Bulb Onions, Or "Cipollino" In Your Garden. Planting With Seeds And Sets. Growing. Diseases, Pests. Photo

Everyone knows how useful this vegetable is, and almost everyone has this plant growing in their garden. Onions are one of the most popular and very ancient plant foods. For more than six thousand years, people have been eating it and using it for medicinal purposes. We eat onions all year round, because they are remarkably preserved from harvest to harvest. This article is all about onion agricultural technology: sowing or planting, care, pest control.

Content:

• Botanical description of onions
• Sowing onion seeds for seedlings
• Choosing a place for planting onions and preparing the soil
• Planting onion sevkom
• Diseases and pests of onions

Botanical description of onions

Onions, Latin - Allium cepa, folk - arbazheika, bulbyanka, cybul, sibul. The most common of all types of onions. Divisible by var. viviparum (multi-tiered) and var. solaninum (multi-celled). Homeland - Central Asia. It is cultivated everywhere. Perennial plant (in culture - biennial).

Onion bulb up to 15 cm in diameter, scarious. The outer scales are dry, yellow, rarely purple or white; the inner ones are fleshy, white, greenish or purple, located on a shortened stem called the bottom. On the bottom, in the axils of juicy scales, there are buds that give rise to daughter bulbs that form a "nest" of several bulbs.

The leaves are tubular, gray-green. Flower arrow up to 1.5 m tall, hollow, swollen, ends in a multi-flowered umbellate inflorescence. Flowers with long stalks. Perianth greenish-white, up to 1 cm in diameter, of six leaves, 6 stamens; pistil with an upper three-celled ovary. Sometimes in the inflorescence, in addition to flowers, small bulbs are formed. The fruit is a capsule containing up to six seeds. Seeds are black, triangular, wrinkled, small. Blooms in June-July. The fruits ripen in August.

Ingredients: contains sugars, proteins, minerals, amino acids, essential oils. Onions are rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, PP and especially ascorbic acid, the daily requirement of which a person can satisfy by eating only 80-90 g of green leaves of the plant per day.

Sowing onion seeds for seedlings

Grooves for onions are made 1 cm deep every 2-3 cm from each other. The distance between the seeds should be 0.5 cm. The approximate consumption rate is 10-12 g per 1 m. After sowing, the soil in the box is slightly compacted and carefully watered through a strainer. To accelerate the germination of plants, the box is covered with foil and placed in a warm place.

The optimal mode for growing onion seedlings is 18-20 ° C during the day and 10-12 ° C at night. Higher temperatures and longer days encourage stretching of plants and premature formation of medium-sized bulbs. To prevent this from happening, the plants are shaded using available methods. They also try to lower the temperature after sprouting by ventilation and watering.

Considering that onions are very resistant to frost, and real leaves can withstand temperatures down to minus 3-6 ° C, seedlings in open ground can be planted at the end of April. By this time, it should have 3-4 leaves. Before being sent to the garden, it is sorted, the roots are dipped in a mash made of clay and mullein. With the length of the leaves more than 15 cm, they are shortened with scissors by 1/3.

It is advisable to plant onion seedlings with multi-line ribbons. They are placed at a distance of 50 cm, and the row from the row in the tape - after 18-20 cm, the plants in the row should be after 7-10 cm. If the soil is dry, then the grooves are pre-watered with water at the rate of 1 liter per 3 plants. Laying out the seedlings along the grooves, at the same time press the roots against the side wall with the index finger. After that, the groove is filled up, and the soil near the roots is compacted. Seedlings planted obliquely rise as they take root. It must be planted 1 cm deeper than it was in the box. Planting too deep will delay onion growth and ripening.

Choosing a place for planting onions and preparing the soil

Onions are relatively cold-resistant plants. It easily tolerates spring frosts, but in the "loop" phase, seedlings may die at temperatures between -2 and -3 ° C. The optimum temperature for leaf growth is 15-25 ° C, but they are able to withstand frosts down to -7 ° C and heat over 35 ° C.

In relation to light, onions are quite demanding plants, they need high light intensity, especially when grown from seeds. Moisture is most needed during the first growing season, whereas bulbs require dry and hot weather to ripen.

