How can you feed onions in spring and summer so that they are large?
To get a good harvest, you need to know how to feed the onion so that it is large. For this, experienced summer residents use mineral and organic fertilizing. But in order to get a bountiful harvest, these fertilizers must be used correctly, observing the schedule for the introduction of certain substances in a particular season. Otherwise, when using fertilizers that are not suitable for the development phase of the plant, you can get an unexpected result in the form of an underdeveloped bulb and a large number of feathers, arrows.
Minerals for vegetables
Feeding onions with mineral fertilizers is a necessary care for the development of full-fledged heads and their timely ripening. The plant, in particular, requires nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus to develop the bulbs.
The use of fertilizers in the garden: nitrate - ammonium nitrate, for onion processing, allows you to increase the nutritional qualities of the soil if they are introduced as part of complex solutions. You need to mix them with a small amount of sulfate, nitrogen, potassium. Self-preparation of fertilizers using nutrient components is also allowed.
Timely feeding
Top dressing of onions should consist of repeated introduction of various mineral and organic substances into the ground. The need for a plant in a particular feeding should be determined based on its vegetative period.
On average, onions need to be fed 3-4 times a season. For the first time, fertilize the beds, and the next feeding should be done after planting the plant. To make it more convenient for novice summer residents, before planting a plant and during its development, it is better to determine the need for fertilizing according to the spring-summer fertilizer schedule.
Autumn soil preparation
The task of improving the nutritional qualities of the land prevails over other methods of planting care. This is due to the fact that nutritious soil is a fundamental factor in obtaining a bountiful onion crop. To increase this indicator, organic fertilizing should be introduced into the soil. The first step is to dig up the beds in the fall, and then add manure to the ground.
You can calculate the required amount of fertilizer by assessing the initial state of the soil.
If the site has a clay structure, 5 kilograms of peat, manure or humus are introduced for each 1 square meter of it. Also, 10 kilograms of river sand should be added to the ground. Such a composition will give the soil a loose, light structure, and increase its nutritional characteristics.
If the onion is planted on loam, in soil dominated by sand, in black soil, the soil should be fertilized with 5 kilograms of peat and 3 kilograms of humus. This fertilizer is suitable for replenishing nutrient resources after growing previous plants.
In the autumn, you should not fertilize the soil with minerals, since most of them are washed out by melt water. If there was no time to prepare the ground earlier, the soil should be dug up before feeding, and then fertilized with 1 teaspoon of urea and 2 tablespoons of superphosphate. Also at this stage, you can use onion feeding with ash. In this case, wood ash should simply be scattered over the beds.
First feeding in spring
Onions are planted in the soil in early spring so that their bulbs can provide full resistance to various pests. Also, such planting helps the plants to release their feathers early. Therefore, the first feeding of onions in spring, in summer is a necessity, it is carried out at the moment when the onion feather reaches 3-4 centimeters in length. To feed the planting at this time, you can use various fertilizers:
- Many summer residents use ready-made mineral compositions for feeding onions. Vegeta fertilizer is especially popular during this period.
- If it is not possible to purchase a ready-made composition, mineral fertilizer can be prepared independently by stirring 1 glass of manure in 10 liters of water. This solution should be treated with 1 square meter of planting so that it does not fall on the green part of the plant.
- To obtain a mineral complex for a plant, 30 grams of ammonium nitrate, 20 grams of potassium chloride, 40 grams of superphosphate are taken per bucket of water. Superphosphate should be dissolved one day before feeding, as this substance takes a long time to dissolve.
You can use any of the means described above for the first feeding onions. They enrich the soil with nitrogen, which promotes the activation of planting growth, an increase in the number of feathers, and the volume of the bulb.
Second feeding
At the second stage of onion vegetation, the following soil fertilization is carried out. This is done 30–35 days after the first feeding. Most often, summer onion feeding is done using the following means:
- Complex composition Agricola-2.
- Self-prepared mineral mixture from 1 bucket of water, 30 grams of potassium chloride, 30 grams of ammonium nitrate, 60 grams of superphosphate.
- Herbal infusion prepared by soaking ground weed in water, immersing it under pressure for a couple of days. The resulting solution is diluted with water until a light brownish hue is obtained and used for watering.
