When growing onions, gardeners most often encounter the following problems: onion fly, nematodes, neck rot and white rot of bulbs.
When growing onions from seeds, you encounter onion flies more often, so if onion flies have bothered you in past years, it is safer to grow onions from bulbs. Leeks are less frequently affected by flies than onions.
ONION FLY
A characteristic sign is drooping yellow leaves. Plants are most severely affected in mid-dry summer. The larvae eat through the passages at the base of the bulb; young bulbs often die, while more mature ones become deformed. Methods of control: Severely affected plants are removed and destroyed. Preventive measures: Before sowing or planting, seeds and bulbs are treated with pirimiphos methyl. Plants removed during thinning, damaged leaves and infected bulbs are destroyed. The soil around the plants is compacted. If the area is heavily infested, it is better to grow onions from bulbs rather than seeds.
DROPPING LEAVES
Sometimes leaves droop for no obvious reason. If the leaves are darker than usual, then the cause may be adding a large amount of fresh manure to the soil before planting or an excess of mineral nitrogen in it. In this case, the plants are watered with a solution of potassium fertilizer.
SHOOTING
If the onion forms an arrow prematurely, then it is broken out, the onion is removed at the usual time, but is not stored, but used as food as soon as possible. The most likely causes of bolting are sowing too early, cold weather in the spring, or planting seedlings in loose soil.
NEMATODE
Infestation by these microscopic soil worms is indicated by swollen, deformed leaves. Young plants die; mature bulbs become soft and unsuitable for storage.
Methods of control: Affected plants are removed and destroyed. Prevention measures: Onions, peas, beans and strawberries are not grown in the infected area for several years.
CRACKING
When harvesting, it is discovered that some of the bulbs are split at the base. This happens with onions grown from sets if, after a long drought, the plants are watered abundantly or it starts to rain. Methods of struggle: Doesn't exist. Affected bulbs are not stored, so they are used as food as quickly as possible. Preventive measures: During drought, water onions without allowing the soil to dry out.
MULTI-CELL BULBS
When grown from sets, one bulb can produce several shoots. This usually happens when planting dates are violated or on poor soils. Another possible reason is prolonged drought.
Black spots appear on young leaves and bulbs, leaves thicken and become deformed. Leeks are more susceptible to disease than onions. Methods of struggle: Doesn't exist. Affected plants are removed and destroyed. Preventive measures: Do not grow leeks, onions or shallots in the contaminated area for at least 8 years.
RUST
Orange spots and specks appear on the leaves. A rare but destructive disease for plants that develops in the summer. Leeks are more susceptible to disease than onions and shallots. Methods of control: Affected leaves are torn off and destroyed. Preventive measures: Onions should not be grown in the contaminated area the following year.
THICK NECK
Bulbs with thick necks cannot be stored for long periods of time. This developmental defect is attributed to the presence of fresh manure or excess mineral nitrogen in the soil. During the growth period, onions are fed with potassium fertilizer. Another possible cause of the defect is buried seeding.
WHITENESS
In autumn, leek leaves lose color and dry out. From the tips of the leaves, the disease spreads lower, and plant growth slows down. Methods of control: At the first signs of the disease, plants are sprayed with mancozeb. Severely affected plants are removed and destroyed.
Preventive measures: The following year, do not grow leeks in the infected area.
Downy Mildew
The leaves become covered with fluffy gray mold, gradually lose color and die, starting from the tips. The bulbs are usually soft and unsuitable for storage. The disease affects plants in cool, damp summers. Methods of control: At the first signs of the disease, plants are sprayed with carbendazim. The treatment is repeated at intervals of 2 weeks. Preventive measures: Do not grow onions in one place for 2 years in a row. The soil in the area allocated for onions should be well drained.
ONION FIRE
Light green caterpillars about 1 cm long eat away the tissue of young leaves, leaving only the skin. All types of onions are affected.
Methods of control: At the first signs of damage, plants are sprayed with a contact insecticide. Precautions: None.
WHITE ROT OF BULLS
The leaves turn yellow and wither. A fluffy white moldy coating appears at the base of the bulb, inside which round black sclerotia are visible. A serious disease that develops in hot and dry summers.
Methods of struggle: Doesn't exist. Affected plants are removed and destroyed. Prevention measures: There are no chemical control agents. No onions are grown in the contaminated area for at least 8 years.
LEAVE WILLING
First, the middle leaves turn yellow and wither, followed by the outer leaves. If you cut an onion, among its scales you can find slimy scales with an unpleasant odor. The disease is much less common than white rot.
Methods of struggle: Doesn't exist. Diseased plants are removed and destroyed. Preventive measures: There are no effective preventive measures. Onions are not grown in the contaminated area for several years.
CERVICAL ROT
During storage, gray mold appears on the neck of the bulb, the bulbs become soft and rot. Methods of struggle: Doesn't exist. Bulbs in storage are regularly inspected, and diseased ones are immediately removed. Preventive measures: Before planting, seeds and sets are dusted with carbendazim. Only well-dried, undamaged bulbs are stored for storage. Store onions in a cool, well-ventilated area.
The onion is ready for harvesting when it begins to lose its leaves en masse. Under favorable climatic conditions, this usually occurs by mid-August.
The size of the harvest, its quality and the keeping quality of the bulbs largely depend on the correctly chosen harvesting time. The maximum amount of nutrients accumulates in the bulb at the time of lodging of the leaves. During this period, its false stem softens and loses its elasticity, which means the end of plant growth, the bulb has formed and acquired the color characteristic of this variety.
An onion harvested early does not have time to form covering scales, its neck remains thick and open, through which pathogens easily penetrate into the bulb while still in the garden, which leads to large losses during further storage. Late harvesting also negatively affects the keeping quality of onions, because... Overripe bulbs crack and dry scales fall off, roots re-grow, which reduces the onion’s resistance to disease. Such bulbs are not suitable for winter storage.
In a humid summer, if the time to harvest onions is approaching, and you see that they are not yet ready for harvesting (the leaves are green, the neck is thick, the bulbs are without colored scales), you can speed up the ripening process on your own. There are quite a few folk methods for this, although sometimes not indisputable. Here are just a few of them: some gardeners even mow down the leaves a week before harvesting onions, but this is the worst way, because... mowing leaves leads to significant yield loss; other gardeners - 8-10 days before harvesting, rake the soil away from the bulbs; still others use a pitchfork to carefully lift the bulbs, slightly undermining the roots; many people cut the roots with a sharp spatula 5-6 cm below the bottom of the bulb, etc. The technique used is different, but the meaning of all these operations is the same - to significantly limit the flow of nutrients into the bulb and speed up its ripening. At the same time, nutrients from the dying leaves will have time to transfer to the bulbs, and the harvest will not be damaged.
It is advisable to harvest onions in dry, windy weather. If the soil is light (sandy loam, light loamy), then the plant is simply grabbed by the leaves with your hands and pulled out of the ground. On heavier soil, the rows are first dug up with a shovel or pitchfork at some distance from the bulbs so as not to damage them, and then carefully removed from the soil. At the same time, we should not forget that without digging, the bulb is often pulled out without the bottom and then easily rots.
You cannot shake off the soil by tapping the bulbs on the ground, because... they do not tolerate even mild mechanical damage. Therefore, the soil must be carefully removed from them by hand. Then the harvested crop is laid out in rows to dry for 10-12 days in an open sunny place: the bulbs in one direction and the leaves in the other. If necessary, turn the plants over to speed up drying, because, among other things, the sun's rays disinfect the onions.
During harvesting, you should separately select unripe onions with thick necks so that they can be used as food as quickly as possible in the fall.
After drying, the leaves of the onion are cut off, leaving a neck 4-5 cm long. Trimming the feathers of the onion too low (level with the neck of the onion) is harmful and will result in increased yield losses during winter storage.
Sometimes dry tops are not trimmed and the onions are stored tied into braids or wreaths. And for strength, tufts of straw or twine are woven into the leaves. The roots of the onion are cut with a sharp knife or scissors under the bottom, without touching it.
Well-dried onions rustle when tossed. Your hand can easily fit into a heap of well-dried onions, but you can’t push your hand through a bunch of under-dried ones. Dry outer scales protect the bulbs from moisture evaporation and allow the onions to be stored in a dry room for a long time. But you can’t overdry the onions, because... in this case, the dry outer scales crack, separate, and bare bulbs appear, which are then poorly preserved.
