How to grow onions through seedlings

The seedling method of growing onions is especially effective in small areas: early sowing allows you to get a full harvest from plants sown with seeds (nigella) within a season.

The semi-sharp, low-primed varieties that grow better than others using the seedling method are: Kabo, Krasnodarsky-35, Karatalsky, Red Baron, Carmen, Stuttgarter Riesen.

Growing seedlings

Onion seedlings, after sowing the seeds in a box, are grown in greenhouses, greenhouses, and on window sills.The time for sowing is chosen so that when planting in open ground The seedlings were 50-55 days old. Then it takes root well after transplantation and manages to form a full-fledged harvest of well-ripened bulbs.

Land preparation

The best soil mixture for growing onion seedlings is a mixture of turf soil and humus (1:1). Add a teaspoon of ammonium nitrate, superphosphate, potassium sulfate and 0.5 cups of wood ash to a bucket of the mixture. Under no circumstances should they take soil from an area where onions or garlic were grown for the previous 2-3 years.

Seeds germinate slowly and in order to “hurry up”, before sowing they are treated with solutions of microelements and soaked. You can sow on a windowsill or in a greenhouse using biofuel as early as early March, so that you can plant it in open ground at the end of April.

Sow the seeds

The seeds are laid out every 1.5 cm into the seed furrows located 5-6 cm apart from each other. Planting depth is 1-1.5 cm. After sowing, the soil surface is slightly compacted, covered with thick cloth, through which, if necessary, water from a watering can with a fine strainer before emergence.

We sow nigella in boxes.

With this type of watering, the soil is not washed away and the seeds do not go deep. After the first shoots appear, the fabric is removed. The thin shoots that have just appeared are watered very carefully so as not to wash them out of the soil.

At what temperature to grow seedlings

Onion seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of +3 +4 degrees, but very slowly. To get seedlings in 10-12 days, it is advisable to maintain the temperature before emergence within +18 +20 degrees.As soon as the first shoots emerge, the temperature is lowered to 10-12 degrees for 4-5 days, then maintained within +15 +16 degrees so that the seedlings do not stretch out and grow weak and thin.

    At night the temperature should be a few degrees lower. They maintain the necessary microclimate, increasing, if necessary, ventilation of the greenhouse or room in which the seedlings are grown. In warm weather, the greenhouse can be opened completely during the day, and then not closed at night, so that the plants harden and get used to the conditions of open ground.

The onion is growing.

Onion seedlings are usually grown without picking, regulating the density of seedlings by thinning. The optimal distance in a row between plants is 1.5-2 cm. Water after 2-3 days, preventing the soil from drying out. Otherwise, the plants stop growing and form small bulbs, i.e., they go into a dormant state.

Good onion seedlings can be obtained by providing the plants with good lighting and coolness (+10 +16 degrees). In a dark, hot room, the seedlings will stretch out and fall, and it is useless to expect a good harvest from them.

Planting in open ground

By the time of planting in open ground, the plants should have four leaves and a well-developed root system. It is advisable to plant in cloudy weather or in the evening. Before planting, the seedlings are watered abundantly, then they are selected from a seedling box or greenhouse.

  The roots of each plant are shortened to 2.5 cm and the leaves are cut by a third. To make the wounds on the roots heal faster, it is advisable to dip them in a mixture of clay and humus.

We plant the grown onion in the beds.

The onion is planted obliquely, but not buried: there should only be roots and the bottom in the ground. It is important that the roots point downwards.Plants whose roots were bent upward when planted do not develop well. Row spacing is 25, the distance between plants in a row is 5-6 cm (taking into account subsequent thinning).

Seedlings from cassettes are immediately planted 12-15 cm apart. After planting, the bed is watered and mulched with compost.

If there are a lot of seedlings, but the onion bed is small, plant them densely and first get a lot of green onions, thinning out the plantings. With this method of growing, all unnecessary plants must be removed at the beginning of summer.

Until the onion takes root in a new place, it is watered every 2-3 days. Further care is the same as for onions grown from sets.

With any method of growing onions for turnips, it is important to remember that the soil should not be rolled over the plants, so as not to delay the formation and ripening of the bulbs.

Continuation of the topic:

1. Planting winter onions
2. Growing onions from seeds
3. Vegetable food
4. Planting spring garlic