Growing Perennial Slanting Onions - Allium Obliguum

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

A special place among wild-growing food (vitamin), ornamental and melliferous plants is occupied by scythe (Allium obliguum L.), which is also called vinegar, uskun, mountain garlic.

This is one of the earliest plants. In natural flora, it grows in the mountain ranges of Central Asia (from the Tien Shan to the Dzhungarskiy Alatau), in Mongolia, China, in Altai, in the southeastern part of Kazakhstan (Kuznetskiy Alatau), in the southern part of Western and Eastern Siberia (the Ob basins, Irtysh, Yenisei - Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khakassia).

The western border of the area runs along the Trans-Volga region, then its gap is observed, after which the scythe is found in the Carpathian and Tatra mountains. Botanists believe that it appeared in the preglacial period, and refer it to winter-hardy relict plants of universal use. Typical habitats are woodlands, steppes, mountain slopes, river floodplains. It grows on different types of soil, preferring the reaction of the soil solution close to neutral. In places where it grows, this onion is actively collected by the local population.

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Rural residents of the Southern Urals and Altai have long been raising scythe onions in their gardens. Outside of its natural range, it was first successfully tested in the 19th century in the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden. Due to the intensive collection in natural habitat, it needs protection by creating varieties and introducing into culture. It is with this in mind, using individual and clonal selection from a local sample of the Altai Territory, that the breeders of VNIISSOK created the Novichok slanting onion variety.

Plants of this variety form false bulbs 4-6 cm high and 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter, which are attached to a very short, upright perennial rhizome. The outer dry scales of the bulbs are leathery, yellow-brown in color. Its leaves are dark green, flat, broadly linear, gradually tapering from base to top, 32.7 cm long, 2.5 cm wide. The number of leaves (from 6 to 14 pieces) depends on the age of the plants.

The nutritional value of slanting onions is determined by the high content of vitamin C (140-165 mg%), sugars (4-6%), carotene (6-9 mg%), and other biologically active and mineral substances in the leaves. Leaves and bulbs, which have a garlic flavor and smell, are good for canning, pickling, and salad greens. This type of onion is a good honey plant, and also has high decorative qualities.

Oblique onion Beginner is best propagated by seed. It is preferable to sow them before winter, then the germination rate is high, or sown in early spring, then the germination rate is lower. In the first year, the plants develop slowly and by the end of the growing season they form 2-3 filiform leaves with an octagonal cross section, 13-17 cm high, and a bulb 0.8 cm in diameter.

Seedlings are planted in the spring of next year on the ridges according to the scheme of 20 x (10-15) cm. In the second year, the plant already has 5-8 leaves, they are flat, 30-40 cm long, typical of the variety. In one place, the slanting onion grows well from 5 to 10 years, after which it must be transplanted, while dividing the plants into parts. However, the multiplication factor by bulbs (by dividing bushes) is small.

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The formation of peduncles and flowering begins from 2-3 years from mid-June to the second decade of July and lasts 8-20 days. Flowering stem from 80 to 150 cm high. Inflorescences - globular umbrellas of golden-yellow color with a diameter of 3-5 cm are very beautiful and are used in cutting for making bouquets and compositions.

Stamens with orange anthers protrude from the perianth and, in the phase of mass flowering, look like shaggy yellow balls. The fruit is a triangular capsule, usually containing 3-4 seeds. The seeds ripen in late July - early August, seed productivity is 20-25 g / m2, the weight of 1000 seeds is about 2.5 g.

Oblique onion Novice - medium early (from regrowth to technical ripeness of leaves 33-35 days), winter-hardy, practically not affected by peronosporosis. Plants of this variety are of universal use (use - food, medicinal and decorative). In the conditions of the Central region of Russia, spring regrowth of leaves occurs in late April-early May, and in late May-early June, 50-60% of the leaves from a plant can be cut, with a yield of 1-1.25 kg / m2. If you cut off the whole leaves of plants, then they will grow poorly after that, and the plants may die in winter.

Oblique onion is a very unpretentious plant. In the first year, it is better to sow the seeds in a nursery, and in the spring of next year - in a sunny, dry place, preferably outside the crop rotation (on an onion bed). Plants are watered only in drought, it is better to do top dressing immediately after the snow melts and the leaves are cut. Weeding and loosening of the soil is required in the initial period of the plantation's life, then the plants suppress the weeds.

For decorative purposes, oblique onions are planted in the background of flower beds, in groups along the edge of lawns, it is also good in rockeries. Umbrellas cut at the beginning of flowering stand in the water for about two weeks.

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