How to treat onions before planting. Features of the process of treating onions with potassium permanganate and salt before planting. A recipe is used to prepare the solution

How to treat onions before planting.  Features of the process of treating onions with potassium permanganate and salt before planting.  A recipe is used to prepare the solution
How to treat onions before planting. Features of the process of treating onions with potassium permanganate and salt before planting. A recipe is used to prepare the solution

The onion fly is an insidious garden pest that most owners encounter personal plots. But why is it necessary to process the onions from onion fly?

Which it deposits near the plant bulb can destroy the entire future harvest onions. To protect plants from imminent death, you need to take timely measures.

Read our other article - ( the link will open in a new tab so as not to interrupt your reading).

If the onion fly has attacked your beds, you can resort to insecticides - special means, designed to destroy garden pests, or you can use time-tested, safe methods. How to treat onions against onion flies so that harmful substances do not accumulate in the vegetable?

Treating onions with ammonia

A proven method that allows you to destroy onion flies in a matter of days. Ammonia is an ammonia solution that not only kills the pest, but also additionally fertilizes the soil. It is absolutely safe for vegetable plantings, but it is still recommended to follow the correct dosage.

For onion processing ammonia recommended next proportion: 2-3 tablespoons of alcohol per 10-liter bucket of water if the larvae have already significantly damaged the plants; 1-2 tablespoons per bucket if you have just begun to notice the deterioration of the onion. It is necessary that the water smells only slightly of ammonia - a small concentration will be enough to repel the pest.

Using ammonia for onion flies, you need to know how to water plants so as not to harm the future harvest.

Watering should be done only in the evening so that the soil retains moisture longer.. It is better to pour the solution not at the root, but to distribute it over the entire planting area. It is advisable to loosen the row spaces with a rake so that the smell repels as many individuals as possible.

You should not treat plants using this method more than once a week. Two or three waterings ammonia enough for a season to protect the crop from onion fly.

Treating onions with salt

Another safe way destroying a winged pest - salting onions. In order to avoid soil salinization, you need to know How Right water the onions with salt to prevent onion flies. It is important not to overdo it here - three waterings per season will be quite enough.

You need to water not at the root, but evenly distribute the salt solution over the beds. You can use a spray bottle.
  • The first watering is done when the sprouts grow 5 centimeters in length. You need to take one third of a pack of salt in a bucket of water and treat the plants.
  • The second treatment should be carried out after two weeks. You need to take half a pack of salt into a bucket of water and process the onions in the same way.
  • The third watering is carried out after another three weeks. Here you already need to dissolve two-thirds of a pack of salt in 10 liters of water. We process the plantings in the same way as before.
Important - the salt from the green part of the onion will need to be washed off after some time, and the plants themselves will need to be watered generously clean water under the root.

Processing onions with wood ash

Another effective way combating winged pests - treatment wood ash soils under plantings. Ash is not only a means of combating onion flies, but also perfectly fertilizes the soil.

In order to get rid of the winged pest, it is necessary to evenly distribute the ash over the surface of the earth in the amount of one or two kilograms over an area of ​​10 square meters. It is recommended to then loosen the soil to a depth of 2-3 centimeters.

Treatment should be carried out once per season during the period of mass flight of flies.

Processing onions with laundry soap

A simple answer to the question - how to save onions from onion flies - can be the advice of experienced gardeners to use a soap solution for this purpose. Treating onions with onion soap flies are carried out once or twice a season.

50 grams regular laundry soap you need to grind it, then dissolve it in 10 liters of clean water. All planting beds must be treated with this solution. It is better to water in the evening so that the soil retains moisture longer.

Treating onions with tobacco dust

It is recommended to use tobacco dust in dry form, distributing it evenly over the entire planting area. Then you need to shallowly loosen the soil.

If desired, you can use tobacco infusion. To prepare it you need to take 200 grams tobacco dust and dissolve it in a ten-liter bucket of hot water. The infusion must be kept for two days and the onion plantings must be sprayed with it once a week.

It is enough to carry out two treatments for the onion fly to disappear. Watering should be done in the evening.

