Perennial onions: popular varieties and cultivation secrets from gardeners
Vegetables grown on their beds are much more useful than purchased ones.At any dacha you can find a plant such as onions. Many gardeners think about planting onions, choosing between two-year and perennial varieties. This article will discuss the popular varieties of perennial onions and the secrets of its cultivation from experienced gardeners.
Special features
Perennial onions are loved by all gardeners. It possesses not only excellent nutritional and medicinal properties, but also looks beautiful on summer cottages.
The most important advantage of such a bow is its lifespan. With proper care, perennials grow on the same bed for up to 6 years. Also, they do not require a transplant from one place to another.
Perennial vegetable has excellent frost resistance. It is able to withstand cold temperatures up to -40 C. This allows varieties to easily survive winters in different parts of the country.
A separate advantage is to care for him. Basically, the bushes require good watering, fertilizer and periodic loosening of the soil. With sufficient care, perennials are not exposed to pests and diseases.
If desired, perennial onions are easy to propagate. This can be done with the help of seeds that develop in the spike of the plant, or by dividing an adult shrub.
Perennial onions are replete with a variety of vitamins and amino acids. They have a positive effect on metabolism and strengthen the immune system. Onions also contain volatile substances - volatile substances that kill the bacteria.
Onion harvest appears one of the first. Simple agricultural technology allows you to get large volumes of fresh green leaves from April, May.
Its description of a perennial vegetable is almost similar to a one-year-old vegetable, but there are still differences. Assembling it at your cottage is not difficult if you follow all our recommendations.
As the name implies, this variety has the ability to bear fruit for years. The winter road is mainly bush, flat and fragrant. The most pronounced garlic flavor has a Chinese version.
Kinds
There is a wide variety of perennial onions on the market. The most interesting of them will be discussed below.
Batun
Batun - the most famous type of onion among perennials. It can be found in almost every garden. There are several varieties of this onion. Their main differences are branching, frost resistance, ripening speed.
Onions a batun has a branched bush with large, long leaves of dark green color. The height of the bush can be up to 60 cm. It multiplies by planting seeds or vegetatively. Batun sown in late autumn, early spring or late summer.
For reproduction by the second method, the rhizome is divided into parts by several plants, the roots are shortened to 4 cm and the leaves are cut to 8 cm.
It is important to note that while planting the growth point does not fall asleep. Plants can be planted this way in early spring or in September, October.
To taste, this perennial slightly sharper onions. Feathers are used in food, it has no heads. By the number of nutrients, this winter road is definitely the leader. It contains vitamin C, riboflavin and potassium salts.
Greenery will delight with its beauty from spring to the end of the summer season. With good feeding and care, a batun grows on a single bed for about 6 years. The most commonly used varieties such as "Emerald", "Well done", "Totem", "Baikal".
Shallot
A special feature of shallots are its sweetish leaves and soft smell. For this he is so appreciated by many gardeners. Bulbs are also eaten, but much less frequently.
The shallot looks like an ordinary onion, but outwardly it looks more spreading, and small, elongated bulbs form nests.
Shallot is somewhat capricious. It requires a special plot, when in proximity with other plants can lose its taste and reborn. However, it is fairly easy to grow and multiply.
For reproduction, the bulbs are dug in August and planted in early spring or autumn.To get juicy greenery, you should plant the plants after the snow melts, and for the ripening of bulbs - in the late fall.
Common varieties are "Sprint", "Delicacy", "Friendly family", "Siberian yellow" and "Banana".
Schnitt
This winter road is perfect not only for ingestion, but also for decorating the dacha. Many gardeners plant it precisely for the inflorescence of white, purple or pink. Fluffy inflorescences beautifully fit into the country beds and perfectly harmonize with other colors.
For food use only gentle tubular feathers. They represent a whole treasury of vitamins - ascorbic acid, B3, B9 and many others. An important condition is timely cutting of the leaves. He will help feathers not to be rude and to keep tenderness.
In addition, this bow is well adapted to various environmental conditions. Schnitt can grow in harsh cold climates as well as in arid areas. However, abundant watering is the main condition for its development.
Before the beginning of winter, the plant should be cut almost to the root. If desired, it can be transplanted into a pot and left for a couple of months. In winter, it will also give fresh greens. From early spring to flowering, the Schnitt will delight with its soft, gentle feathers. However, during the flowering period, the leaves become sharp and practically not used in food.
Fragrant
A fragrant winter road originally from China. Currently, among gardeners, he is just gaining its popularity.
Sweet onions do not change their taste during the whole season. His feathers are gentle, with a subtle taste of garlic. Onions are not consumed. They are covered with a protective layer that allows fragrant onions to withstand cold winters.
Experienced gardeners do not recommend cutting the leaves completely. It is enough to cut off the extreme, and leave the core. In the period of release of the arrows leaves become more rough.
In August, fragrant winter road begins to bloom. Its white star-shaped flowers will be a wonderful decoration of the alpine slide.
Sweet onions - the undisputed champion in the amount of vitamin C. Famous varieties are Stargazer and Spicy.
Multi-tiered
Tiered onions - one of the most frost-resistant varieties among perennials. Growing up on the same bed he can up to 7 years.
Otherwise it is called Egyptian or walking. And this is no accident. He is the only viviparous bow. New onions ripen above the ground, take root and release new leaves. Therefore, with its growth should get rid of extra heads to prevent the overgrowth of the beds.