Onions make especially high demands on soil fertility, since with a relatively strong development of leaves they have a weak root system. Well-fertilized and weed-free areas are allocated for it. The soil should have a reaction close to neutral (pH 6.4-7.9). The beds are prepared in the fall, immediately after the harvest of the predecessor. Well-rotted raw manure, humus, various matured composts at the rate of 3-5 kg / m2 or bird droppings - 1-2 kg / m2 are introduced for digging. Wood ash at a dose of 0.5-1 kg / m2 is also an effective fertilizer.

Fresh manure should not be applied under onions, otherwise the growth of leaves does not stop for a long time, while the bulbs begin to form with a delay, do not ripen, are strongly affected by cervical rot, and are poorly stored.

Onions are responsive to the application of mineral fertilizers. In the initial period of growth, he especially needs nitrogen and potassium, later, during the formation of the bulb, potassium and phosphorus. The dose of superphosphate is 25-30 g / m2, potassium salt - 15-20, urea - 10 g / m2, with 2/3 or 1/2 of the entire dose of superphosphate and potassium fertilizers applied in autumn, and the rest and nitrogen fertilizer - in the spring. Fertilizers should be applied in small doses.

Planting onion sevkom

Sevok is a valuable seed material, the quality of which largely determines the future harvest of turnip onions. Sevok is grown from black onions. For sowing, use dry or wet seeds. The seeds are soaked for 2-9 days at room temperature, changing the water, or in warm (40 ° C) water for 8 hours.

Onions are sown in autumn or spring, as soon as the soil allows. Ridges are preliminarily arranged, the surface of which is carefully leveled and harrowed with a rake. The width of the ridges is approximately 1 m, the distance between the rows where the seeds are sown is 12-15 cm. The sown seeds are covered with humus (layer 1-1.5 cm), and on top they are mulched with peat or leafy soil. To obtain turnip onions, use a set with a diameter of 1.5-2.5 cm. Before planting, the bulbs are sorted out, separating the dried and diseased ones.

Sevok is planted in warm soil, usually in early May. To accelerate regrowth, it is cut off "shoulder length" and soaked in water with slurry (6: 1) for 12-24 hours.

On a previously prepared ridge, grooves are drawn, denoting the rows, and the sevka bulbs are planted in them. On a ridge 1 m wide, the seedlings are planted in 3-5 lines with a distance of 20 cm between them. The planting depth should be such that the bulbs are in a moist soil layer. They are sprinkled with humus, with a layer of at least 2 cm.

Sevok, planted before winter, is best grown on ridges so that melt water does not flood it in spring. The ridges are filled with humus, mineral fertilizers and ash. Onion sets are planted in late September and early October. Planting depth 3-4 cm, distance between rows 20-25 cm, between bulbs in a row - 4-5 cm. The beds are mulched with humus or peat compost, with a layer of 2-2.5 cm. Cover them well with dry leaves.

Diseases and pests of onions

White rot

Plants are affected both during the growing season and during storage. When infected in the field in young plants, the leaves turn yellow, starting from the top, and die off. Plants wither and die quickly. A white fluffy mycelium forms on the roots and scales of the bulbs. Small punctate sclerotia appear on the affected tissue. This mushroom develops well at temperatures of 10-20 ° C. Hibernates in soil and storage facilities on infected bulbs.

Control measures: First of all, it is necessary to obtain healthy planting material. Harvesting of onion bulbs should be carried out during the period of their full ripeness, followed by drying the bulbs in sunny weather in an open place in one layer, in a humid one - first under a canopy, and then for 7-10 days indoors with air heated to 26-35 ° …

When pruning onions, leave a neck 3-6 cm long. It is recommended to store onions under optimal conditions: food - at a temperature of 1-3 ° C and a relative humidity of 75-80%, uterine bulbs - at 2-5 ° C and 70-80%, sowing - at 18-20 ° C and 60-70%.

Onion mosaic

This is a viral disease that affects leaves and inflorescences. On the leaves, the disease manifests itself in the form of small, more or less elongated specks or wide light green or cream stripes. Sometimes the leaves become corrugated, stunted and lodged. The arrows are bent, longitudinal mosaic stripes are visible on them. The inflorescences of the affected plant are loose, the flowers are sterile or produce very few seeds. Instead of stamens and pistils, long leaves often develop, instead of flowers, bulbs.

Seed germination from diseased plants is reduced. Bulbs of onions from infected plants are often elongated and germinate before reaching maturity. The disease is transmitted by a four-legged garlic mite. The infection persists in onion sets, uterine onions and perennial onions, on which the disease manifests itself as a weak mosaic of leaves.

Control measures: The main measures to combat viral diseases of onions and garlic are to obtain healthy planting material, protection from virus vectors, selection of uterine bulbs from healthy plants, and removal of diseased onion sets.

Onion hoverfly

It is a widespread insect. Damages all types of onions, garlic, gladioli, tulips, daffodils and other plants. The larvae that penetrate the bulbs destroy them and cause decay.

An adult fly is about 9 mm long, greenish-bronze in color, with short light hairs and black-brown antennae. Eggs are white, elongated, without a longitudinal groove, 0.8 mm long. The larvae are grayish-yellow, strongly wrinkled, flattened on the ventral side, up to 11 mm long. The posterior end of the body has a reddish-brown process with two lateral processes. False cocoons about 8 mm long, yellowish brown in color. The posterior end of the body is the same as that of the larva.

Control measures: use healthy planting material. Spatial isolation of onion crops from last year's crops. Arrangement (or alternation) of rows of onions and carrots, crops of onions next to crops of carrots. The phytoncides secreted by carrot leaves scare off onion pests.

Mulching with peat between rows is recommended, as the pest avoids peaty soils. The use of preparations with a strong odor such as naphthalene mixed with sand in a ratio of 1:10, tobacco dust in pure form or in half with lime or ash (1-2 kg per 10 square meters). Treatments are carried out in the initial period of egg laying. Subsequent - in 7-8 days.

It is necessary to periodically inspect crops, remove and destroy damaged bulbs. At the end of the growing season, remove the tops, damaged bulbs, followed by digging up the soil. Good results are obtained by processing with infusion or decoction of a phytoncidal plant - tobacco. Leaves, stems are used. For infusion, take 400 g of crushed raw materials or dust, insist for two days in 10 liters of water. The infusion is filtered. To the resulting solution add 40 g of soap. For the broth, take 400 g of dried raw materials per 10 liters of water, insist for a day, then boil for 2 hours. After cooling, add another 10 liters of water and add 40 g of soap for every 10 liters of solution.

Onion moth

Distributed everywhere. Damages leeks, onions, garlic. It is painted in gray-brown tones, has a wingspan of 8-10 mm, with a dark fringe on the wings. The damage is caused by moth larvae - caterpillars that hatch from eggs laid by butterflies. Caterpillars penetrate into the tubular leaves of the onion and feed there.

Damaged leaves turn yellow and dry, starting from the apical part. On onion sets, caterpillars often penetrate the neck and even inside the bulb, causing the complete death of the plant. On leeks and garlic, the caterpillars mine leaves, feed on the testes in the buds, eat the rudiments of flowers, gnaw the pedicels, which leads to a decrease in the yield of seeds. It hurts more in hot, dry years.

Control measures: it is necessary to observe crop rotation and correct agricultural technology. Return the onion to its original place no earlier than after 3-6 years. Modern loosening and fertilizing with mineral fertilizers. Destruction of plant residues. Spraying seed plantings with insecticides during the summer of butterflies and the appearance of caterpillars.

Onion fly

A widespread dangerous pest (especially in wet years). The fly is light gray, 10 mm long, the larvae are small white worms. It harms more on sandy and loamy soils, less on peat soils. It damages onions more in household plots with permanent cultivation of crops, less - garlic.

Flies fly out in mid to late May. Eggs are laid in groups of 5-12 between onion leaves or in a gap in the soil near plants. After 5-9 days, depending on the conditions of the year, larvae hatch. They enter plants through the base of the leaves or the bottom. The larvae gnaw large cavities in the bulb. Due to damage, the bulbs rot, the leaves turn yellow, usually in the apical part, wither.

