It's time to sow leeks - garden review. Growing leeks Growing leek seedlings from seeds at home

Much lighter than leek. However, it is worth knowing that the gastronomic qualities and rich vitamin composition of leeks are significantly superior in their subtlety of taste (not spicy, but even slightly sweet) to their onion counterpart. However, even a novice summer resident can plant and grow leeks on his own plot, as you will definitely see after reading this material to the end.

How to plant leeks for seedlings: timing, preparatory measures and phased planting

In the south, due to the earlier warming of the earth and the long summer, leeks are planted with seeds directly into the ground; a seedless planting method is used, which is in no way suitable for the Middle Zone (the same Moscow region) due to the fact that in these latitudes return frosts are not uncommon and relatively late onset of consistently warm weather. Therefore, due to the fact that the growing season of leeks is very long (about 6 months), in this region it is better to grow leeks through seedlings.

Sowing dates

As for the timing of planting, as a rule, leek seedlings begin to be planted around mid-February and until the first half of March. However, some varieties are best planted for seedlings at the end of March, for example, Carentan leek.

According to the lunar calendar

This can help you choose the optimal date for sowing leeks for seedlings or open ground. Moon calendar.

So favorable days for sowing leeks in 2019 according to the Lunar calendar are:

• in January - 27-29;
• in February – 6-8, 11-17, 23-26, 28;
• in March – 10-12, 15-17, 23-25, 27-30;
• in April – 2-9, 11-15, 24-27, 29, 30;
• in May - 1-4, 12-14, 21-23;
• in June - 9-11, 18-20;
• in July - 25-31.

Unfavorable days according to the lunar calendar for 2019 The dates for sowing leeks for seedlings or open ground are as follows:

• in January - 5, 6, 21;
• in February - 4, 5, 19;
• in March - 6, 7, 21;
• in April - 5, 19;
• in May - 5, 19;
• in June - 3, 4, 17;
• in July - 2, 3, 17.

According to the lunar calendar from the magazine “1000 tips for a summer resident.”

Required planting containers and soil

The choice of containers for sowing leeks for seedlings is not limited to purchased options; you can always make the planting containers yourself.

By the way! An excellent option would be to plant and grow leeks in peat tablets without picking.

In order for a leek to germinate successfully and quickly grow, it needs light and nutritious soil. Heavy (dense) or excessively clayey soil is not suitable for it.

You can buy ready-made soil for seedlings at a garden store, but ready-made soil mixtures for eggplants, peppers and cucumbers are great for this.

Recipe for making your own soil mixture for growing leek seedlings:

• 1/4 peat;
• 1/4 garden (vegetable) land;
• 2/4 humus.

Before sowing, it is advisable to disinfect the prepared soil by spilling it with a warm solution of potassium permanganate, or even better.

Preparation and treatment of seeds before sowing

Before planting leek seeds, they must be processed for better germination, and it does not matter whether you plant the onions first as seedlings or directly in the ground.

Remember! The optimal shelf life and, as a result, germination of leek seeds is 3 years, after which the chances of successful germination of crops are significantly reduced.

There are different ways to prepare leek seeds before planting.

For example, you can simply soak the seeds in lukewarm water, let them sit for 24 hours, and then dry them.

Another treatment option would be to keep the planting material in a thermos at a water temperature of about 40 degrees for 3-5 hours. After which the seeds must be rinsed in cold water and dried.

You can pickle leek seeds in a special solution, for example.

Planting seeds for seedlings

Sowing leek seeds occurs in different ways depending on the size of the planting container: if it is a separate container, for example, cups, then it is better to place 1 seed in each (although, for better further selection, you can sow 3-4 to later leave only the strongest seedling).

So, step-by-step instructions for planting leeks for seedlings:

1. Fill containers with moistened substrate.
2. Make small grooves 1-1.5 cm deep.
3. Sow the seeds at a distance of 4-5 centimeters from each other and lightly cover with soil.
4. Then additionally sprinkle the entire surface with a 0.5 cm layer of sand and water.
5. Now you can cover the crops with a lid or plastic wrap, or you can use the most ordinary shoe covers (to create a greenhouse effect) and put them in a warm place where the air temperature is kept around + 21-25 degrees throughout the day.

Video: planting leeks for seedlings

You can sow leeks in snail or non-woven napkin. How to do this, see the following video:

Caring for leek seedlings after planting

As soon as friendly leek shoots appear, and this takes from 2 to 3 weeks, the planting containers must be moved to a cooler place. There temperature indoors at night it should be at +10-12 degrees, during the day - +15-17 degrees. In such conditions, the plantings should survive for 1 week. Then the temperature must be raised again to +13-15 degrees at night and +18-20 degrees during the day. It is in this mode that the seedlings need to be kept until they are finally transplanted into open ground.

Video: caring for leek seedlings

For normal growth, onion seedlings require 12 hour daylight hours. Therefore, when sowing early, you need to immediately think about how you will illuminate the leeks: it will be more expensive phytolamps or economical LED analogues.

Leeks need frequent and plentiful watering. The soil should not be allowed to dry out; leeks germinate well only in moist soil.

Important! Due to the fact that with The stems of young leek seedlings are very tender; you need to water them very carefully. That is why constant additional adding soil into seedlings, which ensures proper formation of the leek bulb.

After 1 month from the moment of formation of seedlings, they must be started thin out so that the distance between the seedlings is about 3-4 cm.

To successfully grow leek seedlings, it is necessary to ensure the development of its roots, as well as the thickening of the stem by pruning plants every 14 days, while maintaining the height of the onion at 10 cm from the ground.

Video: caring for leek seedlings - pruning (haircut)

For better growth, leek seedlings require fertilizer. So, it is advisable to spend exactly 2 feeding The first - a couple of weeks after germination and the second - about a week before transplanting to the garden bed. You can use ready-made fertilizers (for example, Kemira-universal), or mix the required components with your own hands: dissolve 5 g of potassium chloride, 20 g of superphosphate and 10 g of urea in a bucket of water.

Interesting! Bird droppings are what leeks need as fertilizer. To prepare such fertilizing, you need to dilute 0.5 kg of droppings in 10 liters of water, then water the plantings as carefully as possible, without getting on the seedlings themselves.

A week or a little more before planting leeks in the ground (that is, 7 weeks after the first shoots appear), seedlings require preliminary hardening. Therefore, gradually begin to take the planting containers with seedlings outside (preferably in partial shade), increasing the time they spend outdoors every day.

Picking

Note! Picking leek seedlings is not advisable, so plant the seeds immediately in spacious containers.

If you planted the leeks too densely, then the transplantation of young seedlings must be done very, very carefully, in no way damaging the small roots.

Method of planting leek seedlings in open ground: timing, rules and guidelines for further care

The appearance of 3-4 true leaves on leek seedlings is a signal to transplant the seedlings from planting containers into open ground. As a rule, this approximately occurs between 55 and 65 days from the moment of seedling formation, depending on the selected variety.

If you haven’t prepared the soil in the fall, then it’s okay, you can do it in the spring. Mark the bed in advance, dig up the soil and apply fertilizer.

Leeks do not favor and do not grow in acidic soils. Therefore, if you are not sure that you have chosen a soil that is neutral in acidity, then add, for example, ground limestone or dolomite flour to the garden bed.

Advice! Leeks grow very well next to beets, carrots, strawberries and celery, so they can be planted side by side, for example, alternating beds.

According to crop rotation, if you plant a leek in a bed where legumes (peas), as well as potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage or green manure were previously grown, then it will grow well.

By the way! You should not plant onions in the same place more than once in 3 years.

Lightly (1/3 or 1/4) pinch the roots and tops of the leek seedlings before planting in the ground. Such shortening will have a positive effect on speedy rooting and on the further production of higher quality greens.

By the way! To improve the survival rate of seedlings, it is recommended to dip leek roots in a clay mash with mullein (1 to 1).

Leek seedlings are planted in small V-shaped grooves about 11-13 cm deep at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other and at a distance between rows of 35-45 cm. This planting pattern will be ideal for subsequent hilling of the beds.

You can plant leeks from separate containers and into individual holes.

Important! Before planting onions, do not forget to lightly sprinkle the grooves (furrows) with a mixture of humus and ash (1 bucket of humus per 0.5 liter jar of ash).

