How to grow onions from seeds

Onions are one of the most useful plants growing in the garden. It contains special substances (phytoncides) that kill pathogenic bacteria. These substances give onions a pungent taste and a unique smell, while imparting healing properties. When added to a dish, it leaves a special aftertaste and also helps improve digestion and absorption of food.

Onions grow quite quickly in a greenhouse. It is usually cut young.

The most common onion variety in our country is onion. Onions are grown almost everywhere. However, to get a large and healthy bulb, you need to spend a lot of time and effort. As practice shows, the optimal scheme for growing onions is: seeds - sets - selections - turnips. This scheme produces large, strong bulbs in almost any conditions, but is time consuming.

Therefore, in recent years, growing onions from seeds has become popular, which allows you to get a ready-made harvest in just one season.

In addition, full-fledged turnip onions are stored better in winter than sets, and planting material is much cheaper.

Reasons for using seedlings

Greens are often grown in greenhouses for sale. In winter it is in greatest demand.

There are several other reasons why it is easier to use onion seeds than onion sets.

When using onion sets as planting material, there is a possibility of introducing pests or diseases into the beds. Even when using a manganese solution as an antiseptic, it is impossible to guarantee the complete absence of diseases or pests in the body of the plant. Treating seeds for sowing is much easier;
sowing onion seeds allows you to grow commercial onions in a season even without seedlings. Depending on the growing conditions and the fertilizers used, you can get full-fledged bulbs even with late sowing directly into the ground;
Growing seedlings allows you to avoid crop failure due to poor quality material. When using onions, there is a high probability of getting heterogeneous plantings with numerous voids;
When growing from seeds, it is possible to select the strongest plants and plant them at the optimal distance from each other so that they do not compete for free space and nutrients.

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Onion varieties used

To grow green onions, take small bulbs, 3-5 cm in size.

There are several varieties of onions that are best suited for seed cultivation in our conditions:

Timiryazevsky, which is characterized by early ripening and high keeping quality. The bulbs are round, light brown in color. Each nest produces 2-3 bulbs;
Danilovsky 301, characterized by a sweetish taste and good keeping quality. This variety is semi-sharp and mid-season. The bulbs have a rounded flat shape and purple color. Usually only one bulb per nest grows;
Strigunovsky is a spicy variety with good keeping quality. The bulbs are round and yellow. You can grow onions from seeds in one season. When grown, 1-2 bulbs are formed in a nest;
Rostovsky is a sharp and early ripening variety with high keeping quality. The bulbs are characterized by a flat, round shape and yellow color. There are usually up to 4 bulbs in a nest;
Bessonovsky is a sharp, early-ripening variety with good keeping quality. The bulbs are round in shape and yellow in color. Quite prolific, as from 3 to 5 bulbs are formed in each nest;
Arzamas, characterized by a sharp taste, but medium ripeness. The bulbs are rounded-elongated, yellow in color. 1-2 bulbs grow in the nest;
Svirsky is a semi-sharp variety with medium ripeness and good keeping quality. The bulbs are round-flat, yellow in color. Only 1-2 bulbs grow in the nest;
Odintsovets is a sharp, early-ripening variety with good keeping quality. The round bulbs are yellow. One of the most optimal varieties for growing turnips in one summer;
Carmen is a semi-sharp mid-season variety. It takes 120-130 days from germination to harvest. Fruitful. The bulbs are round, with a characteristic dark red color;
Zolotnik is a sharp, early-ripening variety with good keeping quality. The bulbs are round in shape and yellow in color. Can be used for growing both turnips and sets;
Stuttgarten-Riesen is a mid-season variety with a piquant taste. It takes 120 days from sowing to harvest. Large, dense, rounded bulbs have a yellow-brown color and good keeping quality.

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Methods for growing onions from seeds

Onion is a perennial herbaceous plant, of which there are about 400 species.

Growing onions from seeds can be done in several ways: sowing directly into the ground in early spring, sowing before winter, and growing seedlings.

In the first option, onion seeds are sown in the soil immediately after it thaws. With this method, the bulbs have time to ripen in one season.

Pre-winter sowing is carried out in autumn in slightly frozen soil. You should be careful, because if you sow earlier, the onions may germinate in the fall, which can lead to them freezing.

With the seedling method, the seeds are germinated at home from February and planted in the ground in April.

For any sowing method, it is necessary to prepare the soil in advance. To do this, the ground is dug up in the fall with the addition of peat or compost and mineral fertilizers.

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Pre-sowing seed preparation

A month before planting, seeds must be checked for germination. To do this, you need to take 15-20 seeds from the batch and keep them in a damp cloth for a couple of weeks. Based on the results of this test, you can judge whether these seeds are worth using for sowing or whether you need to buy others.

If you are satisfied with the germination of the seeds, then pre-sowing preparation of the seeds is carried out. In order to avoid fungal diseases, the seeds are dipped in hot water (45-50°C) for 15 minutes, first wrapped in a cloth, and then in cold water for 1 minute. After this treatment, the seeds are soaked for a day in warm water (22-26°C). After soaking, the seeds are kept for 1-2 days at room temperature, still wrapped in a damp cloth, which must be moistened periodically.

Pre-sowing preparation can be carried out in another way. To do this, oxygen is supplied under pressure to a container with water and the seeds are soaked in it for 18-20 hours. After soaking, the seeds are dried and sown on prepared soil.

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Preparing beds for sowing

Onion beds are best located in sunny places. It should be borne in mind that it is best to plant onions in beds where cucumbers, legumes, cabbage, tomatoes or potatoes previously grew, since these crops supply the soil well with nitrogen. Onions grow well on loam with the application of organic and mineral fertilizers.

The width of the beds should not be more than 80 cm, and the height should not be more than 15 cm. When digging, 3-4 kg of compost or 2-3 kg of peat are added to the soil for each square meter of area. Together with them, nitrophosphate in combination with superphosphate (one tablespoon per the same area) or nitroammophosphate with wood ash is introduced into the soil. Both compost and fertilizers must be carefully moved with the soil layer and lightly compacted on top. The prepared bed is spilled with a solution of copper sulfate in the proportion of 1 tablespoon per bucket of water with a flow rate of 2 liters per square meter of bed. After all the steps, the bed is covered with plastic wrap and kept for 2-3 days before sowing.