How to grow onions from seeds?

Growing onions from seeds on your plot saves money and gets a high-quality harvest. To achieve a good result, you need to know in advance all the necessary information about this process.

This method of growing onions has several main advantages.

1. Profitability. Buying planting material, you can save a little money, because it is more affordable.
2. Disease resistance of seeds. Properly prepared seed material is resistant to various diseases. Therefore, it is much easier to care for him.
3. High quality of the crop. The onions grown in this way receive a sufficient amount of nutrients and moisture. Therefore, the bulbs grow large and tasty.

But this method has its drawbacks. So, if the seeds are planted in the spring, it may not have time to fully ripen until the fall. Because of this, the bulbs will not be stored for very long. In addition, in the first time after planting, the plants will have to be looked after especially carefully.

For cultivation in this way, you can use different varieties of onions.

The existing early maturing varieties grow very quickly. It usually takes 2-3 months from the moment of sowing seeds into the soil to the process of collecting full-fledged bulbs. At the same time, the collected material is characterized by good keeping quality. The bulbs can be stored in suitable conditions until next spring.

Popular early ripening onions are considered to be red Carmen, white Candy or Centurion.

These varieties take about two months longer to mature. Such varieties of onions are usually grown in the southern regions of the country. Mid-season varieties perfectly adapt to dry weather. Therefore, gardeners may not be afraid that the planting material will die. Popular mid-season varieties are Shakespeare and Globus.

It takes much longer to grow such onions. In the first year, gardeners sow seeds and grow seedlings. The next year, the plants are grown.

Choose healthy and strong seeds for planting. The onion retains excellent germination for 2-3 years. Planting material that has lain longer is no longer worth planting in the soil. Before planting, the seeds must be properly prepared. This process consists of several main stages.

• Selection of planting material. The first step is to select healthy seeds. They should be free of any dark spots or mold. It is worth choosing large seeds of the same size for planting. Next, they need to be placed in a container of water and left there for an hour. Seeds that are suitable for planting will sink to the bottom. But low-quality copies will quickly surface. You need to get rid of them immediately, because they still cannot germinate. The remaining seeds must be well dried.
• Disinfection. Preplant disinfection of seeds will help protect planting material from common fungal diseases. For processing, a solution of potassium permanganate or hydrogen peroxide is usually used. In a container with this liquid, the seed must be soaked for half an hour. After that, the seeds are thoroughly washed, and then dried by spreading them out on paper.This procedure helps to significantly speed up the seed germination process.
• Stratification. Processed seeds need to be warmed up. They are usually located next to heating devices. They are left there for 4-6 days. If you prepare the seeds in this way, the plant, after planting, will devote all its strength to the growth of the bulb, and not to flowering.
• Hardening. This procedure will help the plants adapt more quickly after planting in a new location. There are two main ways to harden seeds. Typically, planting material is simply placed in the bottom compartment of the refrigerator. There he is left for 1-2 hours. There is another way to harden seeds. To begin with, they are placed in a bag and dipped in hot water for 40 minutes. After that, it is placed in a container of cold water for the same time. A similar procedure is carried out on the day of planting onions in the soil.

When planning to plant onion seeds, it is worth considering the time of its development. It usually takes about two months from the moment of planting in the soil until a full-fledged seedling appears. Therefore, sowing onions is usually done in the spring. In most regions of the country, this is done in the second half of March or at the beginning of April.

When choosing the optimal time for planting plants, many gardeners are guided by the lunar calendar. It is believed that planting seeds on the right days allows you to get the harvest much earlier.

For planting seedlings, it is worth preparing containers of a suitable size. Onions can be sown in low seed boxes or cassettes. You will not have to do a pick into separate boxes in the future.

Before planting onions for seedlings, you need to prepare a nutritious soil. It is made from humus, fertile soil and peat. To disinfect the soil, it is poured abundantly with boiling water.

Having prepared the soil in this way, you can start sowing. For this, small grooves are made in each container. The depth of each of them should be no more than 1 centimeter. Seeds are placed in these grooves, sprinkling them on top with a small amount of dry soil.

Next, the onion is gently sprayed with warm water. Then the containers are covered with a transparent film. Small holes are made in it. In this form, the seedlings are sent to a warm and dark place. You can store containers with seedlings in a dark part of the house, greenhouse or any other structure. The temperature there should be in the range of 20-25 degrees.

Noticing that the bow is rising, the shelter must be removed. Containers with plants must be taken out into the light. After a couple of days, young seedlings need to be fed. For this, it is worth using a high-quality nitrogen-containing fertilizer. Thanks to such feeding, the greens will grow quickly.

When the seedlings grow a little, they will need to be thinned out. The distance between individual shoots should be at least three centimeters. In the future, green seedlings are constantly watered. To do this, use warm, settled water. To prevent the seedlings from stretching and becoming too pale, they must be constantly kept in the light. Usually containers with seedlings for this are displayed on the windowsill or on the balcony.

Two months after sowing, the seedlings will be strong enough. At this stage, it can be transplanted into open ground. You should not do this earlier, otherwise the plants will not take root well in the new area. Planting technology for young seedlings is as follows.

