Growing onions from seeds

    The simplest and most proven scheme for growing onions with seeds looks like this: in the first year, we grow onion sets from seeds. In the second year, we grow onions from the sets.

If you start growing onion seedlings in early spring in an apartment on a windowsill, you can grow everything in one season.

Growing onion sets from seeds

Sets can be grown from seeds.Onion seeds are black in color and that is why everyone calls them “nigella”. When growing onions with seeds, you must keep in mind that the seeds can be stored for no more than 3 - 4 years and their germination rate is very poor.

    How to sow. Before sowing it is advisable soak the seeds in a growth stimulator for several hours. After that, wrap them in a damp cloth and keep them there until they hatch. Then the seeds are sown in previously prepared grooves. The furrows are made 2 - 3 cm deep, the distance between them is 20 cm.

Shoots will appear in 8 - 10 days, they will resemble a long loop. After germination, be sure to weed, otherwise these loops will rise and look very similar to ordinary grass.

    What to feed. When the shoots appear, apply the first fertilizing with nitrogen-containing fertilizers. This can be an infusion of mullein or mash (herb infusion), and after three true leaves appear, feed with complex min. fertilizer.

Please note: when growing onions with seeds, you can feed the crops only until mid-June. Water as needed, but not often. From mid-June onions should no longer be watered or fed.

It is from these seeds that the sets are grown.

    Caring for crops. Onions from seeds are a completely cold-resistant plant and can be sown in open ground at the end of April - beginning of May. Make the crops thickened, because nigella has poor germination. It is better to thin out the plantings as they grow. Must be thinned at least twice. At first, leave a distance of 1 cm between the sprouts, and during the second thinning, 5 cm.

When the feathers begin to fall to the ground, the onions can be dug up and dried.To dry, the onions are tied in small bunches and hung with the roots facing up. After drying, small onions with a diameter of less than 1 cm are sorted and rejected. Such onions are difficult to preserve in winter; they dry out and become unsuitable for planting.

This little thing can be planted before winter. They are planted in October to a depth of 3-4 cm. Many of them will die in winter, and from the remaining ones, greens for food will grow in early spring.

For large, good onions, the roots and dried feathers are cut off, after which they are stored.

Another way to grow onions

They sow nigella in another way. First, get rid of weeds in the garden. To do this, cover the bed with old film in early spring. When weed shoots appear, remove the film and thoroughly loosen the soil. Do not cover the bed with film at night; the weeds will die overnight. Repeat this procedure again. After such double treatment, there will be no weeds left in the top layer of soil.

    It is now impossible to dig up such a bed. When digging, weed seeds from the lower layers of the soil will again fall to the top and sprout.

Using the handle of a shovel, make furrows (2 - 3 cm) and 10 - 12 cm from each other. Irrigate these furrows with a solution of potassium permanganate to disinfect the soil. Then a solution of calcium nitrate (3 tablespoons per bucket of water). Mix 1 tbsp. a spoonful of nigella seeds and 1 tbsp. a spoonful of AVA fertilizer (dust fraction), add a glass of river sand. Sow the resulting mixture into the furrows as if salting them.

    At first glance, this method of growing onions with seeds seems complicated and even confusing. But as a result, we won’t have to fight weeds, feed onions, or thin out crops. We did everything upon landing.

Before the shoots appear, the bed must be covered with film, and after the sprouts appear, it must be replaced with lutrasil. Until June, the bed should be covered with lutrasil; you can even water it over the cover. At the beginning of June, the covering material is removed and onions are then grown as usual.

Onion sets

Growing onions

How to process seedlings before planting. Before planting, onion sets are processed as follows: Place them in a plastic bag and sprinkle them with karbofos. Then keep it for 30 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate. After this, the bulbs are ready for planting.

When to plant seedlings. Small onions can be planted on May 8-10, and larger ones a little later.

How to plant. The sets are planted at a distance of 10 cm between the bulbs. A distance of 15-20 cm is left between the rows to make it more convenient to loosen the soil. Before planting, make grooves 3-4 cm deep and partially sprinkle them with sand. Place the onions in them and lightly sprinkle them with soil.

When planting, place one granule of AVA fertilizer under each bulb, then no further fertilizing will be required.

    Growing onions. Arrows that appear must be removed immediately. Feathers cannot be cut off for greenery; to do this, you should plant a separate bed.

It is necessary to water the onion at the root; pouring water on the leaves is not recommended. It’s even better to water between the rows; the water will still get into the root zone, and the bulbs themselves will remain dry. Watering is necessary only in dry weather and in the first half of summer. In the second half, it is much more important to loosen the beds, and in rainy weather it is better to cover the onion plantings with film.

Planting seedlings.

    Harvest. When the feathers of the grown onions turn yellow and die (usually this happens in August), you can begin harvesting. The collected onions must be dried, sorted, cut off dry feathers and only then put away for storage.

How to grow onions from seeds in one season

If desired, you can grow onions from seeds in one season. To do this, the seeds are sown at the end of February in boxes with soil. Row spacing is left at 5 cm, the temperature for seed germination should be within + 25*C. When the seedlings appear, the box with seedlings can be placed on the windowsill; there will be quite suitable conditions for them.

At the end of April, onions grow 3-4 feathers 10-15 cm high. When planting seedlings in ridges, maintain a distance of 5 cm in a row and 30-40 cm between rows. Before planting, the leaves of the seedlings are shortened by a third and the roots are trimmed to two centimeters.

The soil around the seedlings is carefully compacted. A few days after planting, the plants are watered and the soil is loosened. Further care is the same as described above.

This is how seedlings are grown on a windowsill.

    It must be said that onions grown from seeds in one season are rarely of good quality. Most often, it does not have time to ripen properly and therefore is poorly stored in winter.

Continuation of the topic:

1. Planting onions before winter
2. Growing onions through seedlings
3. Video about planting onions