Onion vegetative propagation. Onion reproduction. Cleaning and storage of onions

I have several types of perennial onions growing on my site, and of all in my family, it is the slime onion that is preferred. It has flat green leaves with blunt, rounded ends, similar to the leaves of daffodils. They are tender, juicy, with a weak garlic taste, retain high palatability throughout the summer, while other onions become coarser by the time of flowering.

The slime onion, or otherwise the drooping onion, got its name because when the leaves are cut, liquid droplets resembling tears are released. In addition, it has a drooping spherical inflorescence, covered with a thin sheath, like garlic, and at the beginning of flowering, the arrow straightens. Its flowers are pink or pink-purple.

The slug onion has a very well developed rhizome, which serves as a storage organ. Several bulbs are attached to it.

Slime Bow - perennial, relatively unpretentious, tolerating frosts down to -35 degrees, as well as a short drought.

Propagated vegetatively and by seeds

Onion slime is easily propagated by dividing the bush and seeds. In the first year, two shoots with 4-5 leaves are formed on the plant, in the future their number is constantly increasing. For the 4-5th year, there are already up to 28-30 shoots on the bush. After 5-6 years, the plants grow old, the shoot-forming ability decreases. Plants need to be divided, planted or grown new from seeds.

The seeds of this onion are sown in the spring on a bed with fertile soil. Seedlings appear 20-30 days after sowing. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the top layer of soil from drying out, where the seeds are located. When the onion plants have 2-3 leaves, they are seated. In the second year, the distance between plants in a row should be at least 15-20 cm, as they grow strongly.

It is better to divide onion-slizun bushes in August-early September, so that the plants get stronger by winter. Therefore, the further north the garden is located, the earlier you need to start this work. Although I share it with my neighbors throughout the summer. When planting, cut the roots and leaves of the delenok. They take root well, provided timely watering, shading with non-woven material. The distance between rows during planting is 50 cm, between plants in a row is 20-30 cm.

Four cuts for the summer

Cut off the leaves of plants grown from seeds, begin in the third year. Usually the leaves are cut when they reach a length of 25-27 cm, but we also cut smaller ones in the spring. Cutting leaves increases the branching of plants and accelerates the aging process of plants. After 2-3 cuttings of leaves per season, flower arrows no longer form on it. After the first cut, the growing leaves have a reduced fiber content and increased water content in the tissues - the leaves become softer.

Depending on weather conditions, the region of cultivation and care, up to four cuts are made per summer.

They love top dressing

Proper care ensures successful overwintering, friendly regrowth of the feather. Small plants are afraid of weeds that can drown them out. IN further care consists in watering, loosening the soil and weeding. In the spring, a garden bed with onions is put in order, the soil is loosened. During the period of leaf regrowth, complete mineral fertilizer is applied or fertilized with manure infusion (1:10) or chicken manure (1:20), which allows you to start cutting the leaves almost a week earlier.

At the end of summer, they are fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

Getting seeds

Different types of onions do not pollinate during flowering. That's why quality seeds can be obtained even if another type of onion blooms nearby. In contrast to growing onions on a feather, the testes are given a second top dressing with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers before flowering. Choose healthy, well-developed plants from which the leaf is not cut even once during the season. The flowers in the inflorescence bloom at the same time, so the seeds ripen unfriendly.

It is important not to miss the cleaning period. Inflorescences are cut off when the baskets turn brown, single ones begin to open, and scatter them for ripening on a bed of burlap and paper. Seeds spilled out of ripe boxes on the litter are cleaned of impurities and dried. For own consumption, 3-4 inflorescences are enough.

It is added to salads, various dishes and eaten just like that with bread. There are many varieties of this plant, and in this article we will consider such an unusual species as a multi-tiered onion.

