Yellow spring onion Alice

Allium cepa - Yellow Alice

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 or the aforementioned 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 humid weather, we don't recommend watering in the evening. There is a risk of downy mildew attack. 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. Sowing of winter varieties is carried out from August 20 to the end of the month. The onions 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, for example in Rovral 50WP or Rovral FLO. Planting is carried out 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 in permeable, nutrient-rich 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 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 neck of plants. The hatched larvae devour the plant. We eliminate them with Diazinon or Sumithion preparations. Onions grown from sets are sensitive to attack by garlic thrips. They lay eggs on the leaves of emerging onions. The leaves then curl and the plant gradually dies. Against this pest, we take preventive action 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 humid weather, there is a risk of downy mildew attack. It manifests itself by 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 turn yellow. The stems begin to bend to the ground. Then we pull out the onions by the foliage and can leave them to dry in the bed for one to two weeks.