Treating onions with dandelion infusion

Dandelion infusion is a simple and safe way to combat winged pests . Treating onions with dandelion infusion against onion flies It is better to carry out in conjunction with treatment with saline solution, alternating these two methods.

To obtain an infusion, you need to take 200 grams of crushed dandelion leaves and roots and 10 liters of boiling water, mix and leave for several days.

Water and spray the onion beds with the resulting infusion once every two weeks. Watering should be done in the evening for better soil retention of moisture.

Treating onions with an infusion of strong-smelling herbs

What else can you water onions against onion flies so as not to harm either the soil or the plant? You can prepare an infusion of strong-smelling herbs such as valerian, mint, lemon balm, and wormwood.

Chopped dry grass in an amount of 200 grams should be poured with 10 liters of boiling water and allowed to stand for several hours.

You can treat onions with an infusion of strong-smelling herbs against onion flies as often as you wish., because the this method absolutely safe. You can water the plants or spray them with a spray bottle. Treatment with this method should be carried out in the evening.

Treating onions with metronidazole

Metronidazole for onion fly- comparatively new way combating a winged pest, which is becoming increasingly popular among gardeners. Metronidazole tablets can be purchased at pharmacies.

5 tablets should be crushed into fine crumbs, then diluted in 10 liters of clean water. You need to know how to water onions with metronidazole against onion flies so as not to harm your health.

This method should be used if other methods did not help. Metronidazole – chemical compound and uncontrolled use of the drug can be harmful to health. Therefore, you need to water no more than once or twice a season.

The remaining metronidazole will need to be washed off from the green part of the plants after 2-3 hours, then water the plants at the roots with clean water. Processing should be carried out in the evening hours.

Preventive measures for the appearance of onion flies in the garden plot

Onion fly larvae wait out the winter in the soil at a depth of 10–20 centimeters. If an onion fly is noticed on the site, you need to take preventive measures to prevent its appearance next year.

  • Before planting, you need to sort out the onion sets, discarding damaged bulbs, then soak them in hot water. The soaking time should not be very long. 3-5 minutes at a water temperature of approximately 50 degrees Celsius is enough.
  • To disinfect onions, you can also use a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The solution should be prepared in a certain proportion: 1 teaspoon of dry potassium permanganate per 10 liters of water. Soak the onion in the solution for half an hour, then dry well.

Enough unusual way An experienced gardener demonstrates how to prepare onions before planting. She soaks onion sets in a solution of birch tar. The author of the video believes that onions prepared in this way are not afraid of garden pests. IN last video We recommend looking at others available funds How to treat onions against onion flies.

  • When planting onions, it is desirable that the onion beds be adjacent to carrot plantings. The onion fly cannot stand the smell of carrots. The winged pest also does not like strong-smelling herbs and tomatoes. You can practice joint planting - plant several types of crops on one ridge, alternating them in rows.
  • You should remember the rules of crop rotation. Onions or any other crop should not be planted on the same beds for several years in a row. Larvae vegetable pests
  • survive the winter safely so that they can begin to reproduce again next year. The gardener's job is to break this cycle. Changing the planting site is a good preventative measure to combat the pest. It is advisable to return the onion to its original place no earlier than after 3-4 years.
  • To reduce the number of onion fly pupae, it is necessary to fertilize the soil with peat or manure before planting. After collecting the onions, the planting site needs to be dug deep.

Onion fly larvae will end up on the surface and die as soon as frost sets in.

Kira Stoletova Since the beginning of the annual friendly competitions with neighbors in the garden, many have been inspired by the confidence that the onions will grow large today. For this purpose it is purchased moon calendar

, a suitable planting day is determined, but among other things, it is necessary to refresh the theory on the topic of processing onion sets before planting.

Secrets of planting onions

It should be remembered that this vegetable does not tolerate stagnant water, prefers loamy or sandy loam soil. If you plan to plant onions in this area in the spring, it is strictly not recommended to apply fresh manure as fertilizer during autumn digging. The soil for planting seedlings should warm up to 12°C at a depth of 10 cm.

