How to grow onions on the windowsill?

Green onions are rich in vitamins A, C, group B, it contains sulfur, potassium, folic acid and biologically active flavonoids.However, in addition to the benefits, delicate green onion feathers are piquant, giving the familiar dishes a new sound. Growing green onions is a snap; you can do it at home all year round.

You can grow onions on the windowsill, even if you are not an experienced gardener. Of course, it will not be possible to get a turnip with a similar method, but green onion on a feather grows even on the sides facing south. In general, such a bow is unpretentious in care, and the owner always has fresh greens to the table.

In most cases, for cultivation is used universal onions, which quickly gives the green arrows. You can grow and red sweet onions, which gives abundant tops, especially good in salads.

Shallots, sets, chives, leeks - all these types of onions can be planted on the windowsill and will give a good harvest. In principle, any onion head without rot and damage is suitable. However, in order to obtain the best results, it is necessary to take multi-nest nests, which in the future will give a magnificent growth of feathers. Such varieties include “Timiryazevsky”, “Arzamassky”, “Spassky”, “Soyuz” and others.

There are no definite planting terms, because onions can be grown on a windowsill the whole year. Of course, at different times of the year, the intensity of illumination will be different and, perhaps, in the dark winter months, the bow will need additional illumination. The temperature in the apartment is always enough to get a harvest.

The harvest ripens in 12-21 days. If you plant onions from early March to September, the growth of feathers will be more intense. In the winter months, you will most likely have to use additional lighting to ensure that the culture needs a 12-hour day for growth.

For the cultivation of onions in the greens at home using both seeds and senchik. The latter is usually used actively, since it is not necessary to specially acquire planting material - it suffices to select suitable bulbs.

In general, onions are unpretentious and grows on any soil. However, improper soil, deprived of organic and mineral components, will cause a poor harvest. In addition, this soil quickly loses into one, has the property of mold.

It is better to buy in a specialized store soil for onions or tomatoes, in extreme cases - for indoor plants. Optimally, if humus, peat and sand will be added to it. The soil should be neutral acidity, light and crumbly.

To prevent various onion diseases allows soil disinfection. To this end, it can be calcined in the oven at a temperature of 20 ° C for 15-20 minutes or treated with a solution of potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide.

To prevent stagnation of moisture in the soil allows the drainage layer, which must be organized when growing onions at home. For this fit vermiculite, expanded clay.

If seeds are used, feathers will be more subtle, delicate.When using onion heads as a seed material, the same rule applies - the smaller the onion, the thinner the feathers will be.

Seed material needs preparation. Seeds need to sort out, refusing to plant light (empty), damaged, and so on. Then they are recommended to be disinfected in a solution of potassium permanganate: for 1 l of water - 2 g potassium permanganate. It is convenient to tie the seeds in a gauze bag, which is dipped in this solution for 15-20 minutes.

After that, the seeds should be washed with water. Their treatment in a growth stimulant solution will be useful. You can soak them there for 12 hours.

Onions before planting should also be disinfected by placing in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 10-15 minutes, after this gentle cut off its top, which will contribute to an earlier appearance of feathers. On the contrary, it is necessary to handle the bottom carefully to avoid damage.

For planting, you need to use strong bulbs of medium size, the diameter of which in the section does not exceed 4-5 cm. Disinfected and "trimmed" bulbs should be soaked in water for half an hour (it should be hot, temperature 50-52 C), which also stimulates their growth .

The seed thus prepared is planted in the soil. Seeds are sown in grooves located at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other. Between the seeds 2-3 cm are left, the seed should not be buried too much - it is enough if there is a 1.5 cm layer of earth above it.

Onions should be planted bottoms down, digging into the ground about 2/3 of the parts. The bulbs can be planted closely, because the crop in this case is the above-ground part, and one of the tasks for home cultivation is to fit as many bulbs as possible in a box.

Another method of growing onions is hydroponics, which means growing onions in water. To do this, it is enough to take suitable containers (for example, plastic cups), pour water into them and lower the bulb so that it touches water only with a bottom. Immersion of the rest of the bulb into the water is not recommended, as it may cause its rotting. If necessary, until the roots appear, water must be topped up. This method is less labor intensive compared to landing on the ground, but the harvest will be less.

To save crop yield and save space on the windowsill allows the “cactus” method invented by the housewives. It involves the use of a large plastic bottle (the optimum volume is 3-5 liters), on the surface of which round holes are made. Their diameter should correspond to the size of the bulb.

Next, the bottle is filled with earth, moistened, bulbs are inserted into the holes. This “pot” is poured from above, through the neck. After a while, the bulbs will shoot arrows, and the bottle will begin to resemble a cactus or a green island.

The following is a step-by-step instructions for obtaining onion "cactus".