For onions grown in wet soils, heavily manured and nitrogen-rich soils, drying alone is not enough. Onions become infected with neck rot in the garden, but in the growing state it does not manifest itself in any way. To protect such onions from damage by neck rot and downy mildew during storage, they must be dried again at a higher temperature, 32-33°C, for 5 days or 42-43°C for 8 hours. It is advisable to powder it with chalk powder. An onion is considered well dried if its neck breaks when turned. The harvest prepared in this way is ready for long-term storage in winter.
If during harvesting the weather is rainy for a long time and the onions have to be removed from too wet soil, then after digging it up, it must be washed, immediately peeled off the husks and feathers, cut off the roots and laid out in one row to dry in a dry, well-ventilated area. After 15-20 days, the bulbs will have a new husk, but only in one layer. These onions will store well in a cardboard box in a dry, cool (but not cold) room. On such an onion, bulbs with a thick, unclosed neck are clearly visible, which should be immediately used when cooking. But it is stored no worse than onions collected in dry weather, it’s just a lot more hassle with it.
Until November, turnip onions can be stored in unheated rooms (garages, sheds, summer kitchens), and with the onset of constant frost - in dry rooms where the temperature does not drop to sub-zero levels.
It is believed that onions should be harvested in mid-August. Why? How to clean it correctly? L. Semenishcheva, Asbest.
The onion is ready for harvesting when its leaves begin to lode, the bulb has formed and acquired the color characteristic of the variety. Under favorable conditions, this occurs by mid-August.
An onion harvested early does not have time to form covering scales, its neck remains thick and open, through which pathogens easily penetrate into the bulb while still in the garden, which leads to large losses during storage.
Late harvesting also negatively affects the keeping quality of onions, because overripe bulbs crack and dry scales fall off, roots re-grow, and this reduces the onion’s resistance to disease. Such bulbs are not suitable for winter storage.
If the time to harvest onions is approaching, and you see that the onions are not ready for harvesting (the leaves are green, the neck is thick, the bulbs are without colored scales), then the ripening process can be accelerated if you wish. There are many popular methods for this.
Some gardeners even mow down the leaves a week before harvesting onions. But this is the worst way, because mowing the leaves leads to significant loss of yield. Other gardeners 8-10 days before harvesting rake the soil away from the bulbs, while others carefully lift the bulbs with a pitchfork, slightly undermining the roots. Many gardeners trim the roots with a sharp spatula 5-6 cm below the bottom of the bulb, etc.
The technique used is different, but the meaning of all these operations is the same - to significantly limit the flow of nutrients into the bulb and speed up its ripening. At the same time, nutrients from the dying leaves will have time to transfer to the bulbs and the harvest will not be damaged.
It is advisable to harvest onions in dry, windy weather. If the soil is light (sandy loam, light loamy), then the plants are simply grabbed by the leaves with their hands and pulled out of the ground. On heavy soil, the rows are first dug up with a shovel or pitchfork at some distance from the bulbs so as not to damage them, and then carefully removed from the soil.
It is impossible to shake off the soil by tapping the bulbs on the ground, since they do not tolerate even slight mechanical damage. Therefore, the soil must be removed from the bulbs by hand. Then the onions are laid out in rows to dry for 10-12 days in an open sunny place: the bulbs in one direction and the leaves in the other. If necessary, turn the plants over to speed up drying. Among other things, the sun's rays disinfect onions.
During harvesting, you should separately select unripe onions with thick necks for use as food in the fall. After drying, the leaves of the onion are cut off, leaving a neck 4-5 cm long. Trimming the feathers of the bulb too low (level with the neck of the bulb) is harmful and will result in increased onion losses during winter storage.
Sometimes dry tops are not cut and the onions are stored tied into braids or wreaths. And for strength, tufts of straw or twine are woven into the leaves. The roots of the onion are cut with a sharp knife or scissors under the bottom, without touching it.
Well-dried onions rustle when tossed. Your hand can easily fit into a heap of well-dried onions, but you can’t push your hand through an under-dried onion. Dry outer scales protect the bulbs from moisture evaporation and allow the onions to be stored in a dry room for a long time. But you can’t overdry the onions, because in this case the dry outer scales crack, separate, and bare bulbs appear that are poorly stored.