Description of the bow

The name of this plant corresponds to its unusual appearance. Instead of the inflorescences that we are used to seeing in ordinary ones, air bulbs are formed, located on the tubular arrow in the form of "nests", and basal bulbs. These onions are also sometimes called bulbs, they are covered with a strong peel on top. The plant forms links of arrows with bulbs, which are located in the form of levels one above the other. The length of the first arrow reaches 65-80 cm, the largest bulbs are located on it. There can be from 4 to 5 such levels. From three to ten heads grow in one inflorescence. The leaves are pleasant to the taste and very juicy, they retain this property for a long time. Air and basal bulbs have a more bitter taste, but they are also eaten, added to various dishes, pickled, and so on.

Peculiarities

A multi-tiered bow has good fertility, due to the fact that new arrows with bulbs grow from the center of the inflorescence, and this continues several times. The peel of the bulbs is yellow, brown or purple. It ripens faster than all others and produces greenery from March to November. It has a more developed root system when compared with an ordinary onion.

Did you know? It's no secret that everyone starts crying when cutting onions. But rarely anyone wondered why this happens. It turns out that it contains such a substance as a lachrymator. When cutting onions, this substance is released, dissolves on the shell of the eye, and because of this, sulfuric acid is formed, which causes irritation, and then tears.

Sometimes you can see small flowers on the arrows, but usually they dry out pretty quickly due to the fact that they do not have enough food. Growing a multi-tiered onion does not require special care, and in addition, it has good resistance to harmful microflora and various. In addition, it is a drought-resistant and frost-resistant plant. He does not care about frosts at -50 ° C without a lot of snow.

Landing technology

The planting material of a multi-tiered onion is its air and underground bulbs. It is best to plant basal or air bulbs from the first and second tiers. The best time for planting them is August and September. They have time to take root well by the first frosts and immediately after the snow melts they will delight with a harvest of juicy greenery. Also bulbs are possible. To do this, they need to be stored without separating in a cool, dry place and planted in seed boxes to a depth of about two centimeters from October to February. So you provide yourself with fresh herbs and vitamins for the time of cold weather.

As for the beds, the multi-tiered view prefers light, moisture and breathable with the environment. A multi-tiered onion is grown both as a plant. It should be good before planting so that you are sure of a good harvest. For an annual, apply (20-30 g), (50 g) and (30 g) fertilizers to the soil. And for a perennial, add more manure or humus to the soil about 5-7 kg per square meter. It is necessary to plant the bulbs in grooves previously made and watered with water at a distance of 15-20 cm and at a depth of 3-4 cm. It is also recommended to distribute the bulbs by size and plant each group in a separate row. After a good plant, so that it quickly gives roots.

Care

Caring for a multi-tiered bow consists of a standard set of actions. Like any plant, it needs moderate loosening and weeding of the soil, as well as the removal of dry leaves during growth. As soon as the arrows appear, they must be fixed on pegs so that they do not fall to the ground due to the gravity of the air bulbs.

How multi-tiered onions propagate

Multi-tiered onions can only be propagated. This type of onion does not have seeds. For reproduction, the largest air bulbs are chosen, which are usually located on the first tier. In addition, it can be propagated by dividing the bush. To do this, the plant needs to be dug up, the underground bulbs divided and transplanted to another place. The scheme for planting underground bulbs is no different from air bulbs.

Beneficial features

Most of all, a multi-tiered onion has vitamin C, which is found in the leaves of the plant. Also in its composition it has carotene, vitamins B1, B2, PP and a large amount of sugars. In addition, it contains essential oils and a wide list of mineral salts of such chemical elements: potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, boron, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum.

Most onion species can reproduce both by seeds and vegetatively. A few exceptions are the sowing garlic, the multi-tiered onion, the viviparous variety of the blue onion, and some other species that do not form or almost do not form seeds and reproduce only vegetatively.

