Top tips for the care and planting of shallots

Bow - irreplaceable plant in the arsenal of almost all housewives. It gives dishes spiciness and enhances their taste, and the characteristic smell provides culinary products with a pleasant aroma. Most often in our kitchens you can find onions, but there are other, no less worthy varieties. In particular, such plants include shallotThe description of which is presented below.

Characteristics of shallots. Difference from the bulb

The characteristics and characteristics of shallots, including those relating to its cultivation, are very close to those of onions. The main difference is a very strong branching, smaller bulbs and their best persistence.

According to external signs, shallots are slightly smaller than onions, but the leaves are just as fisty. (only in this case narrow), awl-shaped and in length reach 20-40 cm.The color of the leaf plates of this species is dark green, with a slight wax coating. On the branches is located immediately on 7-10 leaves.

The bulbs themselves may have an oval, round or flat rounded shape, although most often it is irregular (due to the close proximity of the bulbs in the nest). In the dry state of the plant, the color of the flakes is light yellow, bronze, brown-yellow, pinkish, gray-violet or purple, while the color of succulent flake bulbs is white, greenish or pale violet.

All onion-shallot bulbs are multi-starched, with a diameter of 1.5 to 4 cm. The stems reach a height of 70-100 cm and have almost no bulge. The inflorescence is spherical and is represented by a multi-flowered umbrella. Pedicels are usually 2-3 times longer than the flowers themselves.

The perianth petals are white, greenish or pinkish, with a dark central vein. The seeds are somewhat smaller than in chernushka onions, and in some cases aerial onions are formed in the inflorescences.

As for the agricultural technology of growing shallots, it is almost the same as that of onions. However, there are some differences that have to be considered.For example, shallot prefers more arable, fertile soils, and their mechanical composition should be heavier than for onions.

In addition, it is better if you plant a plant at the place of the former growth of leguminous crops. If shallots have already grown on the plot, then it can be planted here not earlier than in 3-4 years.

With one planted bulb, you can get a nest with 40 new specimens, the total weight of which is usually about 600-900 g. But how much does one onion weigh on a shallot? Depending on the variety, its weight varies on average from 15 to 30 g.

First of all, the described culture is grown for the sake of juicy, tender and vitamin greens, although small, well-preserved bulbs are no less important.

Shallot - early appearance, and this is another difference from the onions. If you are in a temperate climate zone, the planted bulbs will ripen within 70-80 days after the leaves appear, and the greenery is cut off within 28-30 days after planting. However, in this issue should be taken into account weather conditions that may affect the ripening period (within two weeks).

If you decide to plant shallots on your plot, then you probably already know that this plant is rich in nutