How and how to process onions before planting?

Onions are not considered a capricious garden crop. But for normal growth and development, he needs to provide certain conditions. First of all, onions must be properly processed before planting in the soil. Even a novice gardener can do this without any problems.

Presowing preparation is necessary for the bulbs for several reasons at once.

1. Bulbs increase immunity... Thanks to timely processing, plants survive temperature changes better. In addition, they are not afraid of common diseases and pests. Therefore, they can be planted anywhere.
2. Plants become easier to care for. If you prepare the bulbs before sowing, the gardener will not have to spend time weeding the site, as well as pest control.
3. The quality of the crop increases. Pre-sowing preparation allows you to make the taste of the bulbs more pleasant, and the bulbs themselves - keeping and suitable for transportation.
4. Plants develop faster... Using various stimulants, you can accelerate the growth of both juicy greens and bulbs.

First, sprinkle the onion in a thin layer and dry well. The room temperature should be within 25 degrees. The onions are dried for 12-20 days. In order to prevent the onion from overheating, it should not be left for a long time next to radiators or any other heating devices. Also, do not leave it in direct sunlight for long periods of time. Drying the onions before planting will make the bulbs larger and juicier.

After drying the planting material, it is important to sort it. In order for the onion to sprout evenly, it is worth sowing bulbs of the same size in one area. Small specimens are not used for planting in the spring. They are planted only before winter. After planting such bulbs, the beds must cover with a layer of mulch.

For planting on a turnip, they usually use medium bulbs. They develop well and grow quickly. Large sets are usually planted by people who grow onions on a feather. When placing it on your site, it is important to ensure that there are no arrows on the bushes. Therefore, special attention must be paid to the processing of large bulbs.

Sorting through the planting material, the gardener also needs to get rid of all damaged, dried and rotten bulbs.... If stored correctly, the set will have an even color and rich aroma. In the process of sorting, it is also necessary to get rid of dry onion skins. So it will be much easier to process the planting material.

Small onions that are grown for feathers need to be trimmed off. This simple procedure helps speed up the germination of greens.

Having selected a suitable planting material, the bulbs need to be warmed up. There are several ways to heat the set. Usually they just take it outside and then cover it with a warm cloth. It is very important that she can breathe. Burlap is usually used for this purpose. After a few hours, the bulbs can be removed to a warm place.

The set bought in the spring needs to be warmed up in a different way.The procedure is carried out a couple of days before planting the seed. Onions are placed between layers of cotton cloth and placed next to the heater. There he is left for two or three days. If there are few bulbs, bags with them can simply be spread out on the battery.

After heating, the onion must be hardened... Such treatment helps to protect plants from diseases. In addition, hardened heads will be better stored later. This procedure is carried out at the very beginning of spring. In the southern regions, it is worth starting to process plants in early March, in the middle lane - at the end of the first spring month.

The process of hardening the bulbs is very simple. The selected bulbs are placed in a box. After that, it is sent to the refrigerator or to the cellar for 8-10 days. Then the planting material is returned to a warm place.

If there is no time for full hardening, you can process the onion faster.... To do this, it is poured with ice water, and then dried and laid out in a sunny area. If you harden the planting material, the bulbs will not be afraid of temperature changes. This means that they will develop normally in any conditions.

The last stage in preparing the bulbs for planting is soaking the planting material. There are many solutions that are used to treat home purchased or harvested seedlings. Each product has its own advantages and disadvantages. You need to choose it, focusing on your needs and site features.

Many gardeners prefer to treat onions with solutions that stimulate crop growth before planting. Most often, purchased drugs are used for this purpose.

1. Kornevin. It is one of the most popular growth promoters. The peculiarity of this product is that the products processed by Kornevin develop gradually.
2. "Zircon"... The main advantage of this product is that it not only accelerates the development of the bulb, but also enhances its immunity. Therefore, plants are resistant to many fungal infections.
3. "Epin"... This product also performs several functions at once. It effectively increases the germination of planting material, and also enhances the resistance of plants to late blight. In addition, this growth promoter does not affect the quality of the crop.
4. "Biostim". This tool significantly speeds up the process of emergence of the first shoots. In addition, it increases the yield of plants. The product is considered one of the safest.
5. "Immunocytophyte". The drug perfectly stimulates plant growth. It can be used to process not only onions but also other crops.

Do-it-yourself growth stimulants will also help gardeners. The following products can be used to treat the bulbs.

1. Aloe juice... The juice of this product is one of the most popular biostimulants. Several large leaves should be cut off from a mature plant. Each of them must be washed and left in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Then the foliage must be chopped using a blender or a regular grater and placed in a glass container. The finished product is insisted for several days, and then used to process the bulbs.
2. Yeast... For rapid growth, planting material should be treated with a solution consisting of 500 ml of heated water and 20 grams of yeast. The bulbs must be wrapped with gauze. After that, they are placed in a container with a yeast solution for half an hour. The bulbs treated in this way can be sown directly into the soil.