There are 900 species of onions on the planet, 228 of them are vegetables. It should be well understood that the choice must be made wisely, giving preference to zoned varieties. This is the key to a rich harvest. It is impossible to get a large onion southern variety, planting it in the north and vice versa. It's all about the length of daylight, to which onions react more strongly than to fluctuations in weather conditions.

At proper storage onion, there is every reason to believe that the small fraction of the set will not go into the shoot (this is the so-called oat, it has an onion with a diameter of 0.5-0.7 cm), therefore, overwintered planting material must be sorted by size, that is, divided into small and large fraction, taking this into account when planting. The most suitable onion is considered to be from 0.8 to 2.2 cm in size; the supply of nutrients in it is ideally calculated for the growth of a full-fledged onion.

When sorting the onions, dried and spoiled ones are removed. Homemade or store-bought sets should be processed before planting (with the exception of products from the Dutch companies BROER B.V. and TRiUMFUS ORION PRODUCTS, this planting material is already specially prepared).

Preparing to plant onions

You need to process onions before planting for:

  • pest protection;
  • disinfection;
  • stimulating the start of a successful growing season.

The main enemy of this vegetable is the onion fly; the most common diseases are peronosporosis and downy mildew; the crop may also suffer due to bolting. There are a number of measures that can be used to prevent the occurrence of all these negative factors. Pre-sowing treatment of onion sets consists mainly of heating them and soaking them in various solutions. It can be just hot water or water with potassium permanganate, or salt, or ash, or soda, or vitriol, or some kind of growth stimulant. The main thing is not to overdo it, to withstand all the norms and regimes.

Pests on onions and ways to combat them

Seeds prepared for planting may be infected with pest larvae. Preventive treatment in this case is a mandatory measure. Pre-soaking onions in manganese (pour 1 g per 1 liter of water for 20-25 minutes) or in hot water (50°C, soak for 10-15 minutes) will help improve the health of onions. To remove nematode larvae, you can treat the onions with salt (soak 3 cups of salt in a bucket of water for 24 hours).

Most often, onions suffer from downy mildew and downy mildew. powdery mildew(an onion feather helps to notice the disease). The most common measure to defeat a plant disease is to treat it with a copper-containing preparation. Spraying can be done copper sulfate, this is a broad-spectrum fungicide, and the gardener knows how blue solution helps in the fight against pathogens both in the garden and in the beds. The best decision in order to prevent onion diseases - treat it before planting with CuSO4. It is also effective to pour copper sulfate over the area reserved for onions (1 tbsp of powder per 10 liters).

All this fuss with the seedlings should begin 20-25 days before planting. The first step is to organize the heat, that is, you can simply bring the onions into a room where the temperature is above 17°C. A day before landing, you need to warm it up on the battery. All these measures will reduce bolting and speed up the germination of seedlings. In case of force majeure, you can soak in hot water (50°C, 10 minutes), then place the onion in cold water, dry and keep in damp burlap until planting.

Should I cut it or should I not? A good owner, after heating the set for three weeks, will remove the excess husks from it, inspect the onions again, reject the substandard ones, and will not be too lazy to trim off the dry neck. This must be done carefully so as not to damage the growth point. Whether or not to trim onion sets before planting is a matter for the owner.

Experts recommend keeping the planting material in a solution of some growth stimulant (for example, Zircon). This helps to awaken the root system and begin development. After this procedure, treatment with “Fitosporin” is used (the instructions for preparing a solution for soaking planting material should be followed exactly). This biological product fights pathogens, and then there is no need to treat it with copper sulfate.

25.04.2019 142 286

Treating onions before planting - increase your yield and forget about the onion fly!

Treating onions before planting will not only get rid of onion flies and other pests, but will also allow you to grow strong, juicy onions, the yield of which will surprise you. Most gardeners never soak seed, considering the activity a waste of time, because the onion will grow beautifully on its own. Great experience summer residents proves the opposite, believe it or not...

Methods for preparing onions

In order for the vegetable to begin to grow and develop quickly after planting in the garden, it is necessary to properly process the onion. Purchased seedlings must be dried; those obtained from your own seeds are stored at a temperature of +17°...+18°C and also warmed up before planting.