Video: planting leek seedlings in open ground

How to care for leeks in the garden after planting

Subsequent care for onions is not very complicated, but in order to get a rich harvest, you will have to strictly follow the basic procedures for growing leeks.

Leek care includes the following agrotechnical measures:

• hilling;
• loosening and weeding;
• watering;
• lure;
• treatment against diseases and pests.

After the young seedlings take root and the stems reach a thickness of 0.5-0.7 cm (so to speak, they become like pencils), then you can begin to do light hilling, namely: gradually add earth under the stems. Real hilling can begin only 45-60 days after planting the seedlings.

Note! The most important part of leek care is hilling, because... it is this that leads to the bleaching of the lower parts of its stem.

If you ignore regular hilling(this must be done 4 to 5 times over the entire season), then you will grow a tasteless green “trunk.”

Water Leeks are needed often, about once every 4-6 days. Naturally, if the days are hot and the weather is dry, then it is necessary to increase the amount of watering. You can water with cold water, approximately at the rate of 1 bucket of water per 1 square meter. meter of bed.

Important! It is necessary to monitor soil moisture, because... Constant stagnation of moisture negatively affects the growth and development of onions, and can also contribute to its diseases. However, the same applies to moisture deficiency in plantings.

Leeks respond very well to feeding with chicken manure with the addition of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. It must be diluted in the following proportion: 1 part litter and 20 parts water.

In addition to hilling, fertilizing and watering, leek care should definitely include regular loosening and weeding weed control plantings.

A non-seedling method for growing leeks

As mentioned earlier, the seedless method of growing leeks is only suitable for the southern regions.

With the onset of April-May, when the ground warms up sufficiently and consistently warm weather sets in, the time for sowing leek seeds in open ground is also approaching. This is explained by the fact that onion seedlings do not tolerate frost, although they are quite resistant to cold.

The main requirements for a bed for planting leek seeds in open ground are the following:

• priming in no case should it be sour and heavy; leek grows well only on light and neutral soils;
• place for a garden bed It is better to choose a site that is well lit and retains moisture.

Step-by-step instructions for planting leek seeds in open ground are as follows:

• Treat the seeds (of course, you can use the same methods as when sowing seedlings)
• Preparing the garden bed. First, dig up the soil to a depth of 20 cm, and then add the following fertilizers to it at the rate of 1 square meter. meter - urea, superphosphate and potassium salt (40 grams each) + 4-5 kg ​​of good compost. Then dig again and tamp lightly.
• Now you need to make grooves and sow seeds in them at a distance of 10 cm and sprinkle with soil.

Further care for leeks is fundamentally no different from caring for onions, which are grown through seedlings.

When to harvest and how to store

The harvest time for leeks is determined by its variety: certain varieties can be harvested already at the end of summer - August, others created for long-term storage - only in mid-autumn, that is, starting from October.

How to harvest leeks for storage? First you need to dig up the plant and then pull it out, holding the stem with both hands. Loose soil makes it easy to pull out the stems without resorting to the use of additional means. Now you need to cut the onion to 20-30 centimeters in length, while shortening the roots to 1.5-2.5 cm. Be careful not to cut off the roots completely, otherwise the leek will simply rot during storage.

The place to store leeks can be a basement or cellar, perhaps even a barn or garage. It is only important that the air temperature is at least 0 degrees.

Pearl onions, if the optimal storage temperature is observed, have every chance and opportunity to remain there until spring and not lose their beneficial properties.

By the way! Leeks have one very distinctive feature: their ascorbic acid levels increase by 150% during storage.

Video: growing, harvesting and storing leeks

As you already understand, growing strong and healthy leek seedlings and properly planting them in open ground is not difficult even for a novice vegetable grower and summer resident. You just need to properly care for the seedlings, and then you will be pleased with a fragrant and juicy harvest.

Video: leeks from A to Z - sowing, picking, planting, harvesting and storing the crop

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Every year, gardeners discover new crops, but even well-known vegetables can become a real discovery. Leeks are a pleasant surprise for fans of healthy eating. It is not often found in areas, most likely due to a lack of information. Unfair information about the plant’s finickiness is widespread, which discourages even trying to grow this wonderful vegetable. It is mainly purchased ready-made, despite the high price of the product. In this article we will get acquainted with this plant and consider in detail the process of growing seedlings at home.

How are leeks different?

Leeks (pearl onions) are a perennial plant. Its life cycle from germination to seed maturation is 2 years. In the first season, a rosette of leaves and a false stem are formed - it is for the sake of the bleached “leg” that this variety of onion is grown, it can be eaten at any stage of development.

The leaf blades are flat, reach a length of up to 80 cm, their width is about 6 cm. They are painted in various shades of green and covered with a waxy coating. The lower part has a tubular shape; these tubes close together to form a juicy “leg”. Depending on the variety, the length of the tube is 10-60 cm, the diameter is 2-6 cm.

The root system of the plant is powerful, but does not form the bulbs we are accustomed to. If you leave the rhizomes in the soil after harvesting, they will become a good fertilizer for the soil.

In the second year of life, the plant produces a peduncle. Gardeners usually do not grow leeks for seeds, because seed material is available for free sale; you can choose the most productive hybrids and varieties. Seeds remain viable for 3 years.

What are the benefits of leeks?

Onion “legs” can be stored for about 6 months, so you will have fresh greens almost all winter.

Leek contains many elements beneficial to the human body: a complex of essential oils and vitamins, mineral salts, fiber, and proteins. Leeks become an ingredient in various dishes and preparations. It is recommended to include it in the diet of people suffering from joint diseases and problematic metabolism. A large amount of essential oils contained in the plant can cause irritation of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract, therefore it is not recommended for consumption by people with gastritis and acute ulcerative manifestations.

Growing leeks through seedlings

Leek has a long growing season of 6-7 months. In the conditions of the middle zone, when sowing seeds directly into open ground, you may not wait for the harvest. When to plant leek seedlings is determined by many factors.

Select the sowing time in accordance with the desired harvest date.

Timing for sowing leeks for seedlings

• To harvest in early autumn, sow seeds for seedlings in late February-early March. In this case, by the beginning of April, the seedlings will be ready to be transplanted to grow in a greenhouse.
• Sow at the end of March to plant seedlings in open ground.

You should also focus on the climatic conditions of your region - a large part of success depends on this.

• In northern climates, start sowing seeds for seedlings in April-May, and transplanting into open ground will be possible in June.
• In the middle zone, sow leeks for seedlings in February, then transplanting into a greenhouse is possible by mid-April, into open ground - at the end of May.

To guarantee a harvest, you should choose early-ripening varieties for sowing seedlings. It is most reliable to purchase seed material at specialized sales points. The packaging indicates the cultivation technology - read it to be sure of your ability to provide the required conditions.

Soil preparation

The soil needs to be nutritious and loose. Mix turf soil, compost, humus, and peat in equal proportions. It can be grown in peat, but for 5 kg of soil add: 250 g of dolomite flour, 50 g of superphosphate, 30 g of urea, 40 g of potassium sulfate.

Seedlings do not tolerate intermediate transplantation well, so sow the seeds in separate pots or in spacious boxes; cassette containers with cells are ideal. The depth of the container should be at least 10-12 cm.

Treat the container for planting with a strong solution of potassium permanganate and dry.

Seed preparation

Seeds need pre-treatment:

• Soak for about 30 minutes in a soft pink solution of potassium permanganate at a warm temperature
• Then keep it in cold water for 30 minutes.
• Place in a damp cloth and keep in this state for about a week, the seeds should not hatch
• Dry the seeds until they flow, proceed to sowing

How to plant leek seeds for seedlings

• Fill the container with soil, compact it lightly, and water.
• When sowing in a box, maintain a distance of about 5 cm between the seeds and the rows.
• When sowing in separate containers, place 2-3 seeds in each. The depth of seed placement is no more than 1-1.5 cm.
• Cover the crops with film, place them in a place with diffused bright lighting, and maintain the air temperature between 22-25 °C.
• Ventilate the crops, get rid of condensation, and moisten the soil.
• The first shoots will appear in 10-15 days.
• When sprouts appear, the cover should be removed.
• Maintain the air temperature at 17 °C during the day and 12 °C at night - this must be done throughout the week so that the sprouts do not stretch.
• Then increase the daytime reading to 20°C, and the nighttime reading to 14°C.
• Water as the topsoil dries out. Overwatering can cause seedlings to suffer from blackleg. The water should be warm.