For onions grown in wet soils, heavily manured and nitrogen-rich soils, drying the onions alone is not enough. Onions become infected with neck rot in the garden, but in the growing state it does not manifest itself in any way.
To protect such onions from damage by neck rot and downy mildew during storage, they must be dried again at a higher temperature of 32-33°C for five days or 42-43°C for eight hours. It is advisable to powder the onions with chalk powder. Onions prepared in this way are ready for long-term storage in winter.
If, when harvesting onions, the weather is rainy for a long time and the onions have to be removed from too wet soil, then after digging it up, it must be washed, immediately peeled off the husks and feathers, cut off the roots and laid out in one row to dry in a dry, well-ventilated area. After 15-20 days, the bulbs will have a new husk, but only in one layer.
These onions store well in a cardboard box in the toilet or on the kitchen cabinet. On such an onion, bulbs with a thick neck that is not closed are clearly visible, which should be immediately used for food. But it is stored no worse than onions collected in dry weather. Just mess around with it a lot more.
Valery SHAFRANSKY, gardener.
P A M Y T K A for developers, designers and other persons performing design work, carrying out earthworks, construction, reclamation,19.07.2019 Administration of Serov On the eve of Metallurgist Day, the traffic police of the city of Pervouralsk reminds that road safety is a common task and success in solving this task largely depends not only on the professionalism and efficiency of police officers,
07/19/2019 Pervouralsk.RF Yesterday, meetings of four specialized committees were held. At the Committee on Budget, Finance and Taxes, deputies again considered amendments to the budget for 2019 and the planning period of 2020 and 2021.
07/19/2019 Pervouralsk.RF
Growing onion turnips from sets Probably every gardener in our country works on his or her own plot. Some people do this perfectly well, but others, especially beginner gardeners, may have some difficulties.
In this article we will try to talk about some of the features growing onion turnips from sets, and we will be glad if, after reading it, someone finds answers to some of their questions that arose when growing this crop.
You can start planting seedlings in open ground as soon as the soil is ripe and you can cultivate it. It is able to germinate already at a temperature of 2 - 3⁰ C. Try not to be late in planting the sets, otherwise the onions will not have time to fully ripen.
Optimal conditions for planting onions in our middle zone develop, as a rule, in the last ten days of April - early May, in areas located to the south 21 - 28 days earlier.
The advantages of early planting include the fact that in conditions of high humidity and lower temperatures characteristic of this period, onions form a more powerful root system, which in turn is a good foundation for obtaining a high yield.
If you have to use seedlings for planting, the storage conditions of which you have no idea about, before planting we recommend warming them up at 30 - 35⁰ C, large sets for 12 - 15 days, small ones - 8 - 10 days. The goal of this event is to reduce the number of bolting bulbs. If you warm up the sowing at 40⁰ Within 8 hours, this will not only help reduce bolting of plants, but also prevent downy mildew.
The planting depth may vary depending on the soil, so on denser soils it is 1.5–2 cm, and on loose soils and in the south – up to 3–4 cm.
If, when planting, you deeply bury the seed on dense soils, the bulbs may become deformed due to compression by the soil during their formation. Also, with deep planting, a thick neck is formed, as a result of which the onion ripens a little later, but if, on the contrary, the planting is done too shallow, then the bulbs may become exposed.
In the garden bed reserved for growing onion from sets, add: 8 - 10 kg of humus or peat manure compost, from mineral fertilizers you can add 15 - 20 grams of nitrophoska and 350 - 400 grams of wood ash. Then the soil in the garden bed must be dug well, loosened, leveled and watered. Onion sets are planted in pre-cut grooves, the distance between which is on average 18 - 20 cm, and between sets - 10 cm. When planting, the soil around the onions is pressed well, the plants are watered with warm water at a temperature of about 20⁰ C, then the bed is covered with plastic film for a while.
I think it would not be superfluous to remind you that in order to achieve rapid germination of sets, it is necessary to cut off part of the dry neck of the onion and soak the onions for 1 day in water at a temperature of up to 30⁰ C. Then soak the seedlings for 15 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate (1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water).
