Proportions and rules for watering onions with salt from an onion fly

Watering onions with salt is an old way of dealing with onion flies. Few people use chemistry to protect it from pests. The heads are capable of accumulating harmful substances, therefore, preference is given to folk methods of protection, they are less toxic.

Signs of infection

Yellowed feather tips are the first sign of infection. Onion fly years begin during the cherry blossom season. The ground at this time has already warmed up, the gardeners planted the beds with onions and garlic. Flies are small (7 mm) gray insects that lay eggs near any bulbous plants.

A week later, larvae emerge from the eggs - the main enemies of the onion. It is the worm-like larvae that inflict harm; with their hook-shaped jaws, they are able to eat away most of the onion pulp. After 3 weeks, the pupation process begins, after another 3 weeks a new generation of flies appears. One insect makes 2 clutches of 60 eggs each during the summer.

If the onion beds are not processed, then the picture will become sad by the middle of summer:

• the heads practically do not grow;
• the feather is sluggish, slightly colored, twisted;
• the affected heads are soft, have a bad smell, and damage is visible in the bottom area.

Infection occurs through the ground, the larvae damage the lower part of the head, penetrate, eat away the flesh. You can lose the entire turnip crop if you plant the seed on soil that is infested with a fly.

An old recipe for onion fly larvae

A saline solution is prepared from ordinary tap water and table salt. Treatment alone will not solve the problem. To get the effect, you need at least three. The proportions of salt / water change every time, the salt concentration gradually increases.

It is not necessary to increase the number of treatments or the salt concentration is more than the specified one, you can harm the soil. For onions, its excess is also not needed.

How to water an onion from an onion fly?

The beds are watered with salt water in the early evening, precisely early, since after 4 hours you need to pour the onion with plain water. This measure is necessary to preserve the fertility of the soil, thus protecting it from salinization. It is recommended not to pour salt on the onion, but carefully around each head, one needs a little more than a glass.

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Water the first time when the young feather grows to 5–8 cm. Just at this time, the first generation of larvae will be born from the eggs. The second treatment is carried out after three weeks. The salt concentration in the solution increases.

In the interval between watering with saline, do not forget about onions, you need to help him with the following measures:

• tear off a yellowed feather;
• loosen the soil after each watering and sprinkle it with ash, hot red pepper or tobacco dust;
• pull out and destroy severely affected heads;
• planting to feed.

Prepare a salt solution for the third time after 2 weeks, increasing the salt concentration to 600 g. You can refuse from the third watering against the onion fly if by this time the onion has acquired a healthy appearance.

You need to know which fertilizers are best used to increase the onion's immunity. The soil is important for its health. In the middle lane, in most places, the soil is peaty or sod-podzolic. Once every 3-5 years, it must be limed in order to get a good harvest of turnip on it.

Top dressing

Those who believe that onions do not need feeding are mistaken. Fertilizers are necessary both during soil preparation and in the summer during the growing season. In autumn, the soil is filled with well-rotted humus or compost. Organic consumption: per 1 sq. m ridge 1 bucket.

The use of mineral fertilizers on depleted soils will not interfere. You need to use the standard set in the fall:

• urea;
• superphosphate;
• potassium nitrate.

After the autumn application of the mineral complex to the soil, in the summer it is enough to feed the crop with nitrogen fertilizers. Urea is suitable, it needs 10 g for 10 liters. A bucket of solution is enough for 2 square meters. m of the ridge.

Nitrogen fertilizers are fed when the feather reaches a height of 10-15 cm. The second time phosphorus and potash fertilizers are applied, feeding is carried out 10 days after the first.

Prevention

There will be benefits from processing onions with salt, even if your garden onions turns green vigorously, there are no signs that indicate the presence of larvae. Agronomists advise to carry out preventive watering of onions. The main thing is not to violate the recommended frequency of treatments and adhere to the correct proportions when preparing the solution.

Crop rotation is a remedy that helps to reduce the onion fly population in the garden and prevents its reproduction.... Each season you need to plant onions in a new place. In late autumn, to fight the wintering larvae, they remain at a depth of 20 cm. You need to dig up the soil without breaking lumps. Pests end up on the surface, most of them freeze out.

Soaking the seedlings in a manganese solution before planting is the second equally important preventive measure. Some people prefer salt to manganese. You need 1 glass for a bucket of water. Onions are kept in a salt solution for 12 hours. The salty taste of the husk repels the larvae of the pest.

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The smell of carrot tops and marigolds repels flying insects well. Experienced gardeners practice combined planting. Carrots, planted along the perimeter of the onion ridge, interrupt the smell of onions with their smell, which misleads the pest. Onions, in turn, scare away carrot flies from the root crop.

Reviews

Polina: “Before planting, I soak Sevok in a solution of potassium permanganate. Every year I dig the garden in a new place. I water the onion with salt water every 2-3 weeks. I sprinkle the entire surface of the ridge with salt mixed with soda, despite the watering with salt, diseased plants still appeared. I take 1 part baking soda and 2 parts salt. "

Eleanor: “I have little experience as a gardener, the dacha appeared three years ago. In the first year, I bought and planted a set, there was nothing to clean, all the heads ate onion fly larvae. The following year, my grandmother advised me to water the beds with salt. Council helped, we eat our turnip till spring ”.

Oleg: “The dacha is old, so the soil is heavily infested with onion fly larvae. Not only onions suffer, but also garlic. I read about the benefits of salt from onion flies, tried the original recipe in my garden, the result is convincing - the percentage of the destroyed crop has decreased. Now the processing of onions with salt is a mandatory event along with the autumn sowing of green manure. I was afraid that the heads will be shallow because of the salt, it turned out in vain. Turnip and garlic grow large and are well stored. "

Conclusion

On the beds watered with salt, the turnip suffers less from the invasion of onion fly larvae. Each year, by moving the onion ridge to a new place, they prevent soil salinization and infestation with a large number of pests. Salt, crop rotation, top dressing, and other preventive measures allow you to grow high-quality heads.