Chalcedony onion and care
Chalcedony onion is an early ripening and high-yielding variety. It is unpretentious, can grow in any conditions. You can plant a plant with seeds or sets. You can grow onions both for your own needs and for commercial purposes. This variety has been receiving great reviews for more than one year.
Chalcedony onion
Features of the variety
The characteristics of the Chalcedony onion variety are not much different from other varieties. Nevertheless, it is quite popular, because it is easy to grow it, you can get both a turnip and a tasty juicy feather in 2 years. In the south, a large bulb grows in one season, even from seed.
Here is the Chalcedony onion variety description:
- The turnip is large, it can have a diameter of up to 15 cm.
- Bulb weight - up to 150 g.
- The shape of the bulb is round.
- The pulp is plump, juicy with a spicy taste.
- The color of the pulp is white.
- The husk is light brown with a bronze sheen.
- The feather grows to a height of 16 cm, juicy, without a bitter taste.
- Productivity - 7-8 kg per 1 sq. m beds.
Another characteristic mentioned in the description of the Chalcedony onion variety is early ripening. Already in mid-August, you can harvest. The seeds can sprout at fairly low temperatures. Greens develop best at 18-20 ° C. It is better to see what Chalcedony looks like in the photo. The composition of the onion is unremarkable. It contains a lot of vitamin C, minerals, iron, as in other varieties of this agricultural crop.
Preparing a bed for onions
Chalcedony onions are not too whimsical. It grows best on fertilized soil after zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, cabbage. Do not plant it after garlic, carrots, corn. Also, you can not plant a crop twice in the same place. The landing site is chosen on a hill so that the water does not stagnate, the onion does not like waterlogging.
The garden must be prepared in the fall. The earth is well dug up, weeds are removed and fertilizers are applied. It is best to dig in compost or humus, 3-4 buckets per 1 m of the garden. In the spring, a few days before planting, the soil can be re-fertilized. To do this, make:
- Humus - 2-3 buckets.
- Superphosphate - 20-30 g.
- Wood ash - 1 cup.
If you plan to grow onions for forcing feathers, you need to add saltpeter to the soil. The bed is made high, it is best to raise it 15-20 cm above ground level. In swampy areas, the height is made up to 25 cm. After fertilization, the soil is well dug up, the roots and stems of weeds are removed, then the soil is pushed, and watered if necessary.
Growing from seeds
In the first year, it is worth growing the Chalcedony onion from seeds. Nigella is much cheaper than sevok. Sowing and caring for plants is uncomplicated. After a year, you can get a full-fledged planting material for further breeding and growing turnips.
Seed preparation
If you buy seeds from a specialty store, you can immediately plant them in the ground. When buying on the market or self-harvesting, it is better to prepare them. The process consists of the following steps:
- First, Chalcedony onion seeds are soaked for half an hour in a solution of potassium permanganate.
- Soak the seeds for a day in warm water.
- The next stage is treatment with growth stimulants.
- For sowing to be as successful as possible, seeds are germinated on a platter with gauze for 5-6 days, changing the water daily.
The prepared seeds can be planted both outdoors and in containers for seedlings. For planting at home, buy a soil mixture for vegetable plants and add 30% river sand to it. You can prepare the soil yourself by mixing equal parts of peat, sand and plain earth from the garden.
Planting seeds
It is best if the seeds are planted in a container with cells. 3-4 seeds are planted in one hole to a depth of 0.5 cm.When the seedlings sprout, it is convenient to pull it out of the container and transplant it into the garden. To do this, dig holes in the garden bed 3-4 cm deep at a distance of about 7-6 cm from each other. It is advisable to pour a little water on the bottom of the holes, then plant each onion in them separately.
Seedlings begin to grow in early March. If seeds are planted directly in open soil, then its term is the beginning of April. They push the bed and dig grooves in it. Their depth is 2-3 cm, the size of the intervals between the rows is 20-25 cm. White river sand can be poured on the bottom of the grooves so that the seeds are better visible. They are sown to a depth of 2.5-2 cm and 2-3 cm at a distance from each other. The germination of the variety is not very high, therefore such a heap sowing justifies itself.