Figure 8. Formation of a replacement bulb at the base of the onion peduncle: a, b - general form, c — cross section; 1 - peduncle; 2 - sighting bulb; 3 - common integumentary scales

The main method of vegetative renewal under natural conditions is the formation of a replacement bulb (Fig. 8). It occurs in the axil of the leaf next to the peduncle. As a result, the young bulb replaces the mother bulb by the autumn of next year. Such a bow is called a sighting. If for some reason the inflorescence on the flower arrow does not develop or breaks off, the sighting bulb can grow to the size characteristic of the uterine bulb, and it can be distinguished from the usual bulb only by the dry strip left on the side of the flattened dried flower arrow. Sometimes large sighting bulbs are formed during the development of inflorescences.

In the case when the replacement of the bulb is the only way to renew, the coefficient of vegetative propagation is equal to one, i.e., instead of one dying shoot, one bulb remains. As a result, only renewal occurs, but not reproduction. However, this is rarely seen.
A common method of natural vegetative propagation is the formation in the axils of the outer succulent scales of several axillary buds that can develop into independent bulbs. When the leaves dry out, the axillary buds separate from the mother plant and proceed to independent development.
In garlic and onions, in inflorescences, instead of flowers, small bulbs are formed, called bulbs, which also give rise to new plants. The formation of bulbs in inflorescences is a fairly common phenomenon, it is observed in different types(including onion) with any violations in the formation of flowers. You can cause this phenomenon and artificially, carefully cutting off the buds on the receptacle.
Bulb babies can also develop on rhizomes, stolons, and even on bulbs. They also serve for vegetative propagation. Perennial onions that form clumps reproduce by dividing the clump. This method is often used when cultivating perennial onions so that the breeding process takes less time. In nature, such reproduction is observed in rhizomatous onions when individual parts of the rhizome die off, as a result of which several independent plants are formed from one overgrown bush, the location of which depends on the length of the internodes of the rhizome.

Onions are one of the types of onions that are most common among gardeners. Plants of this species do not form underground bulbs, they are used as fresh herbs. The most popular are perennial bows, which can grow up to 10 years in one place.

Planting onions

It is best to start preparing the soil in the fall. The earth needs to be dug up, about 20 cm deep, and rotted manure or compost should be added. It is not recommended to apply fresh manure, this can cause diseases, because it may contain weed seeds that are not so easy to remove. In case of increased acidity of the soil, lime must be added to get good harvest. But at the same time, it should be borne in mind that it is impossible to introduce both manure and lime at the same time, because. the amount of nitrogen will decrease. Lime can be replaced with dolomite flour or wood ash.

With the advent of spring, you need to fertilize the soil with minerals, but not immediately, but in several passes, because. high salt concentration negatively affects the culture. half mineral fertilizer it is worth making when digging before planting, and the rest can be distributed over 2-3 top dressings during the growing season.

Planting material preparation

If the sevok is purchased, it is dried before planting. To do this, it must be scattered in a small layer in a warm room. If the sevok is grown on its own, it is heated so that the growth process begins. It is recommended to warm up in several visits: half a month at 20 ° C, and after that - about 10 hours at 30 ° C. Warming up the sevka is carried out in order to activate growth and to prevent the shooting of onions in the future. It is important to ensure that the sevok does not overheat, because. its growth will be greatly reduced.

If gradual warming does not work, right before planting the seedlings need to be poured hot water(45°C) for 15 minutes, then cool cold water. It is effective to treat after heating with "Zircon", "Humisol" or "Growth-1", which stimulate the growth of onions. The last thing to do before planting is to disinfect the seedlings with copper sulfate or potassium permanganate.

Landing

The landing time is greatly affected by weather conditions. If spring has come early, you need to plant sevok in third decade of April, and in the case of a protracted cold spring, wait until the soil warms up by 7-8 cm. If the soil temperature is below 12 ° C, you should not plant onions, because. he will go to the arrow. But it is also not advisable to be late with landing, especially in dry and warm spring, because. the feather will begin to develop first, and the root will lag behind in development. As a result, the greens will not be able to germinate normally, and the bulbs that have already formed will remain small. You need to plant sevok in the beds in rows, sorting them by size in advance. A small set (up to 1 cm) is planted at a distance of 4-5 cm, a set with a diameter of up to 1.5 cm - at a distance of 6-8 cm; large sets (2 cm) - by 8-10 cm.

