Onion is an indispensable vegetable in the kitchen of every housewife. It is not only added to various dishes, eaten just like that with bread, but also used in the treatment of almost all colds. Onions began to be used by people more than 5 thousand years ago. Central Asia is considered the birthplace of the vegetable. Today, not a single cuisine of the world can do without this vitamin-rich product. And thanks to agronomists, more and more new varieties are appearing, suitable for growing in different conditions.
Semi-sharp and durable onion Chalcedony
The value of this variety of onions lies in several properties at once. It has excellent maturation - when harvest time comes, good fruits make up at least 92% of the total planting. Chalcedony is resistant to mechanical damage, and can also be stored for a long time. In any case, the harvested crop will be enough for a new one, everyone who grew this variety says this. Bulbs grow about the same, slightlyoblong, larger than average. The most important thing to ensure the planted onions is good soil drainage. Another remarkable quality of this variety is its precocity. The growing season for Chalcedony is only 90 days. Onion Chalcedony is frost-resistant - its seeds can germinate even at a temperature of +3 degrees, which will be simply fatal for an ordinary variety.
Growing
The traditional scheme for growing onions looks like this: germinated seeds, small onions, a full-fledged crop. Everything about everything took two years. Chalcedony onion seeds germinate immediately into full-fledged fruits - the plant is an annual.
Experts recommend first germinating seedlings, just like with cucumbers and tomatoes, and only after that planting them in open ground. When transplanting, care must be taken not to break the sprouts, and also not to severely damage the root system. It is best to initially sow the seeds in a plastic container, for example, from under a salad. It is necessary to sow thickly, and then be sure to cover with a film and watch when the first shoots appear. Of course, we must not forget about watering - the more abundant it is, the juicier the onion will be (however, you should not overfill either - this can lead to rotting of the seeds).
Preparing the site for sowing
Many gardeners believe that it does not matter when to prepare the soil for sowing - in autumn or spring, shortly before sowing. However, Chalcedony onion requires some preparation. Cultivation and labor results in this case will depend directly on the soil. Therefore, herprocessing should be done in the autumn. The earth should be carefully dug up, diligently removing weeds from it. You can leave large pieces of earth without breaking them - then more air will flow into the soil. But in the spring, when digging again, the soil needs to be loosened to a “downy” state. The most important thing during processing is to maintain the capillarity and structure of the soil. Sow seeds as early as possible.
Sowing seeds
Neat seeding is what Chalcedony onions love. Growing from seeds is only the first stage, after which an equally important one follows: transplanting into open ground. By the way, in order for the seeds to sprout faster, they are pre-soaked in warm water and left for a day. This is followed by mandatory disinfection - a solution of potassium permanganate of medium saturation. After that, the seeds are again washed with clean water. It should be borne in mind that with early sowing there is a possibility of frostbite of sprouts by the last frost. Therefore, the seedlings are covered with a film. You should stock up in advance on low-lying peat, which performs a very important function. The beds are sprinkled on them so that a crust does not form on them, and peat is also an excellent heater. If the transplant was successful, then after 7-10 days it will be possible to observe stronger seedlings.
It is recommended to thin out too dense places immediately - for this the plant is not just torn out of the ground, but raked to the side and removed along with the roots - Chalcedony has a very strong and tenacious root system. Between plantskeep a distance of 6-8 centimeters.
Care
After thinning the beds (and it is better to do this when the onion grows a little, and it can be used for salads), the bulbs will need to be looked after. After the first rains, under the warm rays of the sun, the beds will quickly become covered with weeds. It is absolutely impossible to let them germinate and grow. Therefore, being lazy in such a matter is completely inappropriate. The onion variety Chalcedony likes to be watered in dry weather, and also grows better if it is periodically fed.
Feeding can be done along with watering. It is necessary to start feeding the plant from the moment when the phase 3-5 of this leaf begins, and also at the time when the fetus itself begins to form. Top dressing is carried out with a complete mineral fertilizer with trace elements in liquid form. On depleted soils, humus can be applied at the rate of 7 kilograms per square meter. After spring tillage, minerals - potassium and phosphorus - are necessarily introduced, which must be distributed at 20 grams per square meter.
What's different about onions grown from seeds?
Chalcedony onions grown from seeds are different from bulbs grown from sets. Initially, the difference is that you do not have to spend time on the germination of the set itself, as well as on its preservation until the planting season. Onions that are grown directly from seedlings do not go to the arrow, but retain their qualities until the new harvest season begins.
For comparison: many varieties of onions during storage begin to deteriorate from the middle of winter, until the spring season, at best, half of the resulting crop remains. The rest of the bow rots and rots. Chalcedony grown from seedlings also becomes a real giant - bulbs weigh up to 120 grams on average, and from one standard bed you can collect up to 5 kilograms of this golden miracle, by the way, bred by Moldovan vegetable growers.
Features of agricultural technology
There are still a few factors to consider. The quantity of the crop will directly depend on this, but also, of course, its quality.
The area where the Chalcedony onions will be planted should be located in a sunny place - the bulbs will sap faster, especially with good watering. Also, light loams or sandy loamy soils of increased fertility must certainly be present in the garden. If you determine the soil by acidity, then it should be slightly alkaline. Try to regularly fertilize the soil with such proven folk methods as ash, dolomite flour and fluff lime. In autumn, it is advisable to generously cover the ground with rotted manure - in terms of its qualities, this will be the best top dressing. And yet - the soil in which Chalcedony will be planted should be in a four-year rest from the last onion planting. Peas and pumpkins planted under onions the day before will be ideal for soil preparation.
What else do you need to know?
There is a list of certain diseases that Chalcedony onions are susceptible to. You will find a description of them below. The list looks like this: onion moth and fly, stem nematode, neck rot, peronosporosis. The moth butterfly is not as dangerous as the larvae - it is they who devour the plant. It is necessary to destroy the moth at a caterpillar age, and then do not plant an onion in this place for at least a year. The fly infects the plant so that it withers and dies. You can get rid of it with a solution of tobacco and soap. The nematode kills the entire crop at once. For prevention, the earth is treated with a solution of s alt - 2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water. Rot infects the plant, forming gray spots.
Chalk or charcoal powder will help from it. Peronosporosis kills the crop to the end. After infection of the plants, it is impossible to plant onions in this place for at least 4 years. Top dressing and watering is stopped 20 days before harvest (so that the bulbs do not rot later). The harvested onion is left in the furrow, and then transferred to a room to dry completely.
So, what is good about Chalcedony onion? Reviews of vegetable growers come down to one thing: it is tasty, stored for a long time, non-capricious, frost-resistant and prolific.