Planting sevka
Planting and growing from seeds in the first year allows you to get a good feather, but in the temperate zone it is unlikely that when growing from seeds it will be possible to immediately collect good turnips. The main crop of the first year is onion sets. It is dried and put into storage, and the next year it is planted in the garden. Previously, seedlings grown from seeds should be prepared. They do it like this:
- The ends are cut off, leaving 2-3 cm.
- The bulbs are soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate for 30-40 minutes.
- The bulbs are kept for 10 hours at a temperature of 40-50 ° C (poured with water or put in the oven).
- If this is not possible, they simply leave the bulbs in the room for several days, at a temperature of 20-25 ° C.
Chalcedony onions are planted at the end of March. If you plan to grow under a film or in a greenhouse, you can plant the plant as early as March. The garden bed is prepared in the same way as when planting seeds. The bulbs are deepened into the soil by 3-4 cm. The distance between them should be 6-7 cm, and between the rows - 20-25 cm. You can plant onions both in prepared grooves and in pits. Watering is necessary when it is dry outside.
Onion care
To get a good harvest, Chalcedony onions should be properly looked after. If you plan to grow it for greens, you should not rush to cut the feather: this can affect the ripening of the bulbs. Fertilizers are applied twice. The first time - after the appearance of 2-3 leaves. Water the plants with mullein diluted 1:10 with water. The second time is 20 days after the first feeding. Potash fertilizers, urea and superphosphate are applied to the soil.
In the characterization of the Chalcedony onion, it is said that it does not like overflow, therefore it is necessary to moisten the soil as needed. In July, watering is completely stopped so that the turnips do not take too much liquid and do not rot in winter. After watering, the soil should be loosened. Weeding is done several times per season. When overgrown with weeds, the yield of the Chalcedony variety falls by half.
Onion diseases
It is very important to notice in time that the plant is damaged by diseases and pests. Most often, Chalcedony suffers from the following misfortunes:
- Onion moth. Small caterpillars of this insect live on the back of the leaves, they can easily destroy the entire crop. Collect pests by hand or treat the bushes with insecticides. Good with onion moth "fights" the carrot, which grows in the next bed.
- Onion fly. The bush affected by this insect withers, turns yellow and eventually dies.To destroy the fly, use a tincture of dry tobacco and soap (180 g of tobacco leaves, 1 tablespoon of soap shavings per 10 liters of boiling water). Ready-made insecticides are also effective.
- Stem nematodes. Roundworms that kill the plant. For prophylaxis, seeds and seedlings are treated with a salt solution before planting. The same solution can be sprayed onto affected plants.
- Rot on the neck. Occurs with too much watering or in a rainy summer. Can completely destroy bulbs. To fight the disease, the soil around the planting is sprinkled with chalk or wood ash.
- Peronosporosis. Fungal disease, which manifests itself as light green specks on the leaves. They turn gray over time. You can prevent the disease by planting chalcedony onions in a sunny place.
Proper care can prevent all diseases, especially since the variety is quite resistant to them. It is very important to thin out the plantings on time: first, 3-4 cm are left between the plants, then 6-7 cm. Then the bulbs are large, and diseases and pests affect the crops less often.
Harvesting onions
As you can see, it is not difficult to grow Chalcedony onions from seeds or sevkom. Harvesting is very important. If it is carried out incorrectly, turnips will be poorly stored in winter, part of the crop will be lost. No later than 20 days before the intended collection, you need to stop watering and feeding. You should start digging out the bulbs when the feather is completely dry.
The harvest time for the Chalcedony onion variety begins in August. It is best to choose a warm day without rain. The ideal air temperature is 25 ° C, but onions can be removed from the garden at a lower temperature. The bulbs are carefully dug out so as not to damage the roots (first of all, if it is a set), then they are laid out on a litter and dried in the sun. Transfer the bow under cover at night. If the weather is rainy, onions can be dried on the veranda, balcony or attic.
According to the description of the onion, Chalcedony has good keeping quality. It is best stored in pigtails. You can trim the ends neatly, fold the turnips into paper bags and place them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Also, the Chalcedony onion variety in nets, suspended in a dry basement or a cool pantry, is well stored.