How and how to process onions before planting?

Onions are not considered a capricious garden crop. But for normal growth and development, he needs to provide certain conditions. First of all, onions must be properly processed before planting in the soil. Even a novice gardener can do this without any problems.

Bulbs need pre-sowing preparation for several reasons.

1. Bulbs increase immunity. Thanks to timely processing, plants survive temperature changes better. In addition, they are not afraid of common diseases and pests. Therefore, they can be planted in any area.
2. Plants are easier to care for. If you prepare the bulbs before sowing, the gardener will not have to spend time weeding the site, as well as pest control.
3. The quality of the harvest is improved. Pre-sowing preparation allows you to make the taste of the bulbs more pleasant, and they themselves – keeping and suitable for transportation.
4. Plants grow faster. Using various stimulants, you can accelerate the growth of both juicy greens and bulbs.

To begin with, the onion needs to be scattered in a thin layer and dried well. The temperature in the room should be within 25 degrees. Dry onions for 12-20 days. To prevent overheating of the onion, it should not be left for a long time near the batteries or any other heating devices. Also, do not leave it in direct sunlight for a long time. Drying the onions before planting allows the bulbs to grow larger and juicier.

Drying the planting material it is important to sort it. So that the onion sprouts evenly, it is worth sowing bulbs of the same size in one area. Small specimens for planting in the spring are not used. They are planted only before winter. After planting such bulbs, the beds must covered with a layer of mulch.

For landing on a turnip, they usually use medium bulbs. They develop well and grow quickly. Large sets are usually planted by people who grow onions on a feather. When placing it on your site, it is important to ensure that there are no arrows on the bushes. Therefore, the processing of large bulbs should be given special attention.

When sorting through planting material, the gardener must also get rid of all damaged, dried and rotten bulbs.. If the sevok was stored correctly, it will have an even color and a rich aroma. In the process of sorting, you must also get rid of dry onion peel. So it will be much easier to process planting material.

In a small onion, which is grown on a feather, you need to cut off the tops. Such a simple procedure helps to speed up the process of germination of greenery.

Having selected suitable planting material, the bulbs need to be warmed up. There are several ways to warm up the sevka. Usually it is simply taken out into the street, and then covered with a warm cloth. It is very important that she can breathe. Usually burlap is used for this purpose. After a few hours, the bulbs can be removed in a warm place.

The sevok bought in the spring needs to be warmed up in a different way. The procedure is carried out a couple of days before planting the seed. Onions are placed between layers of cotton fabric and placed next to the heater. They leave it there for two or three days. If there are few bulbs, the bags with them can simply be laid out on a battery.

After warming up, the onion must be hardened. This treatment helps to protect plants from diseases. In addition, hardened heads will store better in the future. This procedure is carried out at the very beginning of spring. In the southern regions, it is worth starting the processing of plants at the beginning of March, in the middle lane – at the end of the first spring month.

The process of hardening the bulbs looks very simple. Selected bulbs are placed in a box. After that, it is sent to the refrigerator or cellar for 8-10 days. Then the planting material is returned to a warm place.

If there is no time for full hardening, you can process the onion faster. To do this, it is poured with ice water, and then dried and laid out in a sunny area. If you harden the planting material, the bulbs will not be afraid of temperature changes. This means that they will develop normally in any conditions.

The last step in preparing the bulbs for planting is soaking the planting material. There are many solutions that are used to process purchased or home-harvested sevka. Each product has its own advantages and disadvantages. You need to choose it, focusing on your needs and features of the site.

Many gardeners prefer to treat onions with solutions that stimulate crop growth before planting. Most often, purchased drugs are used for this purpose.

1. Kornevin. It is one of the most popular growth stimulants. The peculiarity of this product is that the means processed by Kornevin develop gradually.
2. “Zircon”. The main advantage of this product is that it not only accelerates the development of the bulb, but also increases its immunity. Therefore, plants are resistant to many fungal infections.
3. “Epin”. This product also performs several functions at once. It effectively increases the germination of planting material, and also enhances the resistance of plants to late blight. In addition, this growth stimulant does not affect the quality of the crop.
4. Biostim. This tool significantly speeds up the process of emergence of the first shoots. In addition, it increases the yield of plants. The product is considered one of the safest.
5. “Immunocytophyte”. The drug perfectly stimulates the growth of plants. It can be used to process not only onions, but also other crops.

Gardeners will also be helped by growth stimulants prepared by their own hands. To process the bulbs, you can use the following tools.

1. Aloe juice. The juice of this product is one of the most popular biostimulants. From a mature plant, you need to cut off several large leaves. Each of them must be washed and left for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. Then the foliage must be crushed using a blender or a regular grater and placed in a glass container. The finished product is insisted for several days, and then used to process the bulbs.
2. Yeast. For rapid growth, planting material should be treated with a solution consisting of 500 ml of heated water and 20 grams of yeast. Bulbs must be wrapped with gauze. After that, they are placed in a container with a yeast solution for half an hour. Bulbs treated in this way can be immediately sown in the ground.

