How and how to process onion sets before planting in spring against diseases and pests

Onions are the main vegetable, without which most delicious and healthy dishes cannot be prepared. And now, when it comes time to plant onions, many beginners and even some experienced gardeners begin to ask questions about the methods and techniques for preparing sets for spring planting.

Indeed, unfortunately, onions very often suffer from diseases (the same peronosporosis) and pest damage (especially onion fly), therefore, in order not to engage in its treatment and pest control in the future, it is better to carry out preventive treatment of the seed bulbs in advance before planting (you also need to warm the onion from shooting).

Next, you will learn how to prepare the bulbs for planting in the spring, in which you can soak the onion sets from diseases and pests.

By the way! About, when and how to plant onions in open ground in spring - read in this material.

Why process onions before planting

The need for pre-sowing onion processing is explained by the fact that onions are quite susceptible to various kinds of diseases and pests.

• The most common diseases of onions are downy mildew (downy mildew) and fusarium rot.
• And the most annoying pest - onion fly.

If you do not protect the onion from these diseases and pests, then you can simply be left without part of the harvest. That is why it is imperative to carry out pre-planting processing of the bulbs.

Note! Of course, if you have your sevok, healthy (are you sure of its quality) and was properly stored, then it can be plant without any manipulations (so to speak, dancing with tambourines), except that warm up (from shooting and for better germination).

Preparing bulbs for soaking: selection and warming

Before carrying out direct processing of the bulbs, it is necessary to carefully sort out (calibrate) the seedlings, namely:

• discard bad bulbs;

Important! Bulbs should not be soft or loose.

The fact is that at the first stage (before the roots appear), the onion takes nutrition from the bulb, which means that it must be juicy (filled with juice).

In other words, without regret it is necessary discard and discard too small, misshapen, dry and rotten bulbs.

From sprouted onions also need get rid of.

• sort by size good (= healthy).

Planting large and small bulbs separately will make it much easier to care for them in the future.

Then follows peel the bulbs from the upper scales, under which you can often find signs of disease.

Advice! You don't need to shoot anything by force: you should only separate what is well removed (cleaned off).

Many gardeners recommend cut off the dry top (in no way affecting the bulb) so that it does not interfere with the free emergence of greens (feathers) from the bulb, however, there is no use in this, especially if you grow onions on a turnip (the neck does not interfere with anything, unless the feather grows crooked). And the cut off top is also the entrance gate for onion diseases.

Important! Another thing, if you grow onions on a feather (greens), trimming the top will allow for a smoother feather and accelerate the germination of greens.

You can also cut off the dry bottombut only dry.

Warming up fromshooting and for better germination

To avoid further arrowing of the bow (especially if the set is purchased and unknown, in what conditions was it stored), it is necessary to carry out a preliminary warming up bulbs. Namely, in advance (2-3 weeks before planting), remove the bulbs from the storage and put them in a warmer place (for example, next to the radiator).

Of course, you can also carry out express warming of the bulbs, and specifically immerse the set in very warm, more precisely, hot (40-50 degrees) water for 2-3 hours.

But better exactly into a warm solution of one of the disinfectants, which will be discussed below.

How to treat onions before planting against diseases and pests: soaking solutions

There are quite a few ways to treat onion sets before planting from diseases and pests.

In general, as a rule, the bulbs are etched in special fungicidal or insecticidal solutions, but you can also preliminarily (before etching) additionally soak the set in a growth promoter (for example, in Bud).

Rules for the preparation of solutions for soaking

• Soaking time - from 20-30 minutes to 1.5-2 hours.
• The water temperature is warm (+ 25-30 degrees), if you want to warm up, then hot - + 40-50 degrees (not higher, otherwise the bulbs will cook and will not sprout, so be sure measure the temperature with a thermometer).

As a rule, onions are soaked until they cool completely.

Advice! To keep the water cool longer, you can wrap the container with a towel or blanket.

• After soaking, the bulbs can be immediately planted in the ground (drying is not necessary at all, because it is better to plant just in damp ground).

If you are not going to plant immediately, then you should still dry it.

• Interesting! Many gardeners recommend rinsing them under running water after soaking the bulbs, however, this does not make much sense.