Rows are recommended to be done at a distance of 20 cm, so that the processing is easier, as well as for good ventilation. Having placed the sowing in the ground, it must be compressed with earth and covered with mulch with a layer of about 3 cm. After 6-7 days, the first shoots most often appear.

Onion care

Onion care includes loosening the soil, regular watering, weeding, fertilizing, treatment against diseases and insects, and timely harvesting.

loosening

You need to loosen the soil even before germination, because. during this period, a dense crust of the earth may form. It is recommended to loosen frequently, in parallel getting rid of weeds. Loosening is necessary so that the roots of the plant constantly receive oxygen. It is especially important to carry out this procedure after wetting the soil. When the bulbs grow a little, you can shovel the ground away from them so that they can grow large and ripen faster.

Watering

Onions should be watered regularly, especially in the first half of the growing season. At this time, watering should be done a couple of times a week. If the days are rainy, watering can be reduced. The main thing is that the soil is not dry. In July, when the bulbs begin to ripen, watering should be reduced, and completely stopped a couple of weeks before harvesting. In the case of a hot and dry summer, the onions at this time should be watered occasionally so that the bulbs do not stagnate and do not fade.

Weeding

It is impossible for onions to become overgrown with weeds, because. because of this, the humidity will increase, which will provoke fungal diseases. Moreover, if onions grow on unweeded beds, a thickened juicy neck is formed, which complicates the onion drying in the future and its storage.

Fertilization

You need to feed the onion several times. The first is carried out half a month after planting with slurry or bird droppings. You also need to feed the plant after three weeks. If minerals are used as top dressing, it is first recommended to add nitrogen, for example, ammonium nitrate. In this case, after three weeks, nitrogen must be applied with potash fertilizer.

Minerals are applied in a dry form, sprinkling beds with them before rain or artificial irrigation. Or dry minerals can be broken up in water and watered with such a solution.

Treatment against diseases and pests

Onion is a fungicidal plant, but despite this, it also gets sick and becomes insect food, so it is imperative to carry out preventive treatment against fungal diseases and insects.

For processing, you can independently prepare a solution from blue vitriol(1 tsp), liquid soap (1 tbsp) and water (10 l.). Ready solution onions must be sprayed after their leaves grow 12-15 cm long. Also, for prevention, onions and soil can be dusted with wood ash or tobacco dust. After 20 days, the treatment is repeated.

Harvesting

So that in the future the onion can be stored for a long time, it must be collected in a timely manner. harvesting winter onion usually held in July, and spring - at the end of summer. When the feather no longer grows, and the old greenery has already dried up and died, the bulb is pulled out and inspected. If the husk is dry, bright and tightly covers the bulb, you can harvest. If you are late with the collection of onions, they will continue to grow and release greens. It can be eaten, but it is not suitable for storage.

Onion heads should be carefully dug up and, in dry weather, laid out on a row so that they dry out. If the day is rainy, the bulbs are dried under cover. When they are completely dry, they must be carefully cleaned from the ground so as not to damage the husk. After the harvest, it is necessary to sort out, discard the rumpled, sick and those without husks. The selected onions need to cut off the tails up to 6 cm. If the tail is badly dry, the onion will not be stored for a long time. Then the onion must be transferred to a small box or box, and moved to a dry room, the temperature of which is from +5 to 20 ° C.

Propagation of onions

Onions are propagated by seed. In August, arrows with "balls" containing seeds are formed on the plants. When the arrow dries and the seeds turn black, they must be carefully poured for further storage. Seeds are used in order to get a set, which, a year after planting, forms a full-fledged bulb.