In the first three quarters of the onion growing season, the main efforts to care for plants should be aimed at creating all the necessary conditions for the rapid growth of the plant assimilation apparatus. And if it’s simpler, the sooner the onions form leaves and the sooner they begin to lie down, the greater your chances of getting a high yield of well-ripened onions. To accelerate the growth of leaves, loosening and watering are carried out, and attention should also be paid to the destruction of weeds.
Don't forget to feed the plants as well. At the initial stage of growth, when onion plants develop rather slowly, they can be fed with a solution of this composition (a glass of mullein and 5 grams of urea are diluted in 10 liters of water), the fertilizer consumption is 5 liters per 1 m 2. The next fertilizing is carried out in the first ten days of June (a half-liter jar of bird droppings is diluted in 10 liters of water and 15-20 grams of nitrophoska are added), the fertilizer consumption is the same 5 liters per 1 m 2. In the period of time between the subcrusts, the soil between the plants is sprinkled with ash, using 1.5 cups per 1 m2. The arrows that form on some plants must be broken out, as they reduce the yield and impair its quality. However, keep in mind that such onions will subsequently have thick necks, and onions with such necks are not suitable for storage.
In the final quarter of the onion growing season, when fully formed large bulbs begin to ripen, there is no longer a need to care for the plants. They stop watering the plants about 20 days before harvesting, but still make sure that the soil does not dry out too much.
Cleaning turnip onion grown from sets
They begin to harvest onions and turnips after the tops have fallen, at the beginning of the yellowing of the leaves, approximately from August 20. They select it along with the leaves, and then dry it directly in the garden bed for 1.5 weeks. If the weather is rainy during harvesting, it is dried under a canopy or in a well-ventilated area for 2 weeks, and then heated for another 2 days near an AGV or heating radiators. After this, the onions can be stored.
Storing grown onion and turnip sets
Before storing the onion, the turnip is trimmed, leaving a neck of 3-4 cm. Optimal storage conditions are at a temperature of - 1 - 3⁰ C. But at home, onions are often stored in braids and in bundles at a temperature of 18 - 25⁰ C.
To meet accepted standards, the onion must first of all be well-ripened and healthy, and its color and shape are characteristic of the variety being grown, with a well-dried jacket and thin neck and a bulb diameter of at least 4 cm.
In conclusion, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that if you set yourself the task of obtaining a good harvest of onions of appropriate quality, then under no circumstances should you pick off the green feather during the entire growing season.
We wish you a rich harvest!
Thank you for your attention!
- ✓ A sure sign that it is time to harvest onions
- ✓ Sunbathing for onions
- ✓ Should the onion be trimmed or not...
- ✓ Preparation for weaving onion braids
- ✓ Both beauty and benefit
- ✓ How to weave onion braids - photo
- ✓ How best to store onions - advice from summer residents
Onion storage conditions. How to weave braids from onions.
No housewife can do without onions, and therefore stocks of this healthy vegetable are available in every home. But it’s not always possible to save them without loss
Often, already in the middle of winter, the bulbs begin to deteriorate, and closer to spring they begin to germinate. Meanwhile, harvested on time and properly prepared, onions can be stored until the next harvest even in an ordinary city apartment. And now it’s time to remember the ancient tradition of weaving onion braids...
However, first things first. First, the harvested crop must be properly harvested and thoroughly dried, otherwise all efforts will be in vain. Well, then you can start weaving.
A sure sign that it is time to harvest onions
The foundations for success are laid while the bulbs are still in the garden. And the first task is to correctly determine the time of harvesting: if the bulbs are not ripe, they will not be stored well, but they should not be overexposed - a late harvested crop can be affected by rot, especially if the summer was damp.
It is difficult to name a specific time for harvesting onions: it depends on the time of planting (winter onions are ready for harvesting earlier than those planted in the spring), and on the variety, and on weather (climatic) conditions. But there are reliable signs by which you can easily determine that the time has already come.
Onions are harvested when the feathers have died and the bulbs have “dressed up” - they have dense covering scales. It happens that powerful, strong greenery does not lay down - then experienced gardeners recommend laying it down forcibly. They say that this technique helps the bulbs to ripen faster and stimulates the outflow of nutrients to them from the above-ground part of the plant. But there is no need to rush. Only in this case you need to keep in mind: a thick, fleshy neck will take a long time to dry.