Brine

Perhaps the most popular and popular way to treat onions before planting from pests is to soak them in a saline solution.

As a rule, most gardeners prepare a salt solution of the following concentration - 1 tbsp. a spoonful of salt per 1 liter warm water (40-50 degrees), soaking in it for 20-30 minutes.

However, there is an opinion that it is better (more effective) to soak the sevok in more concentrated saline solution — 1 cup salt (220-240 grams) for 1 liter of water. Moreover, you can withstand up to 2 hours.

For example, this is what the host of the popular YouTube channel "SAD, OGOROD, OWN HANDS" does. The result in terms of germination and yield is completely satisfied with it.

Video: spring planting onion sets with soaking in saline

But the hosts of the channel "SMART FARMING "offer more compromise option - make 10% saline solution (100 grams of salt per liter of water).

Soda solution

In general, a soda solution for soaking onions is prepared in the same way as a salt solution - 1 teaspoon (with a slide) of baking soda for 1 liter of water (about 40-50 degrees), hold for 30 minutes (up to 2 hours).

Video: the use of soda when planting onions

Potassium permanganate

Another very common way to treat onions from diseases is to pickle them in a dark pink solution. potassium permanganate within 30 minutes.

However! You must understand that potassium permanganate is a very weak fungicide, moreover, a very short-lived one.

Copper sulfate

A less popular way of treating bulbs for diseases is to soak them for 20-30 minutes in solution. copper sulfate (1 tsp per liter of water).

In general, you can use and inkstone.

Birch tar

From pests (the same onion fly) can be used Birch tar... To process the bulbs, dilute 1 tbsp. a spoonful of tar in 1 liter of water at room temperature (but it is better to be warm - 40 degrees). The soaking time is 2 hours.

Video: processing onion sets from an onion fly with birch tar

Maxim Dachnik

To protect the bow from all kinds of rot you can use special chemical dressing agents, the most popular of which is the drug Maxim Dachnik (protective contact fungicide based on Fludioxonil).

Prepare a solution (2 ml of the drug per 1 liter of water) and soak the bulbs for 30 minutes.

The main advantage of using this chemical fungicide is that the protective effect lasts throughout the entire period of plant growth (for example, in contrast to potassium permanganate, which has a very short-term effect).

Fitosporin

If you do not accept the use of chemical fungicides, then you can use one of the biological fungicides, for example, the same Fitosporin.

Prepare a solution according to the instructions (for soaking seeds and tubers) and stand for a couple of hours.

Recipe from Procvetok

Ivan Russkikh, host of the YouTube channelProcvetok, offers the following solution recipe for processing onion sets before planting (for 0.5 liters of water):

• iron vitriol (as a fungicidal and bactericidal agent) - a little less than 1 tbsp. spoons;
• turpentine oil or pharmaceutical turpentine (to repel pests, including onion fly) - 25 ml;
• dishwashing detergent or liquid soap (for better adhesion of the solution) - 3 tbsp. spoons or 40-50 ml;
• liquid peat potassium humate - (used as a chelating agent and to stimulate growth) - 1 tbsp. the spoon.

Soak the bulbs in this solution for at least 3 hours.

This composition for processing sets before planting, according to the author, should help protect onions from onion fly, fusarium rot and peronospora.

Solution remaining after etching can be used as a liquid dressing for garlic or the same onion (already sprouted, for example, planted before winter). However, it should be diluted with 10 liters of water, and then spilled between the rows (not under the root), being careful not to fall on the leaves.

Note! In the comments under the video, many gardeners complain that after being treated with this solution, "the onions turned black, rotted and did not grow."

Video: recipe for pre-sowing onion treatment from diseases and pests

Salt, potassium permanganate and wood ash

Many gardeners prepare the following complex solution for soaking seed bulbs from pests, diseases and to stimulate growth:

• salt solution (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water) + potassium permanganate (to get a deep pink color) + wood ash (1 tablespoon per liter of water).

Video: how to prepare onion sets for planting in open ground in spring - soaking solutions

Well, now you know all the simple secrets of pre-planting onion sets. Put them into practice, experiment. Good luck!

By the way! And about that when and how to plant onions on a turnip in spring - read in this article.