Many gardeners make the mistake of storing large and medium fractions of onion sets at low positive temperatures, what absolutely cannot be done, since after being placed on the beds, the plants go very much into the arrow. Small wild oatmeal (less than 1 cm in diameter) usually does not form shoots, so it can be stored at lower temperatures above zero.

    In cases where storage conditions are not known, you need to warm up the onion sets before planting at a temperature of +30 ° ... +35 ° C:
  • large bulbs for 12-15 days,
  • small 8-10.

The main purpose of warming up the seedlings is to reduce bolting plants. If you warm up the wild oats at +40 °C for about 7-8 hours before planting, you can not only reduce the bolting rate several times, but also prevent the disease of onions from downy mildew.

When there is no possibility of stage-by-stage processing, use another technique immediately before planting the seed in open ground. Soak the sets in hot water(+45 °…+50 °С) for 10-13 minutes, then immediately put it in cold for the same time. Then immerse for 3-4 hours in a solution with complex mineral fertilizer.

Onion sets must be disinfected to prevent diseases and good growth. Treating onions with potassium permanganate before planting is the most common; you will need to dilute 1 gram in a liter of water to get the right solution. Lower the oatmeal for 20-25 minutes. Or use (3 g/1 l) for the same purposes.

onion sets before planting - in the photo

In addition, it is recommended to treat onions with various growth stimulants (Biostin, Zircon, Tsitovit), which will make the crop more resistant to various unfavorable conditions and will help to germinate faster after planting in place.

Onions can be processed before planting wood ash which will help grow good bulbs, will save planting material from various types rot, will make wild oatmeal stronger, since in natural fertilizer contained a large number of useful chemical elements. Dissolve 250 grams of ash in 5 liters of water, soak the onion for 5-7 minutes, remove. Dry on sun rays 2-3 hours, then plant.

The proven “Grandmother’s method” for processing onion sets is very popular, because reviews from gardeners who use this method in practice, you can only read the positive ones. What is the secret of success? For 7 days, the onion is dried at a temperature of +24 ° ... + 25 ° C. After, aged 3 hours in salt solution(1 tbsp per liter), washed, dried and the correct one is made. The bulbs grow strong, do not get sick, and practically do not go into arrows.

We add fertilizer to the soil for a rich harvest

Besides everyone known methods There are others that allow you to prepare onions for planting in the spring just as well. If you don’t have potassium permanganate and wood ash on hand, take ammonium nitrate(2-3 g), dilute in a bucket of water, lower the oatmeal for 15-20 minutes. The water should be warm, preferably +40 °C. This processing technique allows you to disinfect the bulbs.

Treatment with the drug has its own advantages, as it accelerates the growth of the onion root system, strengthens it, and also helps to increase the green mass of plants. One capsule is dissolved in required quantity water (according to instructions) and immerse the seeds for 10-15 minutes. To avoid shooting onions, place the wild oatmeal in a saucepan or bucket, cover with water and heat over low heat up to a temperature of +55 °…+60 °С. take it out, treat the onion with growth-stimulating drugs (Silcom, Biostin).

processing onion sets before planting in potassium permanganate - pictured

    The simplest and most convenient way to prepare onions for planting is to soak them in plain water. The seedlings are kept in hot water (+50 °C) for 10-15 minutes, without the use of any drugs or fertilizers.

Very important, in preparation it is forbidden use several medications at once, fertilizers, etc., since this will not only not make the onion sets strong, but may even cause harm, so you will have to wait a long time for seedlings. Choose one convenient way from many options and process the planting material.

The quality of grown onions depends not only on pre-sowing treatment is a whole complex of agrotechnical measures aimed at achieving a high-quality harvest. It’s not always possible, so preparing the soil in the garden bed is an integral part of the work. When choosing a place to plant onions, pay attention to the light-loving nature of the plants; do not plant the vegetable under trees or in thickets of berry gardens.