An equally important role is played by the protection of onions from insects and various kinds of diseases. As a rule, the following products are used to protect planting material.

1. Salt. One of the most common means used to treat planting material is a solution of warm water with ordinary salt. Soaking the bulbs in such a liquid allows you to strengthen the immunity of plants, as well as protect them from many diseases. The procedure is carried out one or two days before planting the bulbs in open ground. The bulbs are immersed in a container with such a saline solution for several hours. To prepare a high-quality solution, you can use not only ordinary edible salt, but also sea salt. The main thing is that there are no aromatic additives in the composition of the product.
2. Soda. Some gardeners use baking soda instead of salt. To prepare the appropriate solution, one and a half tablespoons of soda are diluted in a liter of water. The product is stirred until complete dissolution. The resulting product can be used for seed treatment immediately.
3. “Fitosporin”. This versatile remedy is used to combat many fungal and bacterial diseases. It is used to treat a variety of plants, including bulbs. Processing of planting material with “Fitosporin” allows you to protect plants from late blight, powdery mildew and various types of rot. In order not to harm the bulbs, the drug should be diluted only in well-settled water. It is best to carry out the treatment in the early morning or evening. This improves the efficiency of the product. Bulbs are usually placed in a container with a solution for only 8-10 minutes. Some gardeners instead spray the planting material and then just let it dry.
4. Маргацовка. This tool can be bought at any pharmacy. It is cheap and very effective. Soaking the bulbs in a solution of potassium permanganate helps protect them from fungal diseases. For the processing of seed material, a product prepared from a liter of warm water and a small amount of potassium permanganate is used. Onions are placed in a container with a light pink solution and left there for 1-2 hours. After that, it is dried.
5. Copper sulfate. This tool helps to disinfect the bulbs and protect plants from common fungal diseases. Use this product very carefully so as not to harm young plants. It is recommended to work with protective gloves. The solution is prepared quite simply. The first step is to heat up the water. Next, in a liter of liquid, you need to dilute a teaspoon of the powder. The solution must be stirred until the granules disappear completely. The bulbs are soaked in this solution for two hours. After that, the planting material is washed in running water and dried, spread out on paper.
6. Birch tar. This folk remedy helps to quickly disinfect the bulbs. To prepare a high-quality solution, a few teaspoons of the product are diluted in warm water. Onions are soaked in the resulting solution for several hours. The only negative of this drug is a sharp aroma.
7. Laundry soap. Some gardeners also use a soap solution to protect the bulbs from pests. It can be prepared on the basis of a liquid product. But laundry or tar soap grated on a fine grater is also suitable. In one bucket of warm water, you need to dilute one spoonful of the product. There you also need to add 20-25 grams of dry red pepper. The bulbs are placed in a container with such a product for 40-80 minutes.

To protect plants from onion flies, seed material must be etched with Fentiuram before planting. This is usually enough to protect young plants from pests.

You can protect onion beds from insects by watering them with infusion of dandelions, tobacco leaves or tomato tops.

You can avoid the appearance of arrows by preheating the bow. But most gardeners prefer to use faster methods of processing planting material. Most often, products are soaked in containers with the following liquids.

1. Boiling water. Using hot water is the fastest and cheapest way to process planting material. The water is heated to a temperature of 40-50 degrees. After that, sevok is poured with it. Planting material is left in this form for 10 minutes. After that, it is dried in the sun and planted.
2. Ash. Clean ash is very often used in the garden and vegetable garden. The product left after burning plant waste can be used to process onions. To create an ash infusion, 200-300 grams of a dry product is diluted in 5 liters of water. The resulting remedy is insisted for an hour. After that, the seed material is placed in a container for 5-7 minutes. Then it is taken out of the container and dried in the sun. At this stage, the bow is ready for planting. Ash residues do not have to be disposed of. They can be added to the wells when planting plants.

When soaking planting material, it is important to consider when the plants will be planted.. If the onion is planted in the spring, it is soaked in a suitable solution for several hours. When planting bulbs in the fall, they are placed in a container of water for just a couple of minutes. If the plants spend too much time in the solution bowl, they will absorb moisture and freeze after planting. To prevent this from happening, you need to use drugs that act quickly and effectively.

To solve several problems at once, gardeners usually prepare a combined solution. To prepare it, two tablespoons of pure ash and salt are diluted in three liters of settled water. After that, a small amount of potassium permanganate is added to the container. The solution is very effective. The bulbs are placed in a container with such a product for 2-3 hours. After such treatment, they are well dried and immediately planted in the soil.