1. It is necessary to prepare all the tools and materials that will be required in the process of work - a plastic bottle with a volume of 5 l, a self-tapping screw, a candle, pliers, soil, onions.
2. With the help of the screw that is heated above the candle in the bottle, you need to make holes with a diameter of 4 cm. A hot screw can burn your hands, so you need to hold it with pliers. Round holes should be placed in rows, each following - to shift relative to the previous one. That is, if you look at one of the parties at the end of the work, the perforations will be staggered.
3. The top of the bottle needs to be cut.
4. Then the ground is poured into the tank to the height of the first holes.
5. The prepared onion is laid out in a circle so that the bottom touches the ground, and the place where the tail was (it was pre-cut) should be sent to the hole.
6. This layer of onion is covered with earth to the next row of holes and the onion is planted again. You need to repeat this procedure until the layers of onion and earth reach the edge of the cut bottle.
7. The last layer should be earthen; several more bulbs should be placed vertically in it.

The rules for the care of such an onion composition are no different from those recommended for the traditional cultivation of greens in the soil. Finally, for the cultivation of onions on the greens at home, you can use a special device - hydroponic installation. It is a box with holes where the bow is inserted. The bottom half of the box is filled with water. With the help of a special compressor, a suspension of moisture is formed inside. In such a system, onion rotting is excluded, and the arrows, as practice shows, grow faster.

Caring for onions grown on a feather at home on a windowsill is not a burden, but there are some tricks. First of all it is important to adjust the schedule of watering. The lack of moisture will make the green hard and bitter, will cause yellowing and even wilting of feathers. Its excess will cause onion rotting, the appearance of mold and midges on the soil surface.

Watering should be carried out as the drying of the top layer of soil, on average once every 2-3 days. Use running distilled water at room temperature. In the warm season it is recommended to spray the feathers with water. However, you can not do it under the scorching sun, there is a high probability of burns. It is better to carry out spraying in the morning before the sun has gained a lot of activity. It has a beneficial effect on greens and air exchange, therefore, airing should be regularly organized if the weather permits.

Through each watering you can make feeding. Suitable mineral fertilizers for flowers, diluted according to the instructions. You can also pour chopped egg shells (you must first remove the inner film from it) with water, insist 5-7 days, filter and use for watering.

Excess fertilizer, as well as their lack, can cause a small crop. It is important to monitor the optimal ratio of dressing and water. Per liter of water, you can use 2 teaspoons of the finished mineral complex or 5 g of wood ash. The latter must be clean, without impurities, it is impossible to use the ash that remained after burning plastic or polyethylene.

You can prepare and more complex in composition fertilizer, dissolved in 1 liter of water 2 g of superphosphate, 1.5 g of ammonium nitrate and 1.5 g of potassium chloride. Top dressing is used after the appearance of rhizomes and the first shoots.

If onions are grown in a can of water, the following recommendations should be followed:

• Before placing onions in a container, it should be treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate;
• it is necessary to moisten only the bottom of the onion, preventing deeper immersion of the head in the liquid, it is not necessary to soak it in water, just to cut off the top;
• until the roots are formed, you need to keep the container with the bulbs away from heat sources;
• at the same time, water should be changed twice a day, after the roots appear, 1 time is enough, and if there is fertilizer in the water, once every 5-7 days;
• when changing the water, it is recommended to rinse the container itself;
• once every 4-5 days, it is recommended to rinse the bulb itself, in the hot season it can be done more often;
• If you want to regularly get greens, then new bulbs should be placed in water every two weeks.

When forcing in the ground and using hydroponics, it is important to ensure that the air temperature is not lower than + 25 ° C in the first week after the appearance of green feathers. And immediately after landing, it is necessary that the temperature was not higher than + 18C, intense light is not recommended.Such conditions should be kept for 7-10 days or until a strong root system is formed. Then the bow will need a lot of light and heat.

When grown by seeds immediately after planting in the soil, you can close the container with polyethylene until the first green appears. Every day you need to remove the film for 15-20 minutes.

After the appearance of feathers, the temperature can be reduced to + 18 ... 20C, doing this gradually. The plant does not like sudden changes in temperature. Green onions are best grown at a temperature not higher than + 20C.

Green onions need warmth and sunlight, so the best window sill or balcony for its cultivation will be the one that “looks” to the south, southeast or southwest. With a lack of light, it is recommended to install phytolamps over the plant. They may also be required on dark and gloomy autumn and winter days.

Periodically you need to rotate the containers so that the feathers are smooth and appear on all sides from the central arrow.

Do not rush to harvest, as excessively early cutting of feathers can slow down the further growth of the plant. Cutting greens is recommended not earlier than 3 weeks after the appearance of feathers. Correctly trim the sides first, gradually approaching the center.

Ensuring regular receipt of greens will help planting onions every 2 weeks. Old bulbs that can be gradually removed for more than a month.

On the unusual method of growing onions on the windowsill, see below.