Before planting onions, you should decide how and with what to treat the seedlings and soil. Timely fertilizer beds and preventive procedures will protect onions from a number of diseases and ensure a rich harvest.

Soil preparation

All cultures will develop well on fertile soil. Therefore, in the fall, before plowing the site, care is taken to enrich the soil with organic or mineral fertilizers.


Soil acidity

On a new site, you should always find out the level of soil acidity using laboratory analysis, because onions give bountiful harvest only at neutral pH. If necessary, acidic soil is optimized by adding alkalizing agents so that the reaction is close to neutral. All substances are used before autumn plowing.

  • On 1 square meter add 150-200 g of dolomite flour, which will also increase the level of calcium and magnesium in the soil.
  • Once every five years, acidic soil is alkalized. slaked lime, 500 g - 1 kg per 1 m 2.
  • 2-3 years after autumn liming, wood ash is used - 2-4 kg per 1 m2. Ash is applied in autumn or spring; it is also sprinkled on seedlings and young onion plants to prevent diseases and protect against pest attacks.

You should not mix manure and ash in the fall.


Soil restructuring

To effectively grow onions, it is often necessary to change the structure of the soil: enrich the soil with peat, make the heavy clay soil looser, or add nutrients to the sandy soil. Along with compost, humus or manure, mineral complexes are also added. The table below shows application volumes per 1 m2. Instead of the mentioned fertilizers, you can use any mineral complexes that are suitable for onions. Minerals, like humus (but not fresh manure), can also be used in the spring when cultivating the site.

Soil typeOrganic fertilizers and additivesMineral fertilizers
Clayey6 kg of humus or 7 kg of compost, 5 kg of peat, 10 kg of sand
Loamy5 kg of humus, 4 kg of peat,30 g superphosphate, 5 g urea
Sandy10 kg of humus or compost, 10 kg of peat, 10 kg of loam or clay soil, bucket of sawdust40 g nitrophoska
Peat6 kg of humus, 10 kg of sand, 10 kg of loam - turf soil30 g superphosphate, 5 g urea

For the area where onions will grow, potassium chloride is used only in the fall. In the spring, potassium sulfate is added or the onions are fed with this fertilizer during the growth process.


Prevention of diseases and pest infestations

In spring, small beds for onions are cultivated by various means, including substances used according to folk experience. A kind of disinfection of the soil occurs, due to which the crop will develop without problems.

  • Spill raised beds boiling water
  • Beds or larger areas are covered for 3-4 days plastic film, folded in several layers. The main condition: carefully strengthen all the edges of the film so that air does not enter inside. The temperature under the film in sunny weather reaches 70 degrees.
  • In the spring, a week before planting, the soil is watered with “Fitosporin-M” (dissolve 5 g of powder in 10 liters of water) or with “Trichodermin”, “Alirin-B” according to the instructions.
  • They heal the soil using biological products “Baikal” or “Gumat” according to the instructions that come with the products. Watering with such substances is carried out in warm but cloudy weather 15-20 days before planting onions, so that beneficial microorganisms, once in the soil where the onions will grow, have time to multiply.
  • The ridges are treated with infusions of pine needles or tobacco dust, as well as rotted hay. Bacillus subtilis is part of Fitosporin.
  • Dissolve 20 g of copper sulfate in 10 liters of hot (up to 50 o C) water. The mixture is watered on the ground and covered with polyethylene.


Bulb processing

About two weeks before planting, the bulbs are sorted and specimens with obvious flaws and those that have sprouted are rejected. The ideal onion set is about 1 cm in diameter. Larger bulbs may go into arrows, while smaller ones may develop poorly.

Pre-sowing treatment of seedlings is varied, and everyone can choose any option they like.