Greens multi-tiered onions consumed throughout the season. Feathers are distinguished by a hot, spicy taste. The bulbs can also be used in cooking. Of these, you can grow new bushes.
For planting a multi-tiered onion will require a separate bed, and within a month he will delight with fresh greens. Popular varieties are "Odessa Winter", "Memory", "Faces".
Which to choose?
When choosing a perennial onion, there are several factors to consider: taste, care requirements and reproduction.
Most varieties have a delicate taste of feathers. The exception here can be fragrant onions, the leaves of which give light notes of garlic. For lovers of the usual onion suitable batun variety. For lovers of sweet taste, suitable shallot.
The care requirements for many varieties are the same. However, when planting must take into account the type of onions. Some perennials, such as bats, shallots, multi-tiered onions, require their beds and do not tolerate neighborhoods even with other varieties. Others, on the contrary, will be a wonderful decoration of the next flower bed with flowers. Beautiful additions to flowering plants will be chives and fragrant onions.
All species reproduce both by dividing the bush and by seed. Under this rule does not fit only multi-tiered onions, which itself generates new onions.This factor is important to those who are going to plant a small bed of onion and expand it further.
Breeding technology
Perennial onions can be bred in two ways - by seeds and dividing the bushes. About each of these methods, its advantages and disadvantages, it is worth mentioning separately.
Most onion varieties are recommended to be planted in late autumn or early spring. Seeds sown in frozen ground are saturated with moisture and sprout within the specified time. With such cultivation, the harvest from young onions can be obtained 2 weeks earlier than with spring sowing.
But spring planting also has its merits. The soil after winter is more friable - this means that the roots will develop better. Therefore, during spring planting, more seeds sprout, and the bed grows less with weeds. It is important to note that onion seeds require well-treated, fertilized soil. A sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals contributes to a better development of plants.
When growing onions with seeds, planting time depends on the climate. The southern regions are characterized by rapid moisture removal from the soil. So, it is best to sow the beds with perennial onions in early spring. If the snow does not go away until May, and the frosts persist for June, then it is worth sowing the onion in late autumn.
Almost all types of perennial onions can be diluted with seeds. Multilevel onion seeds do not create, it can be propagated by dividing the bushes. Otherwise, this type of breeding is called vegetative. It is suitable absolutely for all types of perennial onions. The principle of reproduction is very simple. In the first months of spring or in August, the adult onion bush is divided into independent parts. It is important that the divisible bush be more than three years old. The plant grows over three years, so it will be easy to propagate it.
The root of the bush must look strong and viable, otherwise the bow will die. Well-developed parts of the bush are planted at a distance of 20-30 centimeters from each other and to a depth of about 10 centimeters.
If the ramifications are weaker, then they should be planted shallowly - up to 6 centimeters. The distance between such bushes can be reduced by half - up to 10-15 centimeters.
Practical recommendations
After selecting and planting perennial onions, each gardener thinks about the features of caring for them. There are practical recommendations that are universal and suitable for all varieties of perennial onions.
- The most important thing for onions is abundant irrigation and fertilizing. Water the plant should be as the soil dries. Some recommend watering the plants after each feather cut. The main thing is not to fill the bushes. Excessive moisture leads to rotting of the roots and bulbs.
- Loosening the soil and weeding can be carried out after each watering. Such care helps to keep the plants strong and healthy, and the harvest - large and juicy.
- After cutting the crop, the plant must be fed. For additional saturation with microelements onions are watered with natural fertilizer. It is made from the infusion of various weeds: burdock, nettle. You can also use compost, humus or superphosphate.
- Before the beginning of winter, the plant is fertilized with phosphorus and potassium. These substances help the onions survive the winter. In spring, onion beds are treated with complex fertilizer or nitrogen. Such nutrition allows perennial onions to grow for several years in one area.
- For winter, onion beds are covered in those areas where there is little snow and the temperature reaches -25 ° C. You can close the plants as dry grass and covering material. After the snow melts, the shelter is carefully removed, taking care not to damage the fresh leaves of the onion. The soil should be pierced so that the plants can breathe. In the snow-covered areas to cover the plants is not necessary.
- If perennial onions will receive little care, then the root system will be susceptible to pests - bacteria. They can completely destroy adult bushes of plants.
- Most perennials in the second year of life form flower stalks.They should be removed in time, otherwise the bulb will spend nutrients on seed development. If the seeds are needed for further cultivation, then part of the flower stalks can be left. However, it is suitable only for those varieties of onions, whose hybrids create empty seeds.
- Tiered onions do not propagate by seed, but also require control. During the season, he can grow a large number of onions, which will become independent plants. If you do not remove them from the bush in time, the bulbs will take root. This can lead to thickening of the bed and depletion of the soil.
- Onion bushes are susceptible to various pests, such as the onion moth and fly, the stealth, the stem nematode or the root mite. The best way to deal with them is prevention.
- With timely planting perennial onions quickly master and get used to the ground. This means that pests are less likely to infect it. Before planting seeds in the soil or seedlings must be processed.
- In the period of the appearance of green, you can use a solution Bordeaux fluid. Also for the treatment of perennials used copper oxychloride or ready-made mixtures, such as "Cineba", "Alirin." Plant leaves can be used for food two days after treatment.
- If, however, the plant has been affected by the pest, then the bush should be removed or the pest should be fought. Otherwise, the whole bed may be infected. To combat insects, it is better to use biological agents. Chemicals will help prevent adversity, but may be unsafe for health.
How to sow perennial onion-batun in the spring, see the following video.