Damaged bulbs emit an unpleasant odor, and when opened, white, legless, headless larvae up to 10 mm long are found inside. The development of larvae takes 16-20 days, after which they go into the soil to pupate.

Control measures: spatial isolation of onion crops from last year's crops. Arrangement (or alternation) of rows of onions and carrots, crops of onions next to crops of carrots. Phytoncides secreted by carrot leaves scare off onion flies. Early sowing of onions contributes to resistance to damage by onion flies, since by the time the flies fly out, the plants will get stronger, coarser and less affected by the pest.

Mulching with peat between rows is recommended, as the pest avoids peaty soils. The use of preparations with a strong odor such as naphthalene mixed with sand in a ratio of 1:10, tobacco dust in pure form or in half with lime or ash (1-2 kg per 10 square meters). Treatments are carried out in the initial period of egg laying. Subsequent - in 7-8 days.

Good results are obtained by processing with infusion or decoction of a phytoncidal plant - tobacco. Leaves, stems are used. For infusion, take 400 g of crushed raw materials or dust, insist for two days in 10 liters of water. The infusion is filtered. To the resulting solution add 40 g of soap. For the broth, take 400 g of dried raw materials per 10 liters of water, insist for a day, then boil for 2 hours. After cooling, add another 10 liters of water and add 40 g of soap for every 10 liters of solution.

Onion lurker

Beetles and larvae damage onions, onions, chives, and less often garlic. The beetles are black, 2-3 mm long. Antennae and legs are reddish brown. The larvae are yellowish, legless, with a brown head, 7 mm long. Beetles in tubular leaves eat out small cavities, as a result of which rounded white spots are formed on them. The larvae eat the pulp inside the leaf, in longitudinal stripes, without touching the outer skin. In damaged plants, the leaves turn yellow from the top and dry out. On the testes of onions, beetles gnaw the pedicels, causing the death of the flowers.

Control measures: collection and destruction of post-harvest residues, autumn plowing, destroying wintering grounds for beetles. Additional loosening of row spacings during the period of mass pupation of larvae, followed by watering and feeding with mineral fertilizers, adding deterrent substances - wood ash, ground black and red pepper, dry mustard. Removal of damaged leaves with destruction of larvae. Spraying plants during the growing season with Karbofos - 60 g per 10 liters of water. One liter of solution is consumed per 10 sq.m.

Tobacco onion thrips

A common pest. Damages onions, tobacco, cabbage, watermelon, cucumbers in greenhouses. Adults are light yellow or brown with narrow wings, fringed at the edges, about 1 mm long. The eggs are small, kidney-shaped, white. The larvae are outwardly similar to adult thrips, but differ in size, without wings, at first whitish, then greenish. Adult thrips overwinter on plant debris, in the upper soil layer, but most of them are concentrated under the scales of the bulbs. In early spring they feed on weeds, then switch to cultivated plants.

If the onion is damaged, silvery white spots appear on the leaves. In places where thrips are fed with the naked eye, phytophage excrement in the form of black dots is visible. Damaged leaves turn yellow, die off, starting from the top of the plant. If the inflorescences of the testes are damaged, the latter turn yellow, then dry up, no seeds are formed or they are puny, with low germination. Some part of the pest population enters the storage with the bulbs, where it continues to develop under favorable conditions.

Control measures: Thermal disinfection of seeds and seedlings in heated water at a temperature of 45-50 ° C for 10-15 minutes. Sowing only with healthy seed. Compliance with crop rotation with the return of onions, garlic to their original place not earlier than in 3-4 years. Before laying onions for storage, it is necessary to decontaminate the storages, dry and warm the bulbs at a temperature of 35-37 ° C for 5-7 days. In a storage facility at a positive temperature, maintain air humidity not higher than 70%. Treatment with Iskra DE is effective (1 tablet per 10 liters of water). 10 liters of solution are consumed per 100 sq.m.

Onions can replace a whole pharmacy, because it helps with many ailments. The most famous medicine is onion syrup, which is indispensable for colds, especially coughs and sore throats. Such a syrup is prepared very easily: mix the finely chopped onion with three tablespoons of honey, close the lid and leave to infuse in the refrigerator (6 hours). Take expressed juice every 3 hours, one tablespoon. And be healthy!