1. Choosing a landing site. In order to sprout the onion faster, the place for planting it must be chosen especially carefully. It cannot be planted where legumes previously grew. Solanaceae, cabbage or green manure can be excellent precursors for young onions.Neighborhood also plays an important role. Young onions are best placed next to carrots or various flowers. This will have a positive effect on the condition of all plants. The selected area should also be well ventilated and well lit. In this case, young seedlings will develop correctly.
2. Soil preparation. First, you need to dig up the beds. Humus or complex fertilizers are applied to the soil. Further, the surface of the beds must be leveled. Small furrows are made there. The planting depth should be within three centimeters. The optimal distance between rows is 10-30 centimeters.
3. Selection of strong seedlings. First you need to choose healthy and strong plants that can quickly adapt to new conditions. They should be about the same size.
4. Seedling processing. Home-grown seedlings are removed from the containers. The roots are cleaned from the earth and carefully shortened. The leaves are also trimmed to a third of their length.
5. Planting seedlings. After watering the prepared grooves, seedlings are planted in them. The distance between the shoots should be within 5 centimeters. After planting green seedlings in the soil, they are carefully covered with earth. Then the soil is compacted. Planting onions is recommended in the evening or in the morning. It is important that the weather at this time is dry and calm.

The seedlings planted in this way are immediately mulched. It is recommended to use fine compost for this. After a couple of days, the seedlings will need to be watered. V

In the future, young plants need to be provided with proper care. Weak specimens will need to be regularly removed from the site. There is no need to throw them away. Greens can be eaten.

In addition to thinning, other agronomic measures also play an important role.

To keep the soil loose enough, the beds must be weeded regularly. It is also worth removing all weeds in the process. To avoid damaging the roots, do not loosen the soil too deep. All removed weeds should be sent to the compost pit.

So that the soil on the site does not dry out, it needs to be watered as needed. Typically, the site is irrigated once a week. If the summer is hot, the frequency of watering is increased up to three times. About a month before harvesting the onion grown per head, watering is stopped. This should be done gradually.

Onions are usually fertilized several times per season. The feeding scheme is quite simple.

1. A few days after planting young seedlings in the open ground, the beds need to be fertilized with urea or organic fertilizers. For this purpose, cow dung or chicken manure diluted in warm water is suitable. It is important to use rotted foods. Otherwise, there is a risk of weed contamination of the site.
2. For faster growth in the middle of summer, plants can be additionally fed with complex mineral fertilizer. You can easily find a suitable product in most modern gardening shops.
3. To increase the keeping quality of the bulbs, as well as to make them larger, at the end of summer the plants are watered with fertilizers that contain potassium and phosphorus.

It is important to remember that nitrogen fertilizing cannot be used in the second half of summer. This can lead to green mass growth and a decrease in bulb size.

Like any other plant in the garden and vegetable garden, onions are often subject to various diseases. They develop most actively in conditions of high humidity. Dangers to home-grown onions are diseases such as fusarium, powdery mildew or neck rot. All of these diseases can slow down the growth of onions or even lead to the death of green plants.

You can prevent infection of the site by carefully monitoring its condition. The soil should not be waterlogged. The plantings should also be thinned regularly so that they are not too thickened.

Common pests are also dangerous for young plants.

1. Harmful centipede. These pests attack the site in spring. Most often they start in the beds in the event that there are a lot of weeds. To avoid contamination of the site, it must be regularly cleaned of them. In autumn, the soil must be dug up. If centipedes are still on the site, it can be treated with mustard powder. To combat a large number of pests, the site is sprayed with calcium cyanide.
2. Onion moth. It is worth fearing the attacks of these pests in the summer. They damage greens, thus harming plantings. To prevent the onion moth from starting on the site, gardeners need to observe the crop rotation. Planting flowers with a rich aroma between rows of flowers also has a positive effect on the condition of the site. Their smell repels these pests.
3. Cabbage scoop. This pest also eats onion feathers. To combat the scoop, an infusion of mustard powder is most often used: 10 grams of dry product is diluted in a liter of water. The resulting product is infused overnight, and then diluted in a ratio of 1 to 1. Plants are sprayed with it in the late afternoon.
4. Onion fly. As a result of the activity of these pests, the tips of the green feathers dry out and the bulbs rot. To protect plants from these insects, the soil is regularly dug up. Noticing such pests on your site, you need to spray it with a solution of ammonia.
5. Nematode. If nematodes are on the site, the onion foliage begins to brighten and curl. Shoots infected with pests must be removed from the site and burned. If this is not done, the nematode can infect other plants in the garden.

To prevent the appearance of pests on the site, onions can also be sprayed with decoctions from tomato or potato tops, as well as from marigolds. It is best to carry out such procedures in the evening.

Seed-grown onions are usually harvested in the first half of August. You can understand that it's time to start harvesting by noticing that the onion feathers turn yellow and sink to the ground. Dig up onions on a dry and warm day. You can get it out of the ground with a pitchfork. Some gardeners prefer to simply pull it out by hand. If the soil is not too dry, it will be very easy to do this.

It is recommended to pre-dry the collected bulbs directly on the garden bed. In addition, it is important to clean them well of dirt. After a couple of hours, the onions are removed to a warm and dry place. There it is stored for several more days in a row. During this time, the tops will have time to dry.

Storage conditions for fruits depend on the characteristics of the variety. Usually onions are placed in thick canvas bags or wooden boxes. It is best to store them in a cellar or any other cool and dry place. Before laying, the collected bulbs must be carefully sorted out, leaving only whole and healthy specimens without spots and traces of damage.

Even a novice gardener can grow onions from seeds. The main thing is to regularly look after both the seedlings and the grown plants.