When to plant onions for winter: tips for different varieties

Onions are one of those crops that can be planted over winter. Then in the spring it will sprout in the vegetable garden by itself and, in addition, it will give a harvest earlier.

How to properly plant winter onions, know experienced gardeners. The publication "Gardener's Pharmacy" has collected their flyhacks.

When to plant winter onions

If you plan to grow onions, try to have time a month before the onset of cold weather with frost. The plant should have time to root properly. It is also desirable that the plants before the onset of frost to form 3-4 feathers with a neck thickness of about 5 mm. Keep an eye on the air temperature. It should not fall below +5°C. And do not rush to cover the bed with mulch - if you do it too early, the procedure can damage the onion roots.

How to choose a winter onion variety

Breeders have developed special varieties that winter best in the ground. Distinguish between early-ripening, medium-ripening, late-ripening varieties and hybrids of winter onions - pay attention to this depending on when you want to get a harvest. For planting, choose small bulbs with a diameter of less than 1 cm. If you take larger ones, the plant will shoot in the spring.

Here are the varieties that experts recommend to pay attention to:

• with early maturity - Red Baron, Senshui, Strigunovsky, Stuttgarter Riesen, Ellan.
• With a medium maturity period - Shakespeare, Centurion hybrid, Sturon, Radar, Danilovsky, Arzamassky.

Before sowing, bulbs should not only be picked for quality, but also soaked in salted water. Only immersed fruits are considered quality and viable.

How to plant winter onions

Choosing a scheme for planting winter onions, pay attention to the size of the planting material. Small "oatsyuzhka" is recommended to plant densely - at a distance of 4-5 cm from each other. Small bulbs have a greater risk of freezing in winter. Culture in this case is usually planted in a row method with a row spacing of 30-45 cm.

Sowing onion seeds in the fall is carried out in furrows at a distance of 2-2.5 cm from each other. The size of the row spacing is the same as when planting the seed. If the fall seemed dry, it is better to water the sown onions while the weather is warm.

It is also important to correctly calculate the planting depth of winter onions. In this case, pay attention to weather conditions. The furrows for planting the culture should be 3-8 cm deep. Bulbs are planted with the bottom down, deepening the sowing halfway into the ground. The grooves are covered with wood ash, a layer of soil, mulch with organic waste, humus, straw. After the appearance of green shoots, the plant should be perched at a height of 5-7 cm.

How to choose the weather for planting winter onions

Experts do not recommend planting the culture when the weather remains warm. You should not work if the air temperature is above 8-10°C. The optimum time for planting winter onions is when the average daily temperature remains at 5-6°C for several days. In snowless winters, plantings can withstand frosts as low as -15°C. When snow covers the area, the crops are not afraid of cold even down to -20°C.

The best place to plant winter onions

The plant grows best on rich and loose soil with neutral acidity. An acidic substrate can cause the bulbs to rot and they risk not maturing.

The best place for a bed with winter onions is a well sunlit and wind-protected area. It can be a slope of southwestern or southern direction.

How to care for winter onion crops

After you have sown the culture for the winter, mulch the bed or cover it with a piece of white agrofiber. If the winter will be snowy, you will not have to insulate the crops additionally. But in dry fall weather, it is better to water the crops. Water is made abundantly in 10-15 days after planting.

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