Another sure sign of a ripe onion: it comes out of the ground very easily. If the bulb “holds” tightly to the bed, you should wait a little while cleaning. However, there is an important nuance here: if the moment is missed, the plant begins to grow new roots, especially when there is enough moisture in the soil. This is also very bad for future storage.
But the yellowing of the feather, which gardeners sometimes rely on, can actually signal anything: a lack of moisture, for example, or pest damage to the bulb, or other problems that have nothing to do with the ripening of the crop.
An important nuance is that not all varieties are stored equally well. As a rule, sharp onions have the best shelf life, but sweet and juicy ones, with thin, delicate scales, are unlikely to last safely until spring at home. Onions grown from seeds in one season are often inferior in “longevity” to those grown in the traditional way - from sets.
Sunbathing for onions
We often see that plants ripen unevenly. Of course, in this case, stage-by-stage harvesting of the bulbs is most preferable, but for a summer resident who comes to a suburban area only on weekends, this option is usually unacceptable. As a result, you have to wait for the bulk of the crop to ripen in order to harvest it in one go.
It is advisable that the weather on the day of cleaning be dry and clear. Place the pulled out onions on the garden bed: the sun's rays will not only dry them, but will also help disinfect them thanks to the bactericidal properties of ultraviolet radiation. Ideally, the bulbs should be left in the air for 2–3 days, and if this is not possible, at least for one day.
Should I trim the onion or not...
After sunbathing in the garden, all the onions should be laid out in a well-ventilated, dry room (an attic or hayloft is ideal, but it can also be done on a veranda, for example).
We lay them out in one row so that they are well ventilated and dry better.
This is perhaps the most important part of the preparation: a poorly dried crop will not last long.
Those who prefer to keep onions in nets, boxes, stockings, or other similar methods that do not require leaving the feather behind usually wonder if they can be trimmed before drying. In fact, “clipped” bulbs take up much less space, which is important in a small country house.
The theory says that the feather should not be trimmed immediately - in the first days after harvesting, accumulated nutrients are transferred from it to the bulb. Practitioners, however, argue that pruning time does not affect the taste and keeping quality of the crop. Well, it is possible to compare the composition of bulbs dried with and without herbs only in laboratory conditions, so here you just have to take the scientists’ word for it.
But if we intend to braid onions, we cannot do without a feather.
Please note: drying is not a quick process. Many people believe that 1.5–2 weeks will be enough, however, if you want to achieve a good result, you should aim for at least a month (depending on conditions: temperature, air humidity and other parameters). There is no need to spare time and space: the better we dry it, the more reliably we will preserve it. We determine readiness by the condition of the neck (this is the place at the base of the onion): if it is completely dry, then it’s time to braid the hair.
Preparing to weave onion braids
To begin with, it is advisable to sort the bulbs by size: large, medium and small. This makes sense from an aesthetic point of view (an even braid of bulbs of the same size looks better), and the shelf life of bulbs of different sizes can
Differ. For the same reason, it is not advisable to weave together onions of different varieties. Of course, garlands in which multi-colored bulbs alternate beautifully look impressive. But if you are interested not so much in the decorative as in the practical side of the issue, give preference to homogeneous options.
After drying, the feather becomes grayish-brown, quite fragile and brittle, so for the strength of the weaving it is advisable to use natural (linen) twine.
He will not allow our creation to crumble over time. In general, onion garlands are woven in different ways, and real craftsmen create amazing, very beautiful products.
But from the point of view of harvest safety, even the simplest option is in no way inferior to these masterpieces. The length of the braid can be arbitrary (up to 1.5–2 m), but it is still better to start with short ones, because they are easier to weave, but a long, heavy garland will be difficult to manage at first. Having mastered one, the simplest method of weaving, you will be able to improve your skills in the future.
Both beauty and benefit
Onion braids are not just a convenient way to store onions, but also a wonderful interior decoration. They look great and don’t take up too much space.
Expert advice
When sorting, be sure to discard all soft, damaged and diseased bulbs.
