How to grow onions and get fresh greens at any time of the year

Informational article about ways to grow onions for greens. The article provides recommendations on the selection of varieties and methods of growing onions for greens in greenhouses, open ground and at home. It would seem that nothing is easier than getting green onions. It is enough to take an onion, put it in a glass of water and wait for a green, fast-growing cone to appear from the top.
In general, this method has a right to exist, as an example of forcing onions onto greens without soil. This method of growing is an example of using the hydroponics method. But still, laying the windowsill with jars and cups with bulbs is not entirely aesthetically pleasing, and the amount of greenery from two or three bulbs will be scanty. Let's try to find out how to grow onions in several ways. Before growing, you need to choose the right planting bulbs.
Content:
- How to choose onions for forcing for greens
- How to grow onions indoors and in an open garden
- Growing onions for greens at home
How to choose onions for forcing for greens
I plan to grow onions for greens; it is important to choose the right variety and forcing time. This is due to several points. First of all, the bulbs have a dormant period. Until it ends, you should not try to get greens from them. The second important point is the number of buds on the bulb.In order for the greens to be lush and the quantity from each bulb to be decent, you need to give preference to multi-bud plants. varieties.
The best onion varieties for greens
If you cut off about 1/3 of the top of the bulb, you can clearly see slightly greenish eyes. The number of eyes located separately from each other, the number of rudiments the bulb has, the number of bunches of greenery it will produce. The mass of greenery directly depends on this. Thus, bulbs with two rudiments produce 8-10 kg of green mass per 1 sq.m. For forcing, it is best to choose varieties whose bulbs have from 3 to 6 rudiments.
These are primarily the following varieties of onions:
- Stuttgarter Riesen - mid-season, rudiments 3 - 5
- Rostov - early, rudiments 3-5
- Bessonovsky - early, from 3 to 5 rudiments
- Spassky improved - average, rudiments from 3
Red onion varieties also give good results when forced into feathers, such as:
- Samarkand red
- Red Baron
- Carmen
Multi-beam varieties tend to have a shorter dormant period; once harvested, the bulbs can be used more quickly to produce greenery.
Choosing an onion variety for seasonal greens
If possible, varieties can be selected taking into account the time of year in which you need to obtain onion greens. In autumn, for obtaining greenery in October or November, the following varieties are suitable:
- Samarkand red
- Bessonovsky
- Farabic
The following varieties are suitable for winter cultivation:
- Red Baron
- Spassky improved
- For forcing in early spring:
- Rostovsky
- Carmen
So in early spring, you can use chives varieties to produce greens.If, for forcing, you plan to use bulbs of an unknown variety, simply purchased at the vegetable market, then before planting, you can lower them with their bottoms in water for a day or two. If after two or three days the roots begin to grow, then bulbs suitable for quickly obtaining greens.
How to grow onions indoors and in an open garden
Onions on greens in a greenhouse
For cultivation in late autumn, winter and early spring, heated greenhouse premises must be used. At the beginning of autumn and from the end of March, any greenhouses or unheated greenhouses are suitable. As a rule, growing green onions in greenhouses is advisable for sale; doing it only for the needs of the family is not entirely profitable.
The soil in the greenhouse must be very fertile. It needs to be supplemented with humus, peat and complex mineral fertilizers. Before planting, the bulbs must be freed from some of the covering scales. Soak for a day in water. Cut off the top part by 1-1.5 cm.
Keep the soil in the greenhouse well moistened.
Bulbs plant tightly to each other. Do this over the entire area of the bed. This method is called bridge. The bulbs need to be buried in the soil only 1/2 or 2/3 of the height. Distillation is carried out at a temperature of + 15 +16. It is important to ensure that the temperature does not drop below + 8.
After about 28 - 35 days, the size of the greens allows for harvesting. Since greens grow due to the reserves of nutrients in the bulb, onions do not need special care when grown for greens, except for maintaining the humidity regime.
Onions on greens in open ground
From mid-April until September, you can grow onions for greens in an open garden bed. Bulbs can be planted using either the bridge or strip method.To do this, onions are planted in 5-6 rows, after which they make an indentation of 15-20 cm and again plant 5-6 rows.
In this case, the distance between adjacent bulbs in a row is left at 5-6 cm. The neck of the onion should always be above ground level. For planting material in open ground, you can also use onion sets, selecting bulbs with a diameter of 3-4 cm.
When the greens grow to a length of 30 cm, they need to be cut off. You can get 2-3 cuts from one bulb, after which the bulb is removed. When growing onions for greens in open ground, it is important to remove weeds and regularly water the plantings. You can apply liquid mineral fertilizers from complex fertilizers 1-2 times fertilizers.
Growing onions for greens at home
If green onions are needed in cold weather only for the needs of one family, then they can be grown at home on a warm loggia or in a room. This can be done in boxes with soil. To obtain 10 kg of soil mixture, you need to mix 1 kg of garden soil, with 6-7 kg of peat with 2-3 kg of humus. Add a glass of ash.
Moisten the soil and plant the prepared bulbs in it. The top part should protrude above the ground. In the first week, keep the box with onions in a dark place at a temperature of + 12. Then expose the onions to the light. During the winter months, you should not keep boxes of onions on cold windowsills. The best temperature in this case is + 20 degrees. Care When growing onions for greens indoors, it comes down to watering with warm water.
Video on how to plant onions at home to get greens: