In order to grow large, tasty and juicy bulbs on your plot, in no case should you allow the flowering stage, in which the onion begins to go in the direction of the arrow. This is fraught with damage to the bulbs and a complete loss of crop. Each gardener should know how to prevent shooting and what to do if peduncles have already formed on the bow.
What is the danger of bow shooting?
Shooting is the first phase of plant propagation. The arrow that appears threatens to damage mature vegetables, as the turnip begins to devote all its strength to the development and formation of seeds.
During the growing season (seed ripening), the fruits of the small bulb become small and worse stored, all the nutrients from the bulb go into the seeds. Turnip begins to deteriorate, gradually wrinkling, becoming dry and unfit for eating.
Possible causes of bow shooting
Early bow shooting can be caused by the following reasons:
- Lack of moisture in the soil. In dry land, the bulb quickly goes into the breeding phase and almost immediately, without spreading a bunch of greenery, gives arrows. The gardener needs to pay attention to adequate watering of the plant.
- Seed size. The larger the onion set, the higher the probability of getting early shooters on the beds. You need to carefully consider the choice of planting material. Bulbs should be fine, not more than 3 cm in diameter, slightly less than a walnut.
The bulb, suitable for planting, is solid; crunching should be excluded when compressed with fingers. The health of the set will show its appearance: the reference material has a shiny and healthy husk, a peeled peel indicates improper storage (it was subject to freezing or high humidity). - Incorrect storage of planting material in a room with high humidity (more than 80%), with a temperature above 28 degrees or below 0. The optimal storage temperature of onion sets is 0-20 degrees. Bulbs for planting should be stored in a dark and cool room, otherwise growth processes begin to develop under the husk. In this seed, after planting in the soil, the process of vernalization begins, the onion certainly gives an arrow. And vice versa - the sowing, stored in a dry room with optimal temperature indicators, will not be able to germinate.
- Wrong Onion Variety. The choice of onion varieties is of great importance - this affects the quality of ripe vegetables. Usually, a bow with a golden color does not give the shooter, but purple and red varieties are susceptible to shooting.
- Untimely or early harvest last year's fruit may affect the improper development and the beginning of undesirable early vegetation of the bulbs planted after them. Too late, the onion set collected from the beds for subsequent planting in the ground begins to store nutrients and prepare for wintering, as a result of which additional roots appear - this in turn will necessarily lead to subsequent shooting.
What to do if the bow went to the arrow?
If you saw the first rudiments of arrows on the beds with a bow, you must immediately remove the stem. Daily rounds of the beds with their inspection will reduce the damage to the bow. Break off the arrows after they reach a length of 20-30 cm.
You can break off arrows only with your hands. After trimming with a metal object, onions can become seriously ill, which is associated with a long period of wound healing in a plant.
Through a crack formed after breaking the stem, water with carriers of various infections gets into the small holes of the plant. Bacteria quickly multiply wherever fluid is present. The place of the scrap will heal faster if the onion is not broken off at the root, but from above, 4-5 cm retreating from the ground.
Torn onion arrows can not be thrown away, but used in cooking: add to vegetable stew or a French salad with vegetables, fry or prepare for the winter, cut into rings, put them in cellophane and send them to the freezer.
Shooting Prevention
Before planting the onion sets, experienced gardeners soak it in various solutions, which serves as a preventive measure against subsequent shooting:
- Saline solution. In 1 liter of water, dilute 1 tbsp. l salt.
- Soda solution. In 1 liter of water, dilute 1 tbsp. Soda.
- A solution of potassium permanganate. Dissolve a small amount of potassium permanganate in water until a faint pink color.
Bulbs should be soaked in the solution for 2-3 hours. You need to plant the fruits only after they have dried.
Proper planting of onion sets, which will protect the plant from further shooting, involves:
- Warming up. Spread onion prepared for planting on clean white paper and leave it in the sun or on a battery. This is especially true for sevka, previously stored in a cold room. If planting material was purchased from April-May and it is not known under what conditions it was stored, it should be heated for 2 months.
- Hardening. Prepare two containers: one with water at a temperature of 45 degrees, the other with cold water. In the first container, the seeds are lowered for 15 minutes, in the second - loaded for 10 minutes. Then the seeds must be thoroughly dried and prepared for planting.
- Smoke treatment. Hang nets with onion sets over an extinct fire and leave them in this form for 15-20 minutes. In addition to preventing shooting, it is an excellent protection against fungal diseases and pests.
Good shoots without arrows gives another planting method. Sevc must be laid out on a wooden board 30 days before it is planted in open ground.
So that the onion does not give a shooter, it is advisable to plant it in winter time (while choosing proven frost-resistant varieties). However, this can be done in regions with mild winters without severe frosts. If landing was carried out in the earth which was not warmed up by sunshine, the onion can not germinate.
In spring, you need to wait for warm days, which usually begin on May 5. The first watering is preferably carried out with nettle infusion (in an enameled container, insist nettle on water for 2 weeks). You cannot plant onions in clay soil, otherwise it will not germinate, sand and peat will help to cope with this problem. Dolomite flour must be added to the soil of high acidity. Fresh manure before planting bulbs can not be brought into the ground.
Not Sharp Onion Varieties
Today, there are many non-shooter onion varieties. Having given them preference, the gardener will relieve himself of worries for the prevention and elimination of this problem:
- Troy. Early ripening grade. During harvesting gives round onions with golden husks. The taste is moderately spicy. They are planted in spring and winter, and the persistence is 4 months.
- Yellow senshui. The result of Japanese scientists in the field of breeding. You need to plant seeds in the winter. The fruit is flat, has a sharp taste, a bright yellow color. In addition to shooting, it is highly resistant to the development of powdery mildew.
- Radar. Dutch onion variety. Landing is preferably carried out in the winter season. The shape of the fruit is flat, round. The taste is very sharp, the color is yellowish, the bulbs are large (up to 300 grams).
- Rostov. He sings before usual onions, bulbs come out weighing 50 ̶60 grams, have a golden husk color. The number of pen is large.
- Mayachkovsky. The taste is medium sharp, the fruit weighs 120 grams, the skin color is dark brown. The variety produces round-flat fruits.
- Centurion. Litter bred in the Netherlands is considered one of the best options among all artificially bred fruits. The culture can be grown in hot and cold climates, bulbs have a small volume.
- Stuttgart Riesen. The variety was bred by German scientists. The weight of the fetus is 130-150 grams. A rich harvest is obtained by planting seeds in acidic soil. Bulbs contain a lot of juice, unpretentious in the process of growing.
- Shallot. An early ripening variety of onions, a feature of which is turnip divided into segments. Gives tender juicy greens with a sharp aftertaste. The length of the feathers is up to 25 cm.
If the gardener wants to get a rich and high-quality onion crop, he must daily go around the beds and monitor the proper formation of the vegetable, regulate plant growth, excluding the early phase of the growing season. The process of preparing onion sets before planting is also important - already at this stage you can prevent the shooting of the plant.