We use those whose necks have not completely dried out for food first. There is no point in braiding them - such onions do not store well.
The main thing is to create the right conditions for them. Onions do not like high humidity and temperature changes. Therefore, you should not hang the braids, for example, near the stove - the steam and hot air rising from it will not benefit the onions. It is also undesirable to place garlands close to the radiator - they will dry out. The optimal temperature for storing onions at home is + 18...+ 22 ° C, with a humidity of 60-70%.
There is also a “cold” storage method - at a temperature of about 0°C. However, it is unrealistic to find such a room in a city apartment, and not every basement of a private house is suitable for this.
Hanging braids should be inspected from time to time, removing damaged or sprouted bulbs. However, if everything is done correctly, there will be very few of these. But when choosing a storage place, do not forget: over time, a thinning garland loses its attractiveness, so it can only be used temporarily as an element of kitchen design.
By the way, it is no coincidence that in the old days onion braids were hung in the house as a talisman against pestilences (epidemics) - this superstition has a completely scientific basis: as is known, onions secrete phytoncides that have bactericidal properties. And it turns out that the half-forgotten ancient tradition has many advantages: excellent preservation of the harvest, colorful interior decoration, and even purification of the air from harmful microorganisms. It's worth reviving it, isn't it?
How to weave onion braids - photo
1. We will need two pieces of twine. One segment should be slightly larger than the intended size of the braid. And the second one is twice as long. Fold it in half.
2. Make a loop at the tip of the folded twine and secure the onion in it.
3. Then we braid the feather like a regular braid, not forgetting to weave in the second piece of rope.
4. Add the bulbs one at a time. To make the braid neat, we try to distribute them evenly. This skill comes with experience; in practice, everything becomes clear very quickly. The smaller the bulbs, the more often and densely you can weave them.
5. When the braid reaches the desired length, tie it with one of the ends of the twine, tightening a strong knot. From the remaining ponytails we form a loop from which we will hang the braid. We carefully trim off the excess rope and tops.
6. Be sure to keep in mind that the braid comes out quite heavy, so the loop must be strong and reliable. For the same reason, it is worth taking care of the strength of the hook on which the garland is supposed to be hung.
Read an interesting article about how to equip storage on a balcony with your own hands here
At the beginning of our gardening, it was always like this, even when there was no rain: the weather is dry, and the onions are rotting. I even stored one onion in egg cells. And one rainy year I asked my neighbor: “Are your onions rotting?” “No,” he answers, “I dry it in the sun.” The next year we began to dry it in the sun, after 3-4 days we turned it over, and after a week we cut out the feathers. It takes two weeks to dry. The onion was healthy and did not spoil. We told all our neighbors that ultraviolet light was needed. Now they dry everything this way: some lay it out on boards, some on window frames, some on the roof.
This disease is called neck rot. You should not delay cleaning - we remove it when the feathers begin to fade and fall to the ground.
Be sure to dry in the sun, covering it with oilcloth. Store in mesh bags in a dry but cool place. Crop rotation – at least three years.
Onions and garlic also suffer from stem nematode, a small worm that lays eggs in plant tissue. Onion heads crack, garlic cloves fall apart, and plant leaves become deformed. There was a year when almost an entire bed of garlic died from a nematode. Now soak the onions and garlic in a saline solution (1 cup of salt per 1 bucket of water) for 3 hours and plant them wet.
Onions should be harvested only in dry weather, dried until the leaves dry out and dry covering leaves form. There was a year in our practice when it rained constantly, the onions lay in the air, but did not dry. We installed iron arches and put plastic film on top, leaving 30 cm of the sides open. The onions dried remarkably well and did not rot.
Ultraviolet rays apparently passed through the film. We also learned that after storing onions for a month, they need to be sorted out once a season - they come across spoiled ones. That's what we do.
I also read in our favorite magazine that onions react negatively to increased acidity of the soil; manure is not needed. Our opinions differed. My husband believes that without rotted manure there will be no harvest, so we add it. But we also need to add lime before planting.
Below are other entries on the topic “Do-it-yourself cottage and garden”
Garden and dacha › Garden plants › Growing and caring for vegetables in the dacha › Varieties and types of onions › Storing onions: how to do it right