Growing Altai Onions, Tiered Onions And Chives

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

Tiered bow

A multi-tiered bow has hollow, fisty, like a batun, leaves that do not coarse for a long time. The taste and tenderness of the leaves are preserved until the first tier of bulbs appears. Its underground bulb is better expressed, and instead of an inflorescence on the arrow, several tiers are formed (near St. Petersburg - up to two) of air bulbs (bulbs) weighing up to 8 g.

Sometimes buds form between the bulbs, but there are no seeds in a multi-tiered onion. If they are tied, their germination rate is practically zero. It reproduces only vegetatively: by dividing the bush and planting air bulbs.

Multi-tiered onions are very frost-hardy, do not freeze even with a small snow cover and a temperature of -30 ° C … -35 ° C, young leaves easily tolerate frosts down to -5 ° C.

Likov's multi-tiered onion variety - bred at VNIISSOK. Local forms are also grown.

Like batun, multi-tiered onions can be successfully grown in annual and perennial crops. In one place, it can grow for 5-7 years. The annual increase in the number of bulbs in the nest leads to a decrease in the feeding area of each plant and the nest as a whole. This must be borne in mind when selecting and preparing a site.

The multi-tiered onion starts growing very early in spring - 7-10 days earlier than the baton, its regrowth begins even under the snow, therefore, to obtain early greenery, it is necessary to use well-heated areas that are freed from snow early. The soil must be sufficiently moist, but it is impossible for the water to stagnate there.

Areas infested with perennial weeds are unsuitable for its cultivation. The multi-tiered onion is well adapted to all types of soils, with the exception of acidic, heavy and floating clayey and grows successfully on them. This onion is responsive to organic fertilization.

Its predecessors can be any vegetable crops for which organic fertilizers were applied: cabbage, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, beets, rutabagas, etc. 10-15 kg of manure or 5-6 kg of humus, as well as 40-50 g of superphosphate, are applied under it. and 20-30 g of potassium chloride per 1 m3.

Air bulbs are planted in late summer or early autumn, shortly after they are harvested, since "bulbs" are very poorly preserved until spring. At these planting dates, the bulbs take root well before winter and give 5-7 leaves. Such plants do not freeze even in very harsh winters. You can also use underground bulbs for planting, which are planted at the same time as the air bulbs.

A multi-tiered onion is planted in a garden bed in four rows along, with a distance between them of 20-30 cm. In a row, the distance between the air bulbs during annual cultivation is 10-15 cm, with perennial culture it is increased to 20 cm. When planting parts of a bush of old plants, the distance between them in rows 25-30 cm. It is better to plant onions immediately after rain or watering, so that it takes root faster. Then the plants go into winter with a well-developed root system and overwinter better.

Planting multi-tiered onions must be kept free from weeds, the soil must be loose. After cutting the leaves, the plants need to be fed with the same fertilizers that are used for the onions of the batuna, and also watered. In the fall, a month before the onset of cold weather, or immediately after the onset of the first severe frosts, it is better to cut the leaves and take them to a compost heap or to a landfill. If the leaves have not been removed since autumn, this must be done in early spring. They need to be raked and burned.

Harvest multi-tiered onions for bunch products, pulling out the whole plants with a bulb or cutting off the leaves. Cutting is recommended to be done no more than 2-3 times, since late cuts noticeably weaken the plants, reducing their winter hardiness.

In the third or fourth year, the multi-tiered onion grows strongly, and the plants begin to press against each other. Due to a lack of nutrients, the leaves become smaller, the bulbs also decrease in size, and the yield decreases. When harvesting, it is recommended to thin out the bushes, dividing them approximately in half. Every year, the number of arrows increases on perennial plantings of multi-tiered onions, as a result of which the total yield of leaves decreases.

With high agricultural technology, the yield of leaves of multi-tiered onions reaches 5 kg / m2.

Altai bow

The local population can fully meet their needs for onions at the expense of the Altai. Onions harvested in the fall are usually stored frozen in unheated rooms, and thawed before use. This does not reduce the taste and even the sowing qualities of the bulbs. When stored in a warm room, its bulbs dry out quickly.

