants have a slightly longer growing season, allowing them to take root thoroughly before the cold weather.

How to plant winter onions?

The rules for planting winter onions are as follows:

1. Furrows 5 centimeters deep are cut in a thoroughly loosened area. The distance between furrows is from 10 to 25 centimeters. The planting depth of the bulbs can be greater (up to 10 cm) if the growing region is characterized by severe frosts.
2. The bulbs are laid in ridges at a distance of 4 to 10 centimeters from each other. The size of the gaps depends on the size of the bulb sets.
3. The bulbs are covered with a mixture of garden soil with sand or humus. The ridges are watered and in the future the soil should be moist before the onset of frost.
4. The ridges are mulched with autumn leaves, straw, etc. to protect them from severe frosts and snowless winters. The mulch layer should be thicker the more frost is expected. In spring, the mulch layer is partially removed and used for other purposes.

Shoots in autumn shortly before frost. In the spring, planting onions is sprinkled with mulch, which prevents the onions from drying out in the sun. Mulch consists of pine needles, leaves and dry grass

Tip #2: When planting before winter, the neck of the bulbs is not cut off to prevent rotting.

Tip #3: The ridges should be raised slightly above the main area. Then the onion will not be in danger of flooding.

How to properly care for crops?

In the fall, the main thing is to monitor the seedlings and cover them in time in the winter.

In the spring, the following activities should be carried out:

• Reduce the mulch layer on the ridges or remove it completely if the quality of the soil allows.
• Thin out the crops intended for growing onions if severe thickening is observed. The distance between individual plants depends on the expected size of the finished bulbs.
• Loosen the ridges, if possible in conditions of dense crops.
• Feed the plants with nitrogen fertilizers.
• Water your crops regularly if the soil dries out quickly.
• To combat pests and diseases, treat green onions with chemicals several times. It is worth using folk methods of confronting negative factors, if you have any in your arsenal. Mole cricket, onion fly, powdery mildew, etc. can get a decent harvest of winter onions.

Tip #4: Fresh manure cannot be applied to onion crops. Otherwise, they will either die from an excess of nitrogen or produce a crop unsuitable for storage.

Mistakes gardeners make when planting winter onions

Here are the most common mistakes gardeners make when planting onions in the fall:

1. The necks of winter onion sets are cut off, which leads to rotting of the bulb in early spring.
2. In the fall, self-grown seedlings larger than 1 centimeter in size were planted. In spring, you should expect the appearance of many arrows and, as a result, crop losses. Larger sets can be planted before winter only if they belong to purely winter certified varieties.
3. When growing seeds yourself, nigella is sown too thickly and picking was not carried out. It will not be possible to obtain high-quality seedlings in such conditions.

Recommendation from practice. What variety of winter onions should I plant for storage?

Among the varieties of winter onions, we highlight Kip-Well. From the practice of gardeners:

The weight of the set reaches 10 grams. It is planted in October and has time to take root and produce several leaves before frost. Due to the size of the bulbs, the distance between them is up to 10 cm, between the rows 25 cm. The final bulbs declared by the developer do not amount to 300 grams, but getting an onion of 150 grams is realistic. Well preserved and justifies the translation of the name from English.

Answers to pressing questions from gardeners

Question No. 1. Why is it necessary to use only seedlings smaller than 1 cm when sowing in winter?

Such seeds, due to their small size, are not able to provide nutrition to the green shoots turning into arrows. Their strength is only enough to form a small feather, and then to create a bulb that goes into food. If you bring in a bulb larger than 1 cm in the fall, it will inevitably try to shoot out first in the spring and then form seeds. She has enough energy to feed her offspring in the form of future blacklings.

Planting winter onions when planting, if the set was larger than the required size. The image shows dangling arrows.

Question No. 2. How long after treatment with chemicals can green onions be picked?

When chemicals are used to control pests and diseases on onions, it takes time for them to decompose in the tissues of the plant. For onions to become safe, 7 to 10 days must pass from the date of processing. More is possible, less is not.

Question No. 3. Is it possible to do without chemicals at all when planting in winter?

You can do without chemicals when planting; you will only need the drugs in the spring, when the active growing season begins. But even then you can eliminate chemicals using manual labor (weeding, weed cutting) and traditional methods of combating negative factors.

Question No. 4. After how many years can I return to planting onions on my property?

To completely restore the soil quality suitable for planting onions, at least 5 years must pass.

Question No. 5. How much nigella seedlings will come out, and what kind of harvest can be obtained from one hundred square meters?

Directories give the following data: 100 grams of nigella contains about 30 thousand seeds. In the future, everything depends on the planting density.

From one hundred square meters, the harvest of winter onions can be harvested according to the standards established by agricultural producers, up to 300 kg. In reality, of course, the harvest is smaller, but it all depends on the conditions created on the site.

Onions are a vegetable that almost every summer resident grows. In cooking, you simply cannot do without these sweet or spicy fruits, because in some recipes the main ingredient is onions. Before planting seeds in your summer cottage and reaping a good harvest, you need to know what kind of soil onions like, what temperature is suitable for planting sets in open ground, and how to plant an onion crop correctly in order to enjoy high yields at the end of the season. Let's look at each stage separately, starting, perhaps, with the soil and its autumn preparation.

Preparing the soil for spring planting

Before you start digging, you need to choose a place to plant small bulbs. As many gardeners know, bulbs love warmth and light; in the shade the plant will quickly wither and the fruits will be small, so when choosing a site, give preference to beds in the middle of the garden, next to which there are no trees or buildings. Have you found such a place? Great, now you need to check whether the soil in the garden bed is suitable for growing onions. To do this, it is better to use litmus paper. It will determine the soil type in no time. It will be very good if your soil is sandy loam or sandy. It is here that the onion develops a powerful root system and is able to ripen faster before harvesting.

In the fall, the onion bed should be fertilized with rotted manure or ash. These components contain a lot of nutrients, so it is advisable to apply humus per 1 square meter of 6 kg of fertilizer. Dig the entire bed to a depth of 20 cm, not forgetting to remove weeds and other debris that will come across during digging. After applying fertilizer, level the top layer of soil with a rake and leave it alone until spring.

Attention! Preparing the bed is an important point; the fruit yield depends on this operation.

In the spring, as soon as the snow melts and you can go out into the garden, it is recommended to re-dig the area for the onions so that the beneficial substances are evenly distributed over the top layer of soil. Now all that remains is to prepare the onions for planting, wait for the optimal soil temperature to warm up, plant the crops in open ground and care for the plant to obtain a juicy, large harvest.

Preparation of planting material

Do not rush to plant onions in the spring, because in order for the germination of the sets to be almost 100%, you need to sort out and treat the onions with special solutions that will protect the crop from diseases and pests. So, first sort out low-quality planting material, removing all damaged, dry and diseased specimens. Distribute a good set by diameter into different piles. This will allow you to produce evenly grown turnips.

After sorting, keep each group for about three days at a temperature of 35 degrees; if this is not possible, then simply bake the onion for about 4 hours at 40 degrees in the oven. Processing onions before planting will thus activate metabolic processes and improve germination. After drying, transfer the sets to diluted fertilizer for 1/3 of the day, then dip the seedlings in a weak solution of manganese for 5-10 minutes, rinse the onions under running water and you can safely plant the onions on an unprotected surface.

How to properly plant onions on turnips

You have already completed the basic procedures, prepared the seedlings and dug up the bed. Now is the time to plant the onion in open ground. In order for the planting process to be successful and soon juicy green feathers appear on the beds, you need to choose a time when the soil warms up to 12 degrees and is able to accept “tenants”. Typically, spring planting occurs in the third ten days of April or the first ten days of May. For farming, it is better to choose cloudy, dry weather and you need to start with a plot of land. You already know how to prepare a bed for sowing; all that remains is to make holes or furrows and plant the planting material. In the first and second options, it is important to follow these rules:

• the distance from set to set must be at least 15 cm;
• the row spacing should not exceed 30 cm;
• The seedling planting depth is 7-10 cm.

After planting, be sure to water the beds with settled water at room temperature. If you plant the sets too closely, then after a while you will thin out the rows, otherwise during the growing season the plant will not have enough nutrients, the growth of the bulbs will noticeably deteriorate and it is likely that the root system of the turnips will become entangled with each other.