Seedling care

It should be fed a couple of times: after 2 weeks of growth and 1 week before the intended transplant into open ground. Water with a weak compost solution (ratio 1 to 10). You can use mineral fertilizers.

In order for the roots to develop well and the stem to thicken, the leaves should be trimmed. Trim every 2 weeks, leaving the leaves 8-10 cm long.

Ventilate the room, but avoid drafts.

A week before transplanting into open ground, begin to harden the seedlings: take them outside during the daytime.

Planting leeks for seedlings in a snail, picking, pruning and planting seedlings in the ground on video:

Large quantities of leeks from seeds if there is very little space on the windowsill? Use the method of sowing seeds in a snail, a very simple and economical way to grow any seedlings, but with the need for picking. For more details on the process of sowing, caring for and planting seedlings, watch the video above.

Planting leek seedlings in open ground

• It is advisable to apply organic fertilizers when digging the site in the fall.
• The soil needs to be loose, light, neutral or slightly acidic.
• The lighting is bright, without shadows.
• Desirable predecessors on the site are cucumbers, cabbage, legumes, and potatoes.
• Dig up the area and level it.

• Make furrows 15 cm deep, maintain a distance between rows of about 20 cm. Add wood ash.
• Water the furrows and sprinkle a layer of soil on top.
• Cut the leaves by 1/3, place them in furrows at a distance of 10 cm, carefully sprinkle with soil, and water.
• Mulch the area with humus.

How to care for leeks in open ground

As soon as the stem reaches a diameter of 1 cm, the leek should be hilled - this helps strengthen the root system and further successful development of the valuable “leg”.

Water every 4-6 days. If there is a severe drought, water more frequently. Can be watered with cold water. Add about 10 liters of water per 1 m².

Regularly loosen the soil and weed away weeds.

3 weeks after planting, feed with organic matter. Then apply complex mineral fertilizers every 2-3 weeks. Apply mostly nitrogen in the spring, and phosphorus and potassium in the summer.

Sowing leek seeds in open ground

You can immediately go into open ground in the spring, when the soil has warmed up by at least 2 °C - you will receive products for autumn consumption and winter storage.

If you sow the seeds in the summer (including July), before the onset of cold weather, a stem 7 mm - 1.5 cm thick with 4-6 leaves will form. This is only relevant for regions with warm climates. For successful wintering it is necessary to hill up the plants. The harvest will be possible in May-June.

• Pre-treat the seeds as described earlier.
• Sow in rows, keeping a distance of about 10 cm between them. Deepen the seeds by about 1 cm.
• Fragile seedlings will require shading from direct sunlight.

You can sow leeks before winter (in November). Keep a distance of about 20 cm between rows, 10 cm between individual plants. Mulch the plantings with peat. If a snowless winter is expected, cover with additional spruce branches.

Harvesting

Pre-moisten the soil. Dig up and pull out the onion, holding the stem with both hands. Trim the roots to a length of 1.5-2.5 cm - do not cut them off completely, otherwise the onions will rot during storage. Trim the top, leaving the whitish part of the false stem and the length of the leaves about 10 cm. Store at an air temperature of 0 ° C - this way the onion will successfully last until spring.

Diseases and pests of leeks

Use high-quality seed for sowing, pre-treat it before sowing, follow agricultural planting techniques, provide proper care - then diseases and pests are not scary.

Possible plant diseases:

• Mosaic - leaf plates are covered with yellow spots.
• Downy mildew - whitish spots with plaque appear on the leaves, the vegetable becomes unfit for consumption.
• Rust - bright yellow spots appear on the leaves, and over time they dry out.

Remove affected plants from the garden immediately. Treat the plantings with a fungicide.

If there are midges in leek seedlings

The onion fly is a dangerous pest that can cause significant damage to the crop or even destroy it completely. For preventative purposes, pollinate the beds with tobacco and wood ash. You can spill it with tobacco solution (200 g of tobacco dust and 1 tablespoon of liquid soap per 10 liters of water, leave for about 5 hours, strain, proceed to processing).

A good insecticide against onion fly is Lambda-cyhalothrin, waiting period is 30-40 days. Therefore, greens should not be eaten for 40 days after treatment. Treatment is carried out by spraying on the leaves.

Leek varieties

Leek varieties are divided according to ripening time.

1. Early ripening (summer)

Harvest can be done in August.

They have stupa-shaped stems, the leaves are colored light green, located at an acute angle to the stem, and the leaf rosette is looser.

Winter sowing and seedless cultivation are possible; they are suitable for growing in the Moscow region and any region of Russia. The Bulgarian giant is an example of a summer variety.

2. Mid-season (autumn)

Harvesting occurs in the first ten days of October. In regions with mild climates they are able to winter in open ground.

The stems are cylindrical, thickened. The leaf blades are denser, more powerful, and colored dark green, gray-green. Varieties: Bluewing, Karantansky.

3. Late ripening (winter)

Cold resistance is increased; in regions with warm winters, the harvest can be harvested from October to April.

The “leg” is shorter, thicker at the bottom. The arrangement of the leaf plates is fan-shaped, they are covered with a bluish-green coating.

Sowing seeds

Subsequently, cover with film and place the boxes in a dry and warm place. The room temperature must be maintained around +25. When the first shoots appear, the film must be removed and the temperature maintained at +17 during the day and +12 at night.

Caring for leek seedlings

Transplanting

Growing technology

Harvesting and storage

Transplanting

Leek care

Growing leeks

1 box should contain 2-3 grams of seeds. They need to be embedded to a depth of no more than 1 cm.

After sowing, the soil needs to be compacted and watered.

Rules for caring for plants

Most Soviet citizens knew what leeks looked like only thanks to photos in cookbooks. Now, when this easy-to-care, tasty and useful plant has firmly established itself in the gardens of Russian summer residents, some owners of private farms are trying to turn leek cultivation into a profitable activity.

But with all its advantages, this onion also has one small drawback, in particular, the long period from planting seeds to obtaining marketable products. In order for leek cultivation to become a profitable business, it is necessary to carry out the entire agricultural cycle in one season, and this is possible only by planting onion seedlings pre-grown in a greenhouse in the beds.

• Choosing a leek variety
• Preparing seeds for planting
• Development of growing seedlings
• Transplanting
• Leek care - video
• Growing leeks - photo

Choosing a leek variety

All variety of leek varieties are divided into 3 groups:

• early - with a ripening period of 130-150 days (“Columbus”, “Goliath”, “Vesta”, “Kilima”);
• mid-season - their growing season is from 150 to 180 days (“Tango”, “Bastion”, “Kamus”, “Cazimir”);
• late ones - the duration of their growing season is more than six months (“Elephant”, “Sizokryl”, “Mercury”).

The best in terms of yield - early ripening leeks

In terms of yield, leek varieties of early ripening are considered the best, but mid-ripening varieties are superior to them in terms of taste, while onions of late varieties are the most shelf-stable.

Advice. For the regions of the middle south of Siberia and the strip of Russia, early varieties of leek are preferred, not as tasty and beautiful as all the others, but with a short growing season, which is extremely important when growing in the cold and short northern summer.

• to get seedlings indoors or in a heated greenhouse - mid-February,
• in a stationary glass greenhouse - mid-April;
• on the beds covered with film - the end of April, the first days of May.

Leek seeds

Preparing seeds for planting

1. Self-produced seeds are disinfected before planting - immersed in water heated to 40-45*C for half an hour, after which they are washed in cool water.
2. The pickled planting material is laid out on a wet cotton napkin, covered with wet gauze and left in this form on a warm windowsill. As the gauze dries, sprinkle it with water.
3. After 2-3 days, the leek seeds are dried until they flow and they are immediately sown in small seedling boxes.

Store-bought seeds, especially imported ones, in most cases, are treated with fungicides, biostimulants and insecticides, and therefore do not require germination or dressing, but in order not to make a mistake with the procedure for their preparation, you should still study the manufacturer’s advice printed on the packaging.