It is a perennial herb, a bit like onions or batun onions. The root system is powerful, the roots are highly developed, densely branching. One of the main features distinguishing it from the batun is the presence of larger, isolated bulbs in the Altai onion. They are most often solitary, elongated-oval, 1.5-3.5 to 5 cm in size. The outer scales are dry, thin, leathery, reddish-brown; internal juicy, dense, yellowish-green. The bulb is located from the soil surface at a depth of 10-15 cm. This allows the Altai onion to withstand the harsh weather conditions of high mountains.

The leaves are fistulous, 3-5 per bulb, cylindrical, narrowed towards the top, with sharply defined edges, located in the same plane. The leaves are shorter than those of the batun, but somewhat wider, 2-2.5 times shorter than the seed arrow.

Inflorescence is a spherical, multi-flowered umbrella; contains 100-250 flowers. The diameter of the inflorescence is 2.5-4 cm. Shooting occurs 10 days later than in the batun. Seed ripening occurs simultaneously with it.

When grown in areas rich in humus, it forms up to 8-19 bulbs in the nest. Accordingly, the number of leaves increases to 16-40.

The agrotechnics of the Altai onion (sowing time, care, feeding) is the same as that of the batun. Wide-row crops provide plants with better nutrition and lighting conditions, which contributes to a greater accumulation of vitamins.

Chives

Fig. 2. Chives

Chives are a perennial plant (see Fig. 2). If weeds do not clog it, it can grow in one place for up to 10 years. Its leaves are tubular, very thin, often dark green, of a delicate taste. Does not form a formed bulb. Its bulb is oblong-ovate, covered with a dry jacket, branches strongly and in the 3-4th year forms a powerful dense bush, in which there can be up to 100 branches.

Already in the second year, some of the branches form arrows up to 35-45 cm high with small spherical inflorescences of pink or lilac color. In the spring, after the snow melts, the chives begin to grow back and in 20-25 days they are ready for harvesting. It is used for food in early spring, since in the second half of summer, uncut leaves become very coarse.

The seeds of chives are much smaller than those of the batun. Seedlings are small and thin, easily clogged with weeds. Weeding it is more difficult than with other types of onions. It is best to propagate chives in amateur vegetable growing by dividing the bush.

Schnitt-onion is divided into two subspecies: Russian (Alpine) - strongly branches, leaves are small, subulate; and Siberian - weakly branches, leaves are twice as large (see Fig. 3). The varieties of this onion are: Honey plant, Khibiny, Chemal, Prague, Bohemia. Local populations are also raised.

Figure: 3. Plants of Russian chives (left) and Siberian subspecies

Chives are grown only in perennial crops. It should be placed in well-damp areas or watered frequently. Soil moisture is very important. A short 1-3 day drought leads to irreversible coarsening of the leaves, fiber accumulates in them, and the sugar content decreases. Leaves lose their commercial qualities.

The planting scheme of chives is somewhat different from the planting scheme of batun onions: seedlings or plants are planted in beds in 3-4 rows, with a distance of 30-40 cm between them, since the bushes branch and grow strongly over the years. In the spring of next year, thinning of plants is carried out, removing part of the bush with the root on the greens until the arrows appear.

All measures for caring for chives, especially when grown from seeds in the first year, must be carried out in a timely manner, since small onion plants are strongly oppressed by weeds and soil crust. In the following years, chives bushes grow strongly and suppress weeds. During the summer, 2-3 times after each cut, the plants are fed mainly with nitrogen fertilizers, and in the fall, a month before the steady cooling, with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

Its bulbs, growing, gradually become bare, so they must be sprinkled with earth, clean of weeds, in order to avoid weeding. On plants destined for greenery, flower stems should be removed as their appearance reduces the quality of the greenery and weakens the plants. Chorn leaves are cut 2-3 times over the summer with a length of at least 20-25 cm. With frequent cuts, flowering is delayed, and the leaves become softer. From 1 m? 1-1.5 kg of green leaves are obtained in one cut.

Schnitt can be grown in greenhouses in winter, as well as batun, to get greenery. It grows quickly and produces crops in indoor conditions. For this, old bushes, without dividing into separate shoots, are planted, deepening them by 4-5 cm.

Due to the pleasant coloration of the inflorescences, chives are often grown in personal plots as an ornamental plant in flower beds and borders. Dried inflorescences can be used for winter bouquets.