Planting onions in July

If you want to harvest onions twice over the summer, we recommend planting the second set in July. However, this option is only suitable for southern cities, where summer ends in mid- or late September. In order for the onion to grow, you need to use only early ripening varieties, which will just finish ripening by the end of August. How to plant onions in July? The same as in May. The soaked seedlings are sown in prepared holes and after the leaves appear, normal plant care begins.

Sowing seeds

It is known that onions are a perennial plant, so you can get a turnip only in the second or third year. However, some gardeners buy seed sets and grow onions in one season. Other summer residents grow onions by planting seeds in the ground; this process delays the harvest, but you can grow high-quality sets that will bear large onion heads next year. It is also recommended to treat the seeds before planting, but we will now find out how to do this correctly.

First, soak the seeds in warm water for a day. Soaking onions in a convenient container before planting will help you sort out the empty seeds. It is they who will end up on the surface of the bowl, and the good ones will settle to the bottom of the dish. After 24 hours, drain the water from the container along with the floating seeds; we will definitely not need them, because there will be no benefit from them. Place the rest of the planting material on gauze or cotton cloth and put it in the shade until crumbly. Then treat the seeds with a manganese solution and dry again. Onion seeds are ready for planting.

Attention! If there is no manganese and you don’t know what to soak the onions in before planting, use copper sulfate after dissolving the crystals in water.

To sow seeds, make grooves in the garden bed, 2-4 cm deep. Leave the distance between rows from 10 to 30 cm. Then pour plenty of hot water into the grooves to perform antibacterial treatment of the soil and sow the seeds at a distance of 1-3 cm from each other. Water the bed again with water at room temperature and cover it with film. After the first leaves appear, the need for shelter will disappear.

Caring for onions in open ground

Mostly experienced gardeners know how to properly care for this plant, but we want to remind you once again what care involves. First of all, onions need moisture, so water them once a week with plenty of settled water. If the summer turns out to be dry, then increase watering to two times in 7 days. In general, make sure that the soil is always slightly moist and then problems with growing onions will not begin. After each “water” procedure, loosen the top layer of soil so as not to interfere with air permeability. Do not forget to remove weeds and treat onions with copper sulfate to prevent infection with fungal and viral diseases. During the entire growing season, feed the plant three times with organic or mineral fertilizers.

Attention! In July, watering is gradually reduced so that the onions have time to ripen before harvesting.

Chinese way of growing bulbs

Planting onions using the Chinese method has become popular only because of the high yield of fruits, the size of which can break all records. First of all, prepare the beds, or rather the ridges. Raise each ridge by 15-20 cm, leave a distance of at least 30 cm between the rows. Now prepare the material for planting, to do this, spread the sets on a baking sheet in one layer and heat it in the oven for 12 hours at a temperature of 40 degrees. Then remove the husks from the set, cut off the dry neck and soak the material in warm water for a day. What should I soak onions in before planting for better germination? In water with slurry. This solution will saturate the seedlings with nitrogen, and the plant will grow better. Then you can plant the onions in the ground.

To know when to plant onions using the Chinese method, you need to distribute the onions into fractions before processing the seedlings. The first group, which has not reached a diameter of 10 mm, is best planted before winter. The second is 15 mm, ideal for planting in spring, namely in early April. The third - 20 mm, it is advisable to plant in early May, the remaining sets are suitable only for forcing onions to grow.

The sets have been prepared, let's now see how to plant onions in the Chinese way, and how to properly care for the seedlings so that there are large bulbs. Stick the onions 2-3 cm into the moistened grooves, sprinkle with soil and lightly compact the top layer with your hands. Water the bed generously. Loosen the soil, restoring air circulation. It is advisable to carry out the procedure early in the morning, while the sun is not as hot as during the day.

During cultivation, turnips will need simple care, which consists of weekly watering, removing weeds, loosening the soil, and applying fertilizers. It is also worth noting that three weeks before harvesting (usually this happens in July), gradually stop watering, free the turnip from the ground by half, and a week before harvesting, leave only the root system in the ground.