Most often, the implementation of the second feeding of onions in July allows you to get a good bulb harvest. And also to increase the keeping rate of onions.
The final stage
The final feeding of the onion is carried out at a time when the bulb head grows up to 4–5 centimeters in diameter. At this time, the vegetable bulbs become dense, while it is forbidden to use formulations in which there is an increased amount of nitrogen to fertilize them. The fact is that this substance leads to the active stage of the growth of the bulbs, does not allow them to fully ripen. It is best to use the following to fertilize plantings during this period:
- a solution prepared from 1 bucket of water, 30 grams of superphosphate, 60 grams of potassium chloride (calculated for processing 5 square meters of land);
- ready-made product Effekton-O, supplemented with superphosphate in a ratio of 2 to 1;
- ash - this substance is rich in phosphorus and potassium.
To prepare a folk remedy for feeding onions from ash, you must use the instructions:
- 250 grams of wood ash is dissolved in 10 liters of boiling water.
- The infusion is left for 3-4 days.
- Then the liquid is half-diluted with water and used to water the plantings.
This top dressing is the last one before the onion harvest. It should be borne in mind that its use can be abandoned with the active growth of the feather and heads.
Important points
Feeding onions should be done only when necessary. It is also required to monitor the appropriateness of the use of certain means. To avoid mistakes, you can use the following notes:
- to cultivate the soil on which onions grow, fresh manure cannot be used, since it creates a favorable environment for the development of pathologies, lures pests, and activates the growth of weeds;
- when caring for onions, with increased nitrogen, it needs to reduce the concentration of this substance in the soil, especially during the period of bulb growth;
- the dosage of mineral substances indicated in the recipes and instructions for the preparations cannot be exceeded, since nitrates begin to accumulate in the turnips;
- feeding onions is recommended with a watering can, excluding fertilizer getting on the green part of the plant; when processing feathers, they should be thoroughly rinsed with clean water;
- all minerals are introduced as part of complex fertilizers;
- when using dry mineral mixtures, they can simply be scattered over the soil in the rain, and then repaired by loosening the piles by 3-5 centimeters.
Potash dressing is better absorbed if applied after abundant watering. A similar feature applies to most other fertilizers.
Folk recipes
Fertilizing onions using the products described above is the most common method of planting maintenance. But if summer residents use folk remedies to feed onions, the heads will grow large and ripen in time.
Ammonium or yeast is often used as such agents. It is necessary to use them to fertilize the soil in accordance with the instructions.
Organic fertilizers
You can also feed onions with organic fertilizers. If feeding is carried out with manure, mullein, it is required to wait until it pereperets in order to prevent the appearance of pathologies dangerous for planting.
You can also prepare a solution from urea: take 1 tablespoon of the product in a bucket of water. If necessary, add 2 tablespoons of superphosphate to the resulting mixture.
Ammonia
Ammonium is a source of nitrogen, so fertilization should be applied only in the early stages of the vegetable growing season. It is also allowed to use ammonia to compensate for the deficiency of this substance. To recognize a nitrogen deficiency, you should look for the following symptoms:
- yellowing of feathers;
- slowdown in turnip growth.
To cope with the appearance of the listed symptoms, it is necessary to prepare a solution of 10 liters of water and 3 tablespoons of ammonia. Next, pour the onion, it is better to do this at the root, since ammonia can harm feathers that are actively growing. Also, such processing of plantings helps to cope with the attack of onion flies.
Baker's yeast
The use of yeast feeding for onions helps not only to enrich the earth with oxygen, but also to normalize the vital activity of beneficial microflora. Under the influence of such fertilizers, organic substances begin to actively decompose, which is why the onion quickly absorbs all the components necessary for its growth.
How to feed onions with yeast? It is necessary to carry out such processing in a warm season. To prepare the composition, you need to dissolve 1 kilogram of fresh yeast in 5 liters of water. Add a small amount of sugar to the composition.
If necessary, 250 milliliters of wood ash can be added to the composition. This ingredient will help increase the phosphorus and potassium levels in the soil.After the composition began to actively ferment, it must be diluted with warm water in a ratio of 1: 2, and then applied for watering.
