Spring Onion Všetana

Allium cepa - Onion

Onion is an ancient vegetable originating from Central Asia, known even to the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians. It contains many elements - iron, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, calcium, copper, sulfur and even a little iodine. It also contains folic acid, vitamin C, E and a range of B vitamins.

We know several types of onions - winter onions, shallots, pearl onions or the mentioned culinary onion. Just choose and start growing!

How to Grow Onions

• Requires a sunny location, but not direct sunlight. The soil should be permeable, well-worked with a sufficient dose of nutrients. Shade doesn't suit it. The plant has the greatest watering requirements after sowing and during bulb formation. In wet weather, we don't recommend watering in the evening. There is a risk of downy mildew infection. We don't recommend growing onions in the same bed for 4-5 years to reduce pest and disease attacks.

• Direct sowing: spring sowing begins from March to April. Rows should be 20-30 cm apart, sowing depth 15-20 mm. Sowing of winter varieties is done from August 20th to the end of the month. The onion should develop 3-4 leaves before winter. Winter varieties are harvested from May to June.

  Sowing sets: onions are not peeled. Before planting, they must be soaked in e.g. Rovral 50WP or Rovral FLO. Planting is done at the end of March. We plant in rows 25-30 cm apart. The distance in rows should be 10 cm, sowing depth 4-6 cm.

• Onions thrive best on permeable, fertile sandy-loam soils. Optimal pH 6.5.

• Onions have a short growing season and therefore don't need many nutrients. They don't tolerate direct fertilization with farmyard manure. Before sowing or planting, fertilize with 80g N, 30g P and 100g K. In the 2-3 leaf development phase, 30g N as nitrate. During the first fertilization - before sowing - we apply the most nitrogen, but the lowest proportion of P2O5 and K2O. Onions are demanding of sulfur, which we apply in the form of potassium sulfate. We can use special fertilizers designed for sulfur-containing plants.

• Plants are attacked by onion flies, which lay eggs at the plant's neck. The hatched larvae devour the plant. We eliminate them with Diazinon or Sumithion preparations. Onions grown from sets are sensitive to attack by leek moth. It lays eggs on the leaves of emerging onions. They then curl and the plant gradually dies. We preventively counter this pest already during planting by covering the bed with non-woven fabric. If we haven't applied fabric, one of the preparations Sumithion, Karate or Dragon will help.

  In wet weather, there is a risk of downy mildew infection. It manifests itself by yellowing of leaves and brown spots. The leaves die off and the onion rots. We eliminate the disease with Novozir or Kuprikol.

• We harvest onions when the foliage begins to yellow. The stems begin to bend to the ground. Then we pull the onion out by the foliage and can leave them to dry on the bed for one to two weeks.