  • The onion is placed for 50-60 minutes in a pink solution of potassium permanganate. For this procedure, it is better to put the seeds in a bag made of plastic mesh. The water is warm, up to 45 o C.
  • The purchased sets are heated from two days to two weeks at temperatures up to 40 o C. Usually the bulbs are placed near the radiator.
  • On the day of planting, pour onions placed in a bag very hot water for 2 minutes and quickly transfer to a cold place. This treatment is carried out so that there are no arrows.
  • Before the “hot baths”, the onions are still soaked in a solution of any complex fertilizer (nitroammofoska, ammophoska): 20 g per bucket of water. The procedure lasts up to 10 hours.
  • After impregnation with fertilizers, onion sets are disinfected for 10 minutes in copper sulfate: 5 g of the drug per bucket of water. This will protect against possible fungal infections.
  • After such impregnations, the sets are washed in clean water. The bulbs can be planted without drying out.
  • The traditional method is to use a salt solution. Dissolve 500 g of salt in 10 liters of water and place the seed there for a day. There is another version of the saline solution: 3 tablespoons of salt are dissolved in 3 liters of water. The treatment cleans the onion from nematode infection.
  • A 2-4 hour impregnation with birch tar is used: 1 tablespoon of the product is dissolved in 1 liter of water room temperature. Before the “bath”, the onion sets are dried for a day on a radiator, the husks are removed and the tops are lightly trimmed.


Facilities during landing

When planning the beds, place the rows of onions next to the carrots. The phytoncides of this crop repel the onion fly, which spoils the feather. When planting, the grooves where the bulbs are planted are also treated in several ways:

  • sprinkle with salt;
  • add the preparations “Zemlin”, “Bazudin”, “Pochin”, which protect the area from the onion fly;
  • Having planted the seedlings, sprinkle the soil with tobacco dust, wood ash, ground black pepper or a mixture thereof to prevent onion flies;
  • The application of the products is repeated during the summer of the pest, which coincides with the flowering time of dandelions.

Maintaining crop rotation will help avoid characteristic fungal diseases of onions. Onions are replanted in the same bed in the 5th year.

How to protect onions from diseases and pests?

Proper preparation of the soil and planting material will protect the onion at first. But then new threats are possible that must be combated.

Disease/pestSignsControl measures
Cervical rotAt the bottom, the stem softens and a gray coating appears. Rot progresses to the bulbAvoid damage to feathers; harvest onions in dry weather; dry before storing.
Downy mildew or downy mildewLight spots on the feathers gradually become covered with gray fluffTreat onion leaves 10 cm long with a solution of 20 g of copper oxychloride per 10 liters of water. Add a spoon liquid soap so that the composition is sticky.
Stem nematodeThe juicy scales of the bulbs are loose, and there is a garlicky smell. Feathers are crooked and turn yellow earlyBefore planting, you need to treat the onions with a saline solution for 15 minutes: 3 tablespoons per bucket of water. Also, three liters of solution are poured onto 1 m2 of soil.
Onion flyThe larvae damage the bulb and feathers. Leaves are drooping and twisted200 g of tobacco dust are infused for 2 days in hot water, then 20 ml of liquid soap and 5 g of ground black pepper are added and diluted in 10 liters of water. When spraying, 1 liter per 1 m2 is used

Following advice experienced gardeners, can be grown good harvest onions, without which any family table cannot do.

It has long become common practice for all gardeners to treat seeds with various preparations to protect future plants from diseases. This operation no longer seems unusual. But processing onions before planting can cause confusion. Most gardeners do not process onion sets in any way. These are no longer seeds, but small bulbs. Although for onion seeds the processing is carried out in the same way as for others.

Why are onions processed when planting in spring?

Most often, gardeners do not consider it necessary to process onions in any way before planting in the spring. The bulbs themselves germinate well. Sometimes even during storage. Often the bulbs are infected with pathogenic bacteria. When harvested rots from the root collar, it is too late to fight to preserve it. It was necessary to start with the prevention of rot before spring planting.

Treatment of bulbs before planting in the ground is carried out not only to prevent diseases, but also to reduce bolting. Proper processing before planting in the ground, it will also prevent the onion fly from laying eggs and depriving the gardener of the harvest.

Treating onions before planting in spring against bolting

Flower buds are formed in the bulbs in winter if stored improperly. Therefore, first of all you need to create the right conditions for storing onions. Flower buds are formed when storing large and medium onion sets at too high temperatures. low temperatures. These onion fractions should be stored at a temperature of 17-18 °C. Sets with a diameter of less than 1 cm do not produce shoots, since they do not have a sufficient supply of nutrients for the formation of buds. Such bulbs can be stored at temperatures from 0 to 17 °C. Before planting, the seedlings are warmed up.

Warming up

There are 2 ways to warm up the seed before planting:

  • in hot water;
  • on the battery.

Both ways involve some risk of overheating of planting material and loss of yield. When warming up, you need to strictly monitor the time.

The “water” method is used when it is necessary to prepare onions for planting in 1 day. The bulbs are thrown into water at a temperature of 40-45 ° C for 10-13 minutes. Afterwards they are removed and allowed to cool for 2-3 hours. Now the bulbs can be planted.

Another option, warming up with water, takes a little longer, but allows you to simultaneously supply seed material nutrients. The bulbs are kept in water with a temperature of up to 50 ° C for 10 minutes. Afterwards, the onions are placed in cold water with fertilizer diluted in it. The procedure will take about 6 hours.

Important! Warming up small sets(oat) for 7 hours at a temperature of 40 ° C destroys the pathogens of downy mildew.

Warming up on a battery requires many days of preparation. A thick cloth is placed on the battery and the bulbs are heated at a temperature of 30-35°C. It will take 2 weeks to warm up a large set. Small ones are heated for 9 days.

Pest treatment

The main problem for growing onions is their “personal” pest. The onion fly lays eggs on the plants, and the larvae eat away the entire core.

This scourge can be avoided if the onions are treated against onion flies before planting. Bulbs are not only damaged by flies. Other garden pests can also destroy the crop: wireworms or mole crickets. The easiest way to repel all insects at once is to soak the seedlings in diluted birch tar before planting.

Important! Tar does not destroy microorganisms and viruses.

For accelerated growth

To speed up germination, onion seeds (nigella) can be treated with the same preparations that are used for any other seeds. These can be manufactured industrially fertilizers, “industrial” organics from humates or humite. Sometimes they use traditional methods production of fertilizers.

How to properly process onions before planting

When processing onion seeds before planting in the spring, the same operations are carried out as with all other seeds:

  • disinfection;
  • soaking in liquid fertilizers.

Soak the seeds for a period of 8-12 hours. It is necessary to ensure that oxygen starvation does not occur. When simply soaking seeds in water, you need to periodically remove the seeds from the liquid. But you don’t have to remove it if you carry out bubbling in parallel with soaking in the fertilizer solution.

Sevok

When planting bulbs, preparation begins from the moment you purchase the set in the store. The planting material is sorted out and rotten and soft bulbs are thrown away. Completely dried bulbs are also thrown away.

The sorted onions are dried on a radiator, at the same time warmed up to prevent bolting. Warming up is carried out in 2 stages: 2-3 weeks at a temperature above 20 °C, then 10 hours at a temperature of 35-40 °C. This temperature will not kill pathogenic microorganisms, so after warming up, the seed will need to be soaked in disinfectants.

About further actions Gardeners have two opinions. Some people believe that before soaking, onions that have not yet begun to sprout need to be “trimmed” and thereby make it easier for the green arrows to emerge. Others are of the opinion that trimming only opens the door to infection. The husk, soaked in liquid, is not able to create a barrier for new feathers. Everyone decides for himself which theory is closer to him.

Soaking the bulbs is carried out in solutions:

  • salt;
  • soda;
  • potassium permanganate;
  • phytosporin;
  • copper sulfate.

All these agents are used to kill pathogenic microorganisms. Not everyone uses them. Most often, a complex of 2 substances is used, experimentally choosing those that you like best.

In addition, you can treat them with pest repellents or a fertilizer solution.

How to treat onions before planting in the ground

Today, the store selection of products for treating onions before planting is very large. But gardeners often prefer to use old traditional methods. Many of these products work as well as store-bought drugs, but are much cheaper.

Treating onions with salt and potassium permanganate before planting

This is the most common combination of operations when preparing seedlings for planting. First, before planting, the onions are treated with salt:

  • add salt to hot (40-50 °C) water at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. per liter of water;
  • the seeds are soaked in brine for 6-8 hours;
  • take it out and let the water drain.

Salt treatment helps protect the future harvest from nematodes and other environmental influences.

After salty water glasses, onions, immerse potassium permanganate. The solution is made either by eye: a strong dark composition, or at the rate of 40 g of potassium permanganate per 10 liters of water. The onions are kept in potassium permanganate for 30 minutes. Treating onions with potassium permanganate before planting helps protect the plant from fungal and viral diseases.

After soaking in potassium permanganate, the onions are removed from the solution and washed warm water. After this, the seed can be planted in the ground.

Treating onions with soda before planting

Some gardeners believe that treating with soda helps against bolting. The theory still requires confirmation, but soda - disinfectant, which can be used instead of salt and potassium permanganate.

To prepare a soda solution, take 1.5 tsp. for 1 liter of water. The sets are soaked for 2-3 hours. Soaking in soda protects planting material from rot and other infectious diseases.

Important! Baking soda only removes superficial infections.

It does not penetrate deep into the bulbs. The effect of soda is similar to industrial preparations such as Fitosporin, Maxim and others. But unlike industrial drugs, soda is a very cheap and accessible remedy.

Treating onions with copper sulfate before planting

When treating onions with copper sulfate, preparing the sets before planting also takes place in 2 stages:

  • soaking in complex fertilizer;
  • soaking in a solution of copper sulfate.

At the first stage, any fertilizer is diluted and the seedlings are placed in the liquid for 10 hours. Then take it out and immediately immerse it in copper sulfate for 10 minutes. After this, the bulbs can be planted.

Preparation of vitriol solution: 1 tsp. for 10 liters of water. Copper sulfate prevents fungal diseases, the fertilizer solution stimulates growth and supplies the bulb with additional nutrients.

Second option: first treatment with saline solution, second with copper sulfate. The recipes for preparing the solution are the same as described above: salt - 1 tbsp. per liter, vitriol - 1 tsp. for 10 l. But in in this case The first solution is not with fertilizers, but with salt.

Treating onions with tar before planting

Treatment with tar before planting is carried out to repel pests. Insects do not like the smell of tar. Before this, they are soaked in growth stimulants and disinfectants.

Ingredients: 1 tbsp. birch tar per 1 liter of water at room temperature.

The sets are soaked for 2-4 hours, stirring occasionally, so that the planting material is evenly saturated with tar.

Important! To repel onion flies, plants must be watered with the same tar solution.

Treatment with growth accelerators

Growth accelerators are complex fertilizers of industrial or own production. As industrial organic fertilizers Extracts from rotted compost or vermicompost often appear.

Treatment with biological agents

Biological preparations can be of 2 types: growth accelerators and fungicides. Biological growth accelerators include humic acids/humates, which are produced industrially from peat, sapropel or bottom coal.

Sapropel is centuries-old deposits at the bottom of a fresh reservoir. Contains a large amount of organic matter.

The purchased concentrate is diluted according to the instructions and the seedlings are soaked in it. Onions respond well to the use of humates.

Treating onions with humite before planting

Humit is an analogue of humates, but obtained by special technology from vermicompost. Vermicompost, in turn, is a renewable source of fertilizer, as it is produced by earthworms. Dilution of the concentrate and treatment before planting are also carried out according to the instructions on the package.

Treating onions with phytosporin before planting

Fitosporin is a fungicide for biological basis. It contains bacterial spores that can fight many diseases:

  • powdery mildew;
  • white spotting;
  • rot of the root system;
  • Phomasis;
  • black rot;
  • snow mold;
  • fruit rot;
  • bacteriosis;
  • late blight;
  • peronosporosis;
  • tracheomycosis;
  • brown rust.

The treatment is carried out in the second number before planting the bulbs in the ground.

Fitosporin is diluted in the dosage indicated on the label, and the bulbs are kept in it for 8 minutes.

Conclusion

Processing onions before planting has now become a permanent part of the growing method for this plant. Preliminary processing increases productivity and helps fight pests that spoil the onion crop.