Batun onions: how to plant and care properly to grow a good harvest

Green onions are an integral part of the summer meal. In this article, we will figure out who it is - a bunch of onions, how to plant it and properly care for it, in order to get tender and juicy greens to your table. Even a novice summer resident can handle growing onions.

Main characteristics

Batun onion is a perennial, frost-resistant (freely tolerates a drop in air temperature to -7 ° C) a plant that outwardly resembles the greens of common onions with the difference that its pipe-leaves are much wider, and they reach 40 cm in length. And the taste of this onion is softer than that of onion.

This onion does not form real bulbs, a "false bulb" is formed in the ground, it is cultivated precisely for the sake of obtaining greens.

Where to plant

Batun is able to grow on one site for about four years. Given this circumstance, the soil on the site determined for its planting should provide the plant with all the necessary substances for such a long period. And, although this onion is not at all picky about the composition of the soil (there will not be good yields only in heavy clay areas, or flooded areas), some preparation of the planting site is still worth doing. For example, to improve fertility, organic fertilizers can be added, and, if necessary, excessively acidified areas can be calcified.

The place chosen for the onion-batun cannot be in direct sunlight, it is better if the site is in partial shade.

Land preparation

You need to prepare a site for onions in the fall, or at least a few weeks before planting. To do this, about 5 kg of humus and 150 g of wood ash are added to the ground per 1 m2 of area, and if you are going to plant onions on too poor soil - 25 g of ammonium nitrate, 15 g of potassium chloride and 25 g of superphosphate and the same amount of humus.

The prepared bed is dug up, spilled well, and the onions are planted in rows at a distance of 25 cm between them.

Growing onion-batuna: preparing seeds

Batun onions can be planted by seeds and through seedlings.

To get your own seeds, it is enough to leave several large inflorescences on the onion, from which a sufficient number of seeds will subsequently be obtained.

Before planting, the seeds must be soaked in water, or in a solution of growth activators. You can also use a warm manganese solution for these purposes, in which the seeds are soaked for about 20 minutes, and then leave the seeds in ordinary water for one day (during this time, the water is changed several times). After carrying out this procedure, the seeds must be dried and sown in the beds.

Seeds that have previously gone through the soaking procedure sprout on average 6 days earlier than others. However, when soaking, make sure that the seeds do not sprout too long, otherwise they will be difficult to plant.

Best predecessors

Salad, Chinese cabbage, radishes, and dill will become favorable precursors for onions. Trampoline can be sown after these plants in one year, so you can get a double harvest from the same area.

You should not plant a batun after garlic, carrots, onions of any kind, cucumbers, since these crops are subject to similar diseases and pests.

Landing time and scheme

If the onion is grown as an annual crop, it is started to be planted as soon as the snow melts. And for long-term cultivation - at the beginning of summer, or in autumn (but so that the onion has time to take root even before frost). When planting in autumn, you will receive the first fresh greens after the snow has melted.

The seeds are buried in the soil by 3 cm (two, if the soil is heavy). The seeding rate is approximately 1.4 g per m².
The plantings are covered with humus mulch, 1 cm thick and lightly pressed. Seedlings become visible after 12-16 days.

Growing onion and care

Planting care is not very difficult. These are standard procedures typical for the care of most plants: water, weed, loosen.

Watering

There are two different opinions about the frequency of watering onions.

Some experts believe that the necessary and sufficient frequency of watering is once a week, while the watering rate will be approximately one watering can per 1 m² of area (this amount can be increased in dry weather).

The opposite opinion is that a sufficient harvest of greens is obtained only by watering 3-4 times a week, spending 1-2 watering cans per 1m².

In both cases, a few hours after watering, the soil between the rows of onions must be loosened.

The optimal choice of irrigation regime can be determined based on the condition of the plants. So, with a lack of water, the feather of the batun onion becomes whitish, the tips bend. And with an excessive amount of moisture, the greens acquire a pale shade.

Loosening and pruning

After sowing, the onion must be thinned so that a distance of 5-8 cm is maintained between the plants. After thinning, the soil must be loosened. Further, the soil is loosened after watering, but not too often, being extremely careful not to damage the roots.
In mid-July, only fresh leaves are left on the plant (they have a rich green color), and the rest are cut off just above the false stem. This procedure should not be delayed. Since the plant must have time to prepare for the winter period, restoring the feathers. After the July pruning and until the fall, it is no longer worth cutting off the feathers.

It should be noted that in the northern regions of our country, the feathers of the onion planted this year are not cut, allowing it to take root, because cutting off the feathers will force the onion to use its full potential for the restoration of green mass, and not for the development of the root system.

Growing onion-batuna: feeding

It is advisable to carry out the first feeding of the onion-batuna only in the second year of life, because when it was planted, the required amount of fertilizer was already applied to the soil.

So, the time of the first feeding is the spring of the year following planting. In this case, organic fertilizers, infusion of mullein (in a ratio of 1: 8) or bird droppings (1:20) are used.

The following dressings are carried out in the fall, after collecting the green mass. This time I use mineral fertilizers in liquid form (50 g of ammonium nitrate, 3 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium chloride per watering can).

Harvesting

The green mass of the batun is removed twice a year. For the first time - within 30 days after planting, and the second - after 60 days. In this case, the entire feather is already cut off. In the second year, the onion begins its growth immediately after the air warms up to 10 ° C. Its pruning is carried out when the length of the feather reaches about 25 cm. The feather is cut at a height of 5 cm from the ground.

Disease and pest control

Batun onions are susceptible to the same diseases and pests as other onion varieties.

Therefore, the frequent ailments that the batun is prone to are various fungal infections, as well as the "attack" of pests: onion flies and onion moths.

As a preventive measure for the development of fungal infections, the following preventive measures must be observed:
- do not get carried away by excessive watering
- keep an acceptable distance between rows of onions, as well as between plants in a row
- weed the plants as needed.

In addition to the above troubles, often the batun onion suffers from diseases and pests such as downy mildew. It can be seen by a gray coating, or rusty spots that are visible on the feathers. Treatment of chlorine with copper oxide, Bordeaux mixture and copper sulfate will help in the fight against this disease.

Rust. It is characterized by the appearance of yellowish veins on the plant, which later turn into seals.

The hidden proboscis beetle - getting inside the feather, eats it.

Medvedka - damages both the stems and the roots of the plant.

Stem nematode - very small white worms that also harm the feathers of onions

Tobacco Onion Thrips - Leaves black specks on onion feathers (excrement).

The gardener's assistants in the fight against the above-described diseases are such drugs as "Iskra", "Fitoferm-M", "Karbofos". But to get rid of uninvited guests will help trivial mustard, it is sprinkled with powder on the garden.

Growing onions in the winter

You can get fresh green mass of onion-batuna even in deep winter.

To do this, in the third year of growth, in mid-autumn, it is dug up, the feathers are cut to 2/3 of the length, and left for storage until January at a temperature of 0 ° C. After January, onions can be planted in containers with soil to obtain a feather (the depth of planting the bulb should be 1.5 cm more than when planted in natural soil).

It is also quite possible to grow onions even on the windowsill.