Store-bought seeds often do not require germination or processing

Development of growing seedlings

1. Small drawers equipped with drainage holes? quantities are filled with a light nutrient substrate. The soil is moistened and compacted easily.
2. At intervals of 5 cm, parallel grooves with a depth of 15-18 mm are drawn along the surface of the earth.
3. The seeds are laid out in a pinch along the grooves, sprinkled with soil and covered with plastic film.
4. Boxes with crops are installed on well-lit shelves or bright, wide window sills and provide a room temperature in the range of 22-25*C.

When the first green “loops” appear on the surface of the substrate, the film cover is removed from the boxes, and the temperature in the greenhouse is reduced to 15*C during the day and 10*C at night. This temperature regime is maintained for 7 days. During this time, the bulk of the seeds germinate, and the bravest, first sprouts do not have time to stretch too much.

Leek seedlings

At the end of the week-long cold exposure, the thermal schedule in the greenhouse begins to slowly change - day and night temperatures are increased by 4-5 * C, to 20 and 15 degrees, respectively.

Attention! Compliance with the above temperature schedule is extremely important when growing leek seedlings, because exceeding the maximum permissible values ​​leads to an unnaturally early formation of the flower arrow in the first year of the plant’s life, and not in the second, as nature should have it.

The length of daylight required by leeks is 11-12 hours, but in early spring the duration of daylight is much less than required. Based on this, for proper development, seedlings are illuminated in the morning and evening with lamps directed vertically downwards.

After 30 days from the date of sowing, the thickened leek shoots are thinned out - frail and yellowish sprouts are pulled out, leaving the strongest ones at a distance of 2 cm from one another.

Before planting, the leaves of leek seedlings are cut off by a third.

Leek seedlings grow very slowly - only 7-8 weeks after sowing, when the young shoots reach a thickness of 5-8 mm, they can be planted on the beds.
In order for the bulbs to develop more actively, during the entire period of their stay in the greenhouse they are fed 3 times with potassium-phosphorus complexes and every 14 days the tops of the leaves are cut off on them, leaving “columns” ten centimeters high (this procedure stimulates root formation and thickening of the stem).

Water young leeks as needed - the substrate in the boxes should always be wet, but not oversaturated with water!

Ten days before planting, the plants begin to harden off - in good weather, the windows in the greenhouse are opened slightly, the room is ventilated more often and the temperature in it is slightly lowered.

Transplanting

Before planting on each leek sprout, which by this time has already reached the thickness of a pencil, the leaves are cut off by a third and the roots are lightly trimmed, after which the roots are dipped in a nutritious mash - an aqueous suspension of mullein mixed with clay.

The fields are planted in separate holes, at a distance of 15-20 cm

The seedlings prepared in this way are planted on two-row ridges in personal holes located 15-20 cm apart, 12-14 cm deep.

The upcoming leek agricultural technology is extremely simple, but, in addition to standard procedures - watering, loosening the soil, pest control, mulching and fertilizing, this crop lacks regular hilling, carried out at least several times a season. Only if this condition is met is it possible to take plants with a high-quality, juicy and thick white “leg”, which is the most useful part of the leek.

Leek care - video

Growing leeks - photo

LEEKS from A to Z: SOWING, PICKING, PLANTING on the garden bed, saving the HARVEST

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Growing leeks from seedlings. Harvest beds.

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How to grow leeks from seeds

How to grow leek seedlings?

Methods of growing onions: seedless method (direct sowing in the soil) and seedling method. Direct planting of seeds in the ground is used mainly in southern regions with long warm summers. Here the soil warms up faster.

For other regions, growing onions with seedlings is more acceptable.

The best place to plant onion seedlings

Onions are grown as seedlings on well-cultivated lowland fertile soils, seasoned with organic fertilizers. Slightly acidic or neutral soil is suitable. It can also be grown in well-moistened loamy and sandy soils.

Unfavorable soils are heavy clay soils. To fertilize the land, superphosphate, potassium salt, compost, and urea are used.

Growing onion seedlings from seeds

To grow onion seedlings from seeds, a preparatory stage should be carried out. It consists of special seed treatment. The seeds are placed in hot water 45 for 20 minutes, then in cold water. For quick germination, seeds are soaked for three days in warm water.

After the seeds hatch, they are left to dry.

Sowing seeds

Onion seeds are planted at certain times. To grow seedlings, use boxes that can be placed on the window, and it is better to start sowing in mid-February. In greenhouses, sowing occurs in mid-April.

And at the end of April, you can sow seeds in the beds, while covering them with film. Specially prepared soil is poured into small boxes or other suitable-sized containers prepared for planting, but not to the very top. Sowing of seeds is carried out in rows with an interval of 5 cm, and the depth of the furrow should not exceed 1.5 cm.

Subsequently, cover with film and place the boxes in a dry and warm place.

Leeks: cultivation and care

The room temperature must be maintained around +25. When the first shoots appear, the film must be removed and the temperature maintained at +17 during the day and +12 at night.

In this mode, onion seedlings are kept from seeds for about a week. After a week of aging, the seedlings are transferred to a different temperature regime - +20 during the day and +14 at night. This regime is followed throughout the entire stage of growing seedlings.

Caring for leek seedlings

Based on the conditions in which the seeds are grown, the first shoots may appear on days 10–20. Leeks are a crop that requires moist soil. Therefore, you should ensure that the soil does not dry out.

But at the same time, you should not over-hydrate. Water the leek seedlings with warm water, carefully so as not to damage the stem. But watering alone is not enough; the seedlings need to be fed.

Fertilizer feeding can be done once, but two are better. To strengthen the root system and thicken the stem, it is necessary to trim the leaves so that their length after trimming is 10 cm. Immediately before planting the seedlings in the soil, it is necessary to gradually harden them, take them outside, and reducing watering. After six weeks, planting in open ground occurs.

Transplanting

Onion seedlings are planted in open ground at the end of April and until the beginning of May. Seedlings are planted in rows on a pre-prepared and fertilized area, going a little deeper than they were in the seedling boxes. The roots and leaves are slightly trimmed. For good growth of leeks and convenient hilling during the growing season, the distance between rows of growing plants should be at least 10 cm, and between rows - at least 50 cm.

Growing technology

The technology for growing onions through seedlings includes two main factors: care and feeding. Caring for young plants is especially important. Do not neglect weeding and loosening the soil. Watering and fertilizing plants should be done as needed.

Water abundantly and feed mainly only during the growing season, in the first half. Bird droppings are a good fertilizer for onions. It is used in a solution of 1:20. After the seedlings are well rooted, add fertile soil.

Hilling is carried out after two months and repeated as necessary until harvest. Before hilling, it is useful to add wood ash to the rows. It is worthwhile to carry out weed control in a timely manner.

Harvesting and storage

Harvesting, depending on the variety, begins in August until the onset of frost. The plant is dug up with a shovel and pulled out of the ground. The roots are removed and the leaves are shortened by 2/3 of the length. Leeks tolerate frost well.

If you leave it in the ground for the winter, it will overwinter well and sprout in the spring. For better overwintering, the plant should be covered with soil, covered with peat and covered with branches, preferably coniferous ones. You can store leeks in the basement all winter, at a temperature of 0, with a humidity of 80%, buried in a vertical position in damp sand. When storing leeks, do not only does not reduce the content of ascorbic acid, but on the contrary increases it even more.

Video: how to plant leeks

03/08/2013Vegetables, fruits and berriesGrowing leeks is becoming increasingly popular among lovers of country life. Today I propose to learn about how to grow leeks and how to care for them from sowing to harvesting. Leeks, or pearl onions, are an ancient crop widespread throughout the world, but they appeared in Russia only in the last century.

Currently, leeks rank third in popularity among alliums after garlic and onions. Growing leeks, of course, begins with seeds, or rather with their preparation. Leek seeds remain viable for 3 years. The seeds are disinfected (pickled) in the same way as cabbage seeds.

To do this, the seeds are placed in water immediately before planting: first in hot water (40-45°C) and then in cold water. To quickly obtain seedlings, the seeds are germinated. To do this, they are laid out on a cloth moistened with water (20-25°C) and left in a warm place. After 2-3 days, the seeds are slightly dried (to the point of flowability, to make it easier to sow) and sown immediately. The described preparation methods apply to seeds from your own garden, but if you use purchased seeds, then usually no preparation is needed. But if If you decide to grow leeks through winter sowing, you do not need to soak and germinate the seeds.

Growing leek seedlings

In the southern regions, leeks are grown using the seedless method: the seeds are sown directly into the ground after May 15. In the central and northern regions of Russia, leeks are grown by seedlings. This is also facilitated by the long growing season of this crop. You can find out about some varieties of onions and their growing season in the article about storing leeks. To obtain seedlings, the following seed sowing dates are recommended:

• mid-end of February (in seedling boxes on the window), mid-April (in a glazed greenhouse) and end of April (under film in the garden bed).

The length of daylight hours for leeks is 10-12 hours. Therefore, when sowing in February, it is necessary to organize additional illumination of the seedlings. The prepared seeds are sown in small boxes with moistened soil in rows every 5 cm.

The depth of the furrow for sowing is 1-1.5 cm. The crops are covered with film and placed in a well-lit and warm (+22...+25°C) place. When the first shoots appear, the film is removed, and the temperature in the room is lowered to +15...+17°C during the day and +10...+12°C at night.

At this temperature, the seedlings are kept for one week. After which the temperature is brought to +17...+20°C during the day and +10...+14 °C at night and maintained at this level throughout the entire period of growing the seedlings. Maintaining the temperature regime is an important condition for obtaining a harvest.

High temperature during the seedling period is dangerous because it promotes the formation of a flower arrow not in the second year of the plant’s life (as it should be), but in the first. After a month, the thickened seedlings are thinned out so that the distance between neighboring plants in the row is 2-3 cm. Seedlings are planted in pots with a diameter of 4 cm. The best results are obtained by growing seedlings in peat pots and peat tablets, since in this case picking is not required. If conditions permit, the seedlings are watered with compost tea.

Such feeding is carried out regularly (every 2 weeks) throughout the entire growing period. During seedling growth, it is recommended to trim the leek leaves so that their length remains at 8-10 cm. The leaves can be trimmed every two weeks, which will ensure better root growth , as well as thickening of the stem. Before planting, leek seedlings, like other crops, begin to be gradually hardened, that is, taken outside so that the plant gets used to normal, not indoor conditions. Leek seedlings develop slowly. When the age of 6-8 weeks is reached, the stem diameter is 0.5-0.8 cm and three leaves appear, the leek seedlings are ready for planting.

Transplanting

The most suitable soil for leeks is light fertile loamy with a neutral environment. When preparing a site for growing leeks in the fall, you can add about 6 kg of compost per 1 m2 of soil to the bed. In spring, you can add humus or compost to the garden bed (about 3 kg per 1 m2).

Just do not dig the bed under any circumstances. Good predecessors for leeks are potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, legumes and cabbage crops. Leek seedlings are planted in the bed in May. Immediately before planting in a permanent place, it is recommended to shorten the leaves and roots of the seedlings 1/3. Plant roots can be dipped in mash - a mixture of clay and mullein, taken in equal quantities.

This technique improves the survival rate of seedlings. To plant leek seedlings, prepare holes 10-13 cm deep, at the bottom of which manure (necessarily rotted) or compost is placed. Onion seedlings are planted one plant in each hole. The roots are sprinkled with soil, filling the hole halfway and watered. For leeks, the following planting schemes are used:

• double-row - with a distance between seedlings of 15-20 cm with a row spacing of 30-35 cm; multi-row - with a distance between seedlings of 10-15 cm with a row spacing of 20-30 cm.

It is better to grow leeks in narrow beds, however, this applies to most vegetables. In wider row spacing you can sow, for example, carrots. These two vegetables go well together.

Leeks are also friends with strawberries (garden strawberries), celery, beets and onions.

Leek care

Care includes loosening the soil, hilling, weed control, watering and fertilizing. It is advisable to use mulching to make your work easier and also to provide the plants with more comfortable conditions. When the plant stems reach the diameter of a pencil, soil is poured into the holes.

And then hilling is carried out every two weeks, this allows you to get a longer bleached stem. At least four hillings are carried out per season. It is better to hill up the plants during watering. Leeks are quite picky about watering and soil fertility.

Regular and abundant watering and fertilizing are carried out in the first half of the growing season. Good fertilizers are bird droppings and mullein, applied in solutions in a ratio of 1:20 and 1:8 respectively. The main productive part of leeks is the bleached false stem, also called the “leg”.

With proper care, the stem reaches up to 50 cm in length and up to 3-4 cm in thickness. Leeks are a cold-resistant crop. Adult plants can withstand frosts down to -5...-7°C and in areas with mild climates they can overwinter under snow cover in open ground.

However, cold and rainy summers lead to the formation of a short and thin stem. Late (winter) varieties of leeks are characterized by high cold and winter hardiness. But due to the long growing season, they do not have time to finish growing.

Transplantation is carried out in the fall before frost sets in. That’s probably all I wanted to tell you about growing and caring for leeks. You can also read how to harvest this onion and how to store it here on the website. Growing leeks is a slightly painstaking task, but not as difficult as it seems at first glance. You already know how to grow leeks, starting from sowing seeds, and I think you can grow a good harvest of this onion.

Growing leeks

Leeks are an indispensable part of many dishes, a powerful master of vegetable gardens and greenhouses. This plant contains many vitamins and nutrients, and the cultivation technology is quite simple. What is the principle of sowing?

The seeds are pre-soaked in water for about 30 minutes, after which they are left on a damp cloth for 2-3 days. This method is suitable both for planting seedlings and for planting seeds in the ground in beds. We can agree, it is simple and accessible to anyone. In mid-March it is already necessary to start growing leeks from seeds.

Leeks: growing and planting

Leeks have a fairly long growing season (approximately 6-7 months), so it is preferable to plant leeks as seedlings. Growing leek seedlings from seeds should begin in mid-March. For these purposes, the seeds must be well prepared: they need to be soaked in warm water (about 30°C) for 3 days.

Moreover, the water must be changed periodically. Next, the seeds must be kept in a warm place between wet sawdust.

Such manipulations can help the seeds sprout faster. Before you start planting leeks, you need to prepare boxes for onion seedlings. The soil can be turf soil with humus or sphagnum peat. Scheme for planting leeks in a garden bed. For sowing seeds, grooves are made at intervals of 5 cm.

1 box should contain 2-3 grams of seeds. They need to be planted to a depth of no more than 1 cm. After sowing, the soil needs to be compacted and watered.

Then the seedlings need to be covered with a plastic bag to maintain the optimal temperature level (20-25 ° C). When seedlings begin to appear, the temperature must be reduced to 10°C.

Then, during the daytime, the air temperature must be maintained at about 15-18°C, and at night - 6-10°C. During the entire period of growth of leek seedlings, it must be fed 2 times with a mixture of mineral fertilizers, which consists of superphosphate, urea, as well as potassium chloride. In thickened areas, it is necessary to thin out the seedlings so that the gap between seedlings is at least 2 cm. Seedlings of leek seeds really need regular watering. About a week before the leeks are planted, seedlings need to be started harden. For these purposes, it is necessary to reduce watering and lower the temperature in the room in which onions are grown.

It would be a good idea to take the boxes with seedlings out into the open air. Diagram of the depth of planting leeks. Leeks should be planted in open ground in early May. Approximately 2 months should pass from the time of sowing the seeds. By this moment, the plant has already become significantly stronger: there is a strong root system, 4 well-developed leaves and a height of 20 cm has been reached. It needs to be planted in a normally lit part of the area, because in the shade the plant will feel quite bad. When planting onion seedlings for permanent place, it is very important to adhere to a two-line scheme, which involves planting seedlings at a distance of 10 cm from each other, and between rows - at least 30 cm.

Rules for caring for plants

The agricultural technology for growing leek seedlings is quite simple, but it still needs to be followed exactly in order for the plant to become strong, healthy and tasty. The most careful care is needed at the beginning, immediately after planting, then things will become quite simpler. The first and most important rule is to carefully monitor that there are no weeds in the beds.

It is necessary to get into the habit of not only watering, but also checking the beds, destroying all the weeds that appear there. The soil must be kept moist.

It is necessary to prevent it from drying out, but there is also no need to create a swamp. During the season, the plants are hilled 2-4 times to get a long, white leg; after each hilling, the leek seedlings, or rather the soil around it, are mulched using chopped straw and dry manure , mown or slightly dried grass. Leeks have one distinctive feature: its growth does not slow down, it will grow even if it is put away in the basement for the winter. Therefore, it is necessary to provide him with constant feeding.