An equally important role is played by the protection of onions from insects and various kinds of diseases. Typically, the following products are used to protect planting material.

1. Salt... One of the most common means used for processing planting material is a solution of warm water with ordinary salt. Soaking the bulbs in such a liquid helps to strengthen the immunity of plants, as well as protect them from many diseases. The procedure is carried out one or two days before planting the bulbs in the open ground. The bulbs are immersed in a container with this saline solution for several hours. To prepare a high-quality solution, you can use not only ordinary edible salt, but also sea salt. The main thing is that there are no aromatic additives in the composition of the product.
2. Soda... Some gardeners use baking soda instead of salt. To prepare the appropriate solution in a liter of water, dilute one and a half tablespoons of soda. The product is stirred until complete dissolution. The resulting product can be applied to seed immediately.
3. Fitosporin... This versatile remedy is used to combat many fungal and bacterial diseases. It is used to treat a wide variety of plants, including bulbs. Treatment of planting material with "Fitosporin" allows you to protect plants from late blight, powdery mildew and various types of rot. In order not to harm the bulbs, the drug should be diluted only in well-settled water. It is best to carry out the treatment in the early morning or evening. This improves the efficiency of the product. The bulbs are usually placed in a container with a solution for only 8-10 minutes. Some gardeners spray the planting material instead, and then just let it dry.
4. Potassium permanganate... You can buy this remedy at any pharmacy. It's cheap and very effective. Soaking the bulbs in a solution of potassium permanganate helps protect them from fungal diseases. For the processing of seed material, a product made from a liter of warm water and a small amount of potassium permanganate is used. The onion is placed in a container with a light pink solution and left there for 1-2 hours. After that, it is dried.
5. Copper sulfate. This product helps to disinfect the bulbs and protect plants from common fungal diseases. You need to use this product very carefully so as not to harm young plants. It is recommended to work with protective gloves. The solution is quite simple to prepare. The first step is to warm up the water. Next, in a liter of liquid, you need to dilute a teaspoon of powder. The solution must be stirred until the granules disappear completely. The bulbs are soaked in this solution for two hours. After that, the planting material is washed in running water and dried by spreading it out on paper.
6. Birch tar. This folk remedy helps to quickly disinfect the bulbs. To prepare a high-quality solution, a few teaspoons of the product are diluted in warm water. The onions are soaked in the resulting solution for several hours. The only drawback of this drug is its pungent aroma.
7. Laundry soap. Some gardeners also use soapy water to protect the bulbs from pests. You can cook it on the basis of a liquid product. But finely grated household or tar soap is also suitable. In one bucket of warm water, you need to dilute one spoonful of the product. There you also need to add 20-25 grams of dry red pepper. The bulbs are placed in a container with such a product for 40-80 minutes.

To protect plants from onion flies, seed material must be etched with Fentiuram before planting. This is usually sufficient to protect young plants from pests.

You can protect onion beds from insects by watering them with infusion of dandelions, tobacco leaves or tomato tops.

You can avoid the appearance of arrows by preheating the onion. But most gardeners prefer to use faster methods of processing planting material. Most often, food is soaked in containers with the following liquids.

1. Boiling water... Using hot water is the fastest and cheapest way to process planting material. The water is heated to a temperature of 40-50 degrees. After that, the sevok is poured with it. The planting material is left in this form for 10 minutes. After that, it is dried in the sun and planted.
2. Ash... Pure ash is very often used in the garden and vegetable garden. The product left over after burning plant waste can be used to process onions. To create an ash infusion, 200-300 grams of dry product is diluted in 5 liters of water. The resulting product is insisted for an hour. After that, the seed is placed in a container for 5-7 minutes. Then it is taken out of the container and dried in the sun. At this point, the bow is ready to disembark. It is not necessary to throw away the remains of the ash. They can be added to the holes when planting plants.

When soaking the planting material, it is important to consider when the plants will be planted.... If the onion is planted in spring, it is soaked in a suitable solution for several hours. When planting bulbs in the fall, they are placed in a container of water for just a couple of minutes. If the plants spend too much time in the mixing bowl, they will absorb moisture and freeze after planting. To prevent this from happening, you need to use drugs that act quickly and effectively.

To solve several problems at once, gardeners usually prepare a combined solution. For its preparation, two tablespoons of pure ash and salt are diluted in three liters of settled water. After that, a small amount of potassium permanganate is added to the container. The solution is very effective. The bulbs are placed in a container with such a product for 2-3 hours. After such treatment, they are well dried and immediately planted in the soil.