Spring onion yellow VŠETANA 5m -150s

Allium cepa - Yellow Všetana

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.

There are several types of onions - winter, shallot, pearl onion or the mentioned cooking 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 sufficient nutrients. Shade doesn't suit them. 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's 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 infestation.

• Direct sowing: spring sowing starts from March to April. Rows should be 20-30 cm apart, sowing depth 15-20 mm. We sow winter varieties from August 20th to the end of the month. The onion should develop 3-4 leaves before winter. We harvest winter varieties from May to June.

  Sowing sets: onions are not peeled. Before planting, they must be treated with, for example, Rovral 50WP or Rovral FLO. We plant at the end of March. We plant in rows 25-30 cm apart. The distance in rows should be 10 cm, planting depth 4-6 cm.

• Onions do best in permeable, nutrient-rich sandy-clay soils. Optimal pH 6.5.

• Onions have a short growing season, so they don't need many nutrients. They don't tolerate direct farmyard manure fertilization. Before sowing or planting, fertilize with 80g N, 30g P and 100g K. In the 2-3 leaf development phase, 30g N as top dressing. During the first fertilization - before sowing - we apply the most nitrogen, but the lowest proportion of P2O5 and K2O. Onions are demanding in 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 onion thrips infestation. They lay eggs on the leaves of emerging onions. These then curl and the plant slowly dies. We prevent 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's a risk of downy mildew infection. It manifests as yellowing leaves and brown spots. Leaves die and the onion rots. We eliminate the disease with Novozir or Kuprikol.

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