Forcing onions into greens at home in water and soil substrate: all the subtleties and nuances
Anyone can get juicy onion feathers at home. It is enough just to place the sprouted head in a glass or other container with water, so that the liquid reaches the middle of the turnip, place it on a well-lit windowsill, and after 10 days you will see a significant increase in the vegetative mass - a feather more than 5 cm high.
Green shoots of onions developing in water, which form numerous long white roots, are cut off two, maximum three times, after which the plant disappears. But if you plant the bulb in fertile garden soil, poured into an ordinary flower pot, box, old bowl or flowerpot, then you are guaranteed a stable growth of greenery for a long time (3 or more months).
When forcing onions to grow, the plants develop stably over a wide range of temperatures - from +5 to +25 degrees Celsius. Therefore, the feather vegetable can be safely grown all year round.In winter, onions grow excellently on an insulated loggia and even on a glazed but cold balcony. The only caveat is that when the temperature drops to persistent sub-zero levels, the seedlings stop growing until the onset of spring warming.
Any container available on the farm, the depth of which is more than 10 cm, can be used as a planting container for green onions. Turnips go well with other flower, leaf and vegetable crops. Therefore, if you have a long balcony box or a mini garden on the windowsill, built from improvised containers, then be sure to set aside a small area for planting bulbs.
Onions produce maximum green growth in a fertile and well-structured soil substrate, rich in macro- and microelements, as well as humic substances. Use a mixture of garden (turf) soil with humus, peat and coarse river sand (2:1:1:1) or ready-made soil with neutral acidity, for example, “Universal substrate for vegetable seedlings based on highland and lowland peat, pH 5.5 -6.6".
Any bulbs are suitable for planting. Heads with existing leaves produce greens a week earlier.
Moreover, the longer the onion shoots, the sooner you will get the first harvest. Curled and yellow leaves, which are often present on onions stored in the dark, even out within 5 days after planting in the ground and acquire a rich green color.
From autumn until the end of spring, you can safely use onion sets grown in the previous season to force them into feathers in a mini garden.
Long feathers from small bulbs, in the end, turn out to be much thinner, but due to their small size, the area allocated for the crop can be sown much more densely, harvesting even more than from full-fledged (ripe) heads.
The presence of drainage holes in containers is encouraged. If they are absent, the bottom of the box must be lined with a layer of expanded clay or broken brick (1 cm), and covered with earth on top, leaving 2-3 cm to the top edge of the side. When planting, adult bulbs must be buried approximately halfway into the ground.
The seedlings can be immersed almost completely in the soil.
After planting, water the onions almost every day, using tap water that has been standing on the windowsill or softened with special means. The soil ball under the plants should always be moist. In this case, excess liquid can lead to rotting of the roots, so when watering you need to follow the “golden mean”. Green onions are responsive to sprinkling, so they can be sprayed regularly with a fine spray bottle.
To increase the yield, onions growing on the windowsill are fed once every 2 weeks with microfertilizers or compounds rich in potassium and phosphorus. Experienced gardeners use either an ash infusion (2 tablespoons of ash per 0.5 liter of water, leave for 4 days, shake before watering and dilute with water 1:1), or an infusion of banana peels (pour a liter of water over the peelings of 3 bananas and let stand in a warm place for about a week).
No less effective for onions is a solution of ready-made organic or mineral fertilizers with a minimum concentration or complete absence of nitrogen: “Biohumus”, “Kristalon brown”, “Potassium monophosphate”, “Ecoplant”, etc.According to experts, it is undesirable to use products with a predominance of nitrogen compounds in the fertilizer of leafy vegetables due to the danger of the accumulation of harmful nitrates in rapidly growing greens.
The first cutting of feathers is carried out when their height exceeds 15 cm. Subsequently, the onion continues to grow green mass, which is plucked as needed.
May you grow a bountiful harvest of green onions and leafy vegetables on your windowsill in the coming months!
Green shoots of onions developing in water, which form numerous long white roots, are cut off two, maximum three times, after which the plant disappears. But if you plant the bulb in fertile garden soil, poured into an ordinary flower pot, box, old bowl or flowerpot, then you are guaranteed a stable growth of greenery for a long time (3 or more months).
When forcing onions to grow, the plants develop stably over a wide range of temperatures - from +5 to +25 degrees Celsius. Therefore, the feather vegetable can be safely grown all year round.In winter, onions grow excellently on an insulated loggia and even on a glazed but cold balcony. The only caveat is that when the temperature drops to persistent sub-zero levels, the seedlings stop growing until the onset of spring warming.
Recommendations for forcing onions in soil to grow from professionals and experienced plant growers
Box or flowerpot?
Any container available on the farm, the depth of which is more than 10 cm, can be used as a planting container for green onions. Turnips go well with other flower, leaf and vegetable crops. Therefore, if you have a long balcony box or a mini garden on the windowsill, built from improvised containers, then be sure to set aside a small area for planting bulbs.
Garden soil or ready-made soil?
Onions produce maximum green growth in a fertile and well-structured soil substrate, rich in macro- and microelements, as well as humic substances. Use a mixture of garden (turf) soil with humus, peat and coarse river sand (2:1:1:1) or ready-made soil with neutral acidity, for example, “Universal substrate for vegetable seedlings based on highland and lowland peat, pH 5.5 -6.6".
Full bulbs or sets?
Any bulbs are suitable for planting. Heads with existing leaves produce greens a week earlier.
Moreover, the longer the onion shoots, the sooner you will get the first harvest. Curled and yellow leaves, which are often present on onions stored in the dark, even out within 5 days after planting in the ground and acquire a rich green color.
From autumn until the end of spring, you can safely use onion sets grown in the previous season to force them into feathers in a mini garden.
Long feathers from small bulbs, in the end, turn out to be much thinner, but due to their small size, the area allocated for the crop can be sown much more densely, harvesting even more than from full-fledged (ripe) heads.
To bury it or not?
The presence of drainage holes in containers is encouraged. If they are absent, the bottom of the box must be lined with a layer of expanded clay or broken brick (1 cm), and covered with earth on top, leaving 2-3 cm to the top edge of the side. When planting, adult bulbs must be buried approximately halfway into the ground.
The seedlings can be immersed almost completely in the soil.
How often to water?
After planting, water the onions almost every day, using tap water that has been standing on the windowsill or softened with special means. The soil ball under the plants should always be moist. In this case, excess liquid can lead to rotting of the roots, so when watering you need to follow the “golden mean”. Green onions are responsive to sprinkling, so they can be sprayed regularly with a fine spray bottle.
What to fertilize with?
To increase the yield, onions growing on the windowsill are fed once every 2 weeks with microfertilizers or compounds rich in potassium and phosphorus. Experienced gardeners use either an ash infusion (2 tablespoons of ash per 0.5 liter of water, leave for 4 days, shake before watering and dilute with water 1:1), or an infusion of banana peels (pour a liter of water over the peelings of 3 bananas and let stand in a warm place for about a week).
No less effective for onions is a solution of ready-made organic or mineral fertilizers with a minimum concentration or complete absence of nitrogen: “Biohumus”, “Kristalon brown”, “Potassium monophosphate”, “Ecoplant”, etc.According to experts, it is undesirable to use products with a predominance of nitrogen compounds in the fertilizer of leafy vegetables due to the danger of the accumulation of harmful nitrates in rapidly growing greens.
The first cutting of feathers is carried out when their height exceeds 15 cm. Subsequently, the onion continues to grow green mass, which is plucked as needed.
May you grow a bountiful harvest of green onions and leafy vegetables on your windowsill in the coming months!
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