It is recommended to start this after the plant reaches about 15-20 cm and has 4-5 leaves. Agricultural technology allows you to use the following composition: take 1 liter of mullein for 10 liters of ordinary water. The row spacing is watered with this solution, and then the soil along each bed.

It is forbidden to pour liquid on the plant itself; onions do not tolerate it quite well. But this composition may be suitable for poor soils, and if it was properly fertilized before planting, then you can get by with watering using infusions of freshly cut herbs, such as nettles. When feeding leeks, you cannot use fertilizers with a high nitrogen content, since onions can rot, especially if stored in the cellar for a sufficiently long time! Proper agricultural technology is quite strict when it comes to watering plants.

Onions require abundant watering, especially when the intensive growth of green foliage continues (this occurs in June), during the formation of the false bulb (in July). The soil should always be moist, but not too wet and not too dry, this needs to be monitored. Onions can be removed as needed.

You can harvest even until late autumn. After harvesting, the plants need to cut off damaged leaves, then trim the roots to 1 cm in length. The leaves need to be cut off by one third.

In this form, it will be stored much longer and will not lose its beneficial properties. Growing seedlings and caring for this plant is quite simple. And if all the conditions for its growth are observed, the result will be not only tasty, but also a very healthy product, which acts as an additional source of vitamins.

Diseases and pests of leeks

When growing leeks, problems may arise such as onion fly, black mold, fusarium, onion rust, and downy mildew. Below, in more detail, what kind of lesions and pests can harm the plantings: Scheme of watering beds in a greenhouse.

1. Mosaic disease is a viral disease of leeks transmitted by common aphids. Moreover, spots of yellow color and longitudinal shape begin to appear on the leaves, and the plant stops growing. There are no specific measures to combat this disease; all affected plants must be destroyed. Only preventive measures can be taken against aphids and mites. It is also recommended to grow from seeds that have already been stored for 2-3 years, during which time the virus has time to completely die. Downy mildew is oval, fast-growing whitish spots. Leeks affected by this disease become inedible; the affected plants must be removed; the remaining plants in the beds are recommended to be sprayed with a solution of phytosporin and copper oxychloride. An excellent preventative against this disease is correct agricultural technology. Leaf rust manifests itself in the following way: on the foliage you can see clearly visible bright yellow pads, which are clusters of fungal spores. Such pads gradually mature, begin to become dark, and then turn black. All infected leaves begin to dry out. Infected plants must be urgently removed from the garden bed and destroyed so that fungal spores do not spread to neighboring plants in the area. Of the pests, leeks are often attacked by the onion fly, which eats the leaves, leaving huge light passages in them. The larvae of this fly also cause quite a lot of trouble. The larvae severely infect the underground area of ​​the plant. As a result, if measures are not taken in a timely manner, then the onion will simply die. To repel flies, it is recommended to grow carrots nearby. This insect does not like the specific smell of carrots. The onions themselves must be watered with the following solution: take 1 full glass of table salt per 10 liters of water, then water the beds at the root. It is recommended to sprinkle the soil itself with ground carrot or pepper seeds (a full teaspoon per 1 sq.m.) and wood ash (100 g/sq.m.).

If you plant leeks correctly, growing and caring for them will not be difficult and you will then get a healthy and useful harvest!

Leeks are a well-known, popular and very healthy vegetable crop. This onion is used in preparing a lot of popular dishes. It can be consumed separately as an independent vegetable or as a pleasant addition to meat or fish gastronomic masterpieces. This crop is distinguished by a fairly simple growing technology, which allows you to easily produce this vegetable on your own plot.

Characteristics

Leeks are a perennial vegetable crop that has a milder taste than other onion varieties. The plant has a powerful root system, with stream-like roots. The leaves are flat and long with a light to medium green color. The base of the leaf is a dense false stem. The plant blooms with small white flowers, the number of which reaches up to 600 pieces. Faded buds leave behind aerial bulbs, which can later be used for propagation.

Read also: Fertilizer Nutrisol: instructions for use

Features of cultivation

As mentioned above, growing this vegetable crop on your own plot is not at all difficult.

To make this event successful, you need to know some features of growing leeks:

• Leeks prefer neutral soils and do not tolerate acidic environments very well. If the soil on the site is acidic, neutralizing fertilizers should be added to it. Lime and wood ash work well;
• This plant is distinguished by its demands on soil moisture. The humidity level must be at least 70%. Otherwise, the onion will be small and have poor taste;
• The growing season of leeks is quite long, about 200 days. For this reason, the method of sowing seeds in open ground is suitable only for the southern regions of Russia;
• the vegetable crop in question is considered the most frost-resistant;
• You can plant onions starting in February;
• This plant has a two-year growth cycle. In the first year, a false stem develops and leaves grow. In the second year, arrows are thrown out and small bulbs are formed - one-toothed;
• Leeks love light. It should be planted in well-lit areas. If planting is done in a greenhouse, then a well-lit place should be provided for boxes with seedlings;

From seeds

The culture in question involves growing it at home in two simple ways. One of them is growing from seeds. Before you start germinating the seeds, you need to cull them. To do this, pour the seeds onto a white sheet of paper and select the strongest ones that are not damaged. The marriage should be thrown away.

Advice: For planting, it is best to choose seeds that have been lying around for a couple of years.

Selected planting material should be disinfected using a thick solution of potassium permanganate. Next, the seeds should be soaked until they swell in a damp gauze cloth folded in several layers. After which they can be sown in pre-prepared moist soil. The seeds are sown along the furrows and sprinkled with a layer of soil on top. After a month, with proper care, the onion will show noticeable growth.

Read also: Caring for Tradescantia violet at home

Through seedlings

The growing season of leeks takes a fairly long period of time. Therefore, for central Russia, a more acceptable method is growing cut onions through seedlings. In principle, this method is quite universal and suitable for any region. Some gardeners prefer to grow leeks this way, regardless of external weather conditions. The fact is that with the help of seedlings, the chances of getting a high-quality harvest increase.

Special plastic boxes are used to grow seedlings. They should be filled with soil. Before planting, the soil must be thoroughly watered with a disinfectant solution. Before planting, the seedlings need to be germinated in the same way as described for growing onions from seeds. Only instead of open ground, hatched seeds should be planted in boxes.

Leeks for seedlings Planting and care in open ground When and how to plant leeks with seeds video

Immediately after planting, the boxes should be covered with film and placed in a bright place. The temperature in the room should be within 20-24 degrees. As soon as the first shoots appear, the film should be removed and caring for the seedlings should begin. After 1.5-2 months, the seedlings will begin to grow and can be planted in open ground.

Important! Leeks should be planted in open ground in mid-May or late April. These terms are used to guide the process of growing a plant.

If you follow all the subtleties of growing this plant, you can easily obtain a rich, high-quality harvest of leeks. And, if you get the hang of it, this crop can become one of your favorites among those that grow on your own plot.

Secrets of growing leeks in open ground from seeds and seedlings.

Just a couple of years ago, leeks were not very popular among housewives, and they used them for cooking only occasionally. But at the moment this product has become very popular and people began to consume it not only fresh, but also dried and pickled.

Of course, you can regularly eat leek only if you grow it yourself in your own garden bed. After all, if you buy it all year round in a store, then preparing the goodies will be expensive. Our article will tell you how to properly grow leeks from seeds.

What does a leek look like: photo

Leeks: photo

Leeks are a fairly tall green plant, which looks very different from the onions we are used to. It does not have a large rounded bottom. Or rather, it is there, but less pronounced and has an oblong rather than a round shape. A massive white stem emerges from the top of the false bulb. As a rule, its thickness is almost the same as the size of the false bulb. The stem ends in a fan-shaped bunch of long green leaves. You can see what leeks look like in the photo located a little higher.

Treatment of leek seeds before planting: description

Experienced gardeners know that absolutely all seeds need to be prepared for sowing in a way that promotes faster germination and rooting. Leek seeds are no exception and are also best prepared properly.

So:

• First, boil the water and then cool it to 45 degrees
• Place the seeds in a piece of gauze, tie it into a kind of bag and lower it into warm water for 25 minutes.
• After this, dip the seeds in cool water and place them on a damp cloth.
• Cover them with another piece of cloth and leave them alone for 3-5 days
• Don’t forget to periodically moisten the fabric with a spray bottle
• After the specified time, the seeds will be ready for sowing
• If desired, you can additionally treat them with growth stimulants and disinfect them in a weak solution of potassium permanganate

When to plant leeks for seedlings: planting time

Leeks for seedlings

If you want to grow leeks from seeds into seedlings, then remember that this plant has a fairly long growing season. Depending on the variety, it can range from 4 to 6 months. This nuance must be taken into account, especially if you live in a region with a colder climate.

If you start growing seedlings later than necessary, you risk not getting a good harvest. In order for even late-ripening varieties of leeks to ripen before the cold weather, seeds should be sown for seedlings in mid-February or early March.

Sowing leek seeds for seedlings

IMPORTANT: Before you start sowing leek seeds for seedlings, carefully prepare the soil and containers in which they will germinate. Both the soil and the container must be disinfected with any means available to you, and only after that can you proceed to further work.

• First, mix the soil with fertilizer and lightly moisten it.
• Place it in a disinfected box and lightly compact it
• This must be done to ensure that there are no voids in the soil that will prevent the seedlings from taking root.
• Next, we make not very deep grooves in the soil, literally 2 cm deep.
• We sow leek seeds in them, sprinkle them with soil, moisten it with a spray bottle and cover everything with film
• Seeds sown in this way should be placed in a warm place.
• The room temperature must be maintained at least +20
• After the shoots appear, the seedlings are removed to a cooler place and their hardening begins
• To do this, remove the film from the box and begin to gradually reduce the temperature in the room
• In order for the seedlings to feel comfortable, the temperature should drop by 1 degree every day.
• When the temperature drops to 14 degrees, hardening stops

How long does it take for leeks to sprout from seeds?

Leek seedlings

In principle, leek seeds germinate quite quickly. True, for this they need to create the right conditions. This means that they should have enough moisture in the soil, and the room temperature should not fall below +18. If all these rules are followed, the seeds will sprout within 5-7 days. If they germinate in not entirely correct conditions, then even 20 days may pass before the first shoots appear.

Picking leek seedlings and care

Experienced gardeners claim that there is no need to pick leek seedlings as they take root well in open ground or a greenhouse without this procedure. But still, as practice shows, in the end such plants grow weaker because they are replanted with a very weak root system. In view of this, it will be better if you still carry out a pick. Moreover, it does not require any special effort. All you need to do is disinfect the soil and containers in which the seedlings will be planted in advance.

After this, moisten the soil in the container with the seedlings, but do it as carefully as possible. If you simply flood it, the tender sprouts will begin to fall to one side. After this, carefully remove the plant from the soil, straighten its root system, and immediately transfer it to a new container. As for care, in this case it will consist of timely watering and maintaining the temperature at the optimal level.

After which you can plant leeks, what kind of soil does it like?

Predecessors of leeks

In principle, leeks are considered an unpretentious plant, so with proper care they can grow on any soil. But still, if your goal is a good harvest, then remember that it feels best on light, fertile soils with normal acidity. In view of this, if you know that the soil in your garden is not very good, then before planting the seedlings, fertilize it well with organic fertilizers or superphosphate. If the acidity of the soil in the area is increased, then liming must be carried out.

It is also very important to consider what plants grew in the bed in front of the leeks. So, if you plant this crop in a garden bed where garlic or onions grew last season, you may not get a good harvest. Since these crops have the same diseases and pests, as a result, the leek may begin to hurt immediately after you plant it in the garden. Its most ideal predecessors are radishes, cabbage, lettuce, dill and sorrel.

When to plant leeks in open ground: planting time

Planting plants in the ground is a rather serious procedure that must be carried out at the most optimal time. Optimal time means positive daytime and night temperatures. If the difference between night and day indicators is very large, then the leek will be under constant stress, which will lead to the fact that it will not be able to take root and will begin to hurt.

In view of this, plant the crop in the ground when the temperature at night remains at +12, and during the day the temperature does not drop below +18. Depending on the region, leeks can be planted in the ground in mid-May or early June.

How to properly plant leeks in open ground in a garden bed: planting diagram

Leek planting scheme

Leeks, like any other vegetable crop, love space. It is necessary so that the plant can take root well and take the right amount of nutrients from the soil. If you plant seedlings very close to each other, the plants will grow weak and constantly move upward.

All this will lead to the fact that you will end up with a very thin leek with a poorly developed white part of the stem. To prevent this from happening, stick to the correct planting pattern. Plant leeks in rows. The distance between crops in a row should be at least 10 cm, and the distance between rows should be at least 20 cm.

How to sow leek seeds in open ground: technology

IMPORTANT: You can use this method of growing leeks in open ground only if you live in a region where nighttime temperatures do not fall below +10 degrees at the end of April and do not drop below +15 in mid-September.

So:

• Choose a place for planting that receives as much sun as possible throughout the day.
• This will contribute to maximum warming of the soil during the day, which will prevent the leek sprouts from getting too cold at night.
• Dig the bed thoroughly. Ideally, the soil should fluff up to a depth of 20 cm
• When digging, be sure to add fertilizer to the soil, for example, urea, superphosphate or ordinary compost.
• Once the soil has been prepared, you can begin sowing the seeds (pre-prepared)
• To do this, make grooves 7-10 cm deep in the bed. The distance between the grooves should be 20 cm
• Moisten the furrows and sow seeds in them
• Sprinkle them with 2 cm of soil, compact it slightly, and moisten the soil with a spray bottle
• After the leek germinates, be sure to thin it out.

Are leeks afraid of spring frosts?

Frosts slow down the development of leeks

In some sources you can find information that leeks tolerate light frosts quite calmly. This is why some novice gardeners make the mistake of planting seedlings in open ground without waiting for positive temperatures at night.

Thus, they make a big mistake since this information concerns exclusively adult and mature plants. If you plant leek seedlings in the soil during frosts, they will inevitably begin to hurt. Yes, it is likely that it will not die, but it will begin to grow and develop intensively only after the temperature ceases to drop below +12 degrees.

Feeding leeks after planting: fertilizers, folk recipes

Leek seedlings, like any other plant, after planting in the ground, must be fed with special fertilizers and fertilizers. If this is not done, the plant will not be able to take root quickly and will most likely not be able to mature before the first frost. It is best to fertilize in several stages so that the plant always receives the amount of nutrients it needs.

Immediately after planting in the ground, feed it with urea. To do this, separate 10 g of the substance in 10 liters of water and pour the leek under the root. After another 14-20 days, add a nitrophoska solution to the soil. After this, you need to take a break and simply periodically loosen the soil and remove any weeds that have appeared. In addition, you can use the following fertilizers.

Mullein infusion

• Take 3 kg of rotted mullein and fill it with 7 liters of water
• Mix everything thoroughly and leave to ferment for 7-10 days.
• Before use, stir the liquid again and measure 1 liter
• Dilute it in 9 liters of water, and you can feed the leeks

Nettle infusion

• Pick nettles, chop them and put them in a bucket
• You should have half a bucket of green mass
• Boil water and pour it over the nettles
• Let it brew for 7 days
• The finished nettle infusion is diluted with water (1:10) and the leek is watered

Leek diseases and their treatment and pest control: description

Leek diseases and their treatment

There is an opinion that leeks, like most representatives of the Onion family, have fungicidal properties that do not allow harmful bacteria and various types of fungi to multiply. Yes, if the plant receives proper care, then with a high probability it will be able to withstand all negative factors. If the culture is weakened, then you will have to fight fungal and viral diseases and pests.

Leek diseases:

• Powdery mildew. A fungal disease that is characterized by the appearance of a pale green coating on the leaves and stem of leek. Ordinary whey and iodine can help you get rid of this problem. You will need to divorce in 9 liters of water 1 liter of whey and 10 drops of iodine. The resulting product will need to be sprayed on both sick and healthy plants.

• Cervical rot. This disease is dangerous because it goes undetected for a long time. Initially, the problem manifests itself as a small dent on the root collar. While the plant is growing, rot does not show itself in any way. But as soon as the leek is removed from the garden and sent for storage, the dent enlarges, becomes softer and begins to rot. After some time, the leek becomes completely unusable. The best way to combat this disease is through prevention. It will be better if several times a season you disinfect the soil with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

• Onion rust. This disease manifests itself by the appearance of red, yellow and brown spots over the entire surface of the plant. If you do not start fighting rust as soon as possible, it will very quickly affect absolutely the entire crop. Soda ash and ordinary ash will help you get rid of this problem. Initially you will need to fill 5 liters of water 1 kg of ash and let it brew for 3 days. After this, the product is filtered and 2 tbsp is added to it. l soda. Next, the amount of solution is brought to 10 liters and standard processing is carried out.

• Secretive proboscis. This pest can prevent the leek from growing all season long. Initially, its larvae appear on it, which feed on the sap of young seedlings. If you do not fight them, they transform into black beetles that go into the soil, but still continue to feed on the fibers of the crop. Can be used to control pests ash and tobacco dust. They will need to be mixed in equal parts, and then dust the leek bed with the resulting mixture.

• Onion fly. If your plant is affected by this pest, then you will watch it gradually turn yellow and wither. After some time, it will begin to rot, emitting a rather specific smell. To quickly get rid of the pest, prepare concentrated decoction of wormwood and spray the leeks with it. After the onion fly disappears, be sure to repeat the procedure for preventive purposes.

• hoverfly. This pest attacks the root system and false leek bulb. The hoverfly larva, in order to survive, begins to intensively feed on the fibers of the crop, which leads to its death. To avoid the appearance of this pest, be sure to treat the soil 2-3 times per season with a solution of ash, potassium permanganate and iodine. You will need to dissolve in 10 liters of water, 1 kg of ash, 10 drops of iodine and 1 g of potassium permanganate, and water the leek bed with this solution.

Why leeks go to the arrow: reasons, methods of elimination

I would like to say right away that if you strictly adhere to all the rules for growing leeks, you will ultimately be able to avoid the occurrence of such an unpleasant problem. In view of this, try to water the crop in a timely manner, feed it and, of course, do not forget about regularly loosening the soil and controlling diseases and pests.

As for the most common reasons for the appearance of arrows, experienced gardeners most often identify several. And oddly enough, they are all associated with planting crops in the ground.

The following can contribute to the formation of arrowheads on leeks:

• The diameter of the bulbs when planting is more than 5 millimeters
• Improper storage of planting material
• Sudden changes in temperature
• Low soil temperature during leek planting

As you probably already understood, in order to definitely avoid the appearance of arrows on the crop, you just need to choose the right planting material and plant it in the garden bed only when the soil has warmed up enough.

Leeks: can they be left over winter?

In principle, leeks are a biennial plant, so if desired, they can be left to overwinter in the garden bed. True, you should take into account that the crop will overwinter normally only if you live in a region where spring comes early, and in winter the temperature does not drop to abnormal levels. It is also worth remembering that after wintering the plant will begin to intensively form a peduncle with seeds. In view of this, in order to avoid the appearance of arrows, you will need to prune the plants immediately after the snow melts.

Planting leeks before winter: description

If you don't want to bother with growing leek seedlings in the spring, then you can try sowing the seeds into the soil in late autumn. If you do everything correctly, they will safely overwinter in the soil, and very early in the spring they will delight you with fresh and juicy greens.

Planting technology:

• Start preparing the bed for sowing seeds in September
• Clear it of weeds, and be sure to disinfect the soil with ash or potassium permanganate
• Dig up the soil to a depth of at least 20 centimeters
• Around mid-November, lightly fluff up the bed and make shallow furrows (at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other)
• Apply fertilizer to them and safely sow the seeds
• Sprinkle them with a layer of peat and leave them to winter
• In spring, make sure that the bed is not left without snow very early
• This may promote early germination of leeks
• To prevent this from happening, you can additionally cover the bed with snow at the end of winter.

The best productive leek varieties for central Russia, Siberia, the Urals: list with names, brief description

• Early varieties. Kilima, Vesta, Columbus. These varieties have medium stem height and very wide fan leaves. They have a pleasant aftertaste, so they can be used both fresh and pickled.
• Medium varieties. Bastion, Winner, Alligator, Giraffe. These varieties have a more pronounced white part, which becomes juicier and more aromatic during storage. The main advantage of the crops is that they tolerate light frosts quite well.
• Late varieties. Bluewing, Mercury, Winter Giant. Frost-resistant varieties that do not require special care. They have a sharper taste and a denser structure of the white part.

Video: Planting leek seedlings

Leeks deserve the title of a gourmet vegetable. Year after year, it wins my heart with its phenomenal productivity and ease of care. The taste of leek is mildly spicy, without the bitterness characteristic of onions. I advise you to take a closer look;). Well, today I’ll tell you how to properly grow leek seedlings.

Unfortunately, leeks are not yet on the list of popular vegetables, and only a few amateur vegetable growers cultivate them. I’ve been doing this for four years now and I’m pleased and proud of the results I’ve gotten. I believe that the complexity of the agricultural technology of this plant is largely far-fetched.

How to choose a leek variety for planting

In central Russia, leeks are obtained only through seedlings. Growing leek seedlings begins with choosing a variety. This choice depends on whether you want to consume leeks during the winter.

Based on early maturity, leek varieties are conventionally divided into three groups.

Summer varieties They are harvested already in August - the first half of September, but such a crop is not stored in winter. Such varieties are characterized by accelerated growth, and with a total stem length of one and a half meters, the bleached leg usually grows to 30-50 centimeters.

Autumn varieties are the most diverse and differ in fairly late harvesting - from the first ten days of October until frost. In areas with a warm climate, plants can be left to overwinter in the beds, as they can withstand temperature drops of up to -15 degrees.

Late-ripening or winter varieties designed for winter storage and, under cover, can withstand cold temperatures down to -20 degrees. Compared to the summer and autumn groups, these varieties have a short false stem only 12-15 centimeters long, often thickened at the bottom. It is also worth considering that in the middle zone, late varieties do not have time to reach technical ripeness. Therefore, they are cultivated mainly under film covers, in greenhouses, or before serious frosts they are transferred to growing in an insulated room.

I advise you to pay attention to varieties of foreign selection, preferably Dutch. It has been proven from personal experience that onions from these seeds are much larger and more quality than those from domestic seeds.

Sowing leeks for seedlings

Leek seedlings begin to be prepared from the end of February, and the deadline is mid-March. The seedling period of the crop lasts 70-80 days.

Leeks are sometimes sown even in a wide flower pot, but it is still better to choose a larger container with a depth of at least 6-8 centimeters.

The substrate for seedlings is prepared from equal parts of leaf soil, humus and garden soil. I recommend adding 0.5 parts of universal peat and wood ash to the mixture at the rate of one glass per bucket of finished substrate.

It would be a good idea to check leek seeds for germination, as they quickly lose it. Like any onion, leeks take a long time to germinate, up to 20 days, so to speed up this process I recommend pre-treating the seeds: and.

If there is still snow in the yard, try sowing seeds on it - this visually makes the work easier. It is better to sow in rows with a distance between them of 4-5 centimeters, and between seeds - 1-2 centimeters.

Seedling containers are filled with earth to approximately 2/3 of their height. Then 1.5-2 centimeters of snow are laid on a slightly compacted substrate and grooves 1 centimeter deep are made at a distance of 4-5 centimeters. After sowing, the seeds are covered with 1-1.5 centimeters of loose soil.

Seedling bowls are packaged in plastic bags and placed in a warm place with a temperature of +18...20 degrees. The bags are opened slightly for ventilation every day and the soil is irrigated with water from a spray bottle every 2-3 days.

When sowing treated seeds, onion loops appear within 6-7 days.

At the beginning of mass shoots, the containers are taken out to a sunny place and kept at a temperature of +14...15 degrees for 3-4 days. Cooling will help prevent seedlings from being pulled out. Subsequently, the temperature is maintained in the range from +18 to +20 degrees.

Growing leek seedlings

In the first month, plants develop slowly.

Caring for leek seedlings includes moderate cultivation, loosening and thinning if necessary. This crop does not need picking, but if you want to get thicker stems, then this technique will help.

During the period of growing leek seedlings, the seedlings are fed twice.

Another unusual crop that I recommend trying to grow on your site is. The taste of this onion will pleasantly surprise you, and the size of the bulbs will be a real surprise.

If there is not enough space on your windowsill even for your favorite tomatoes, then I suggest sowing leek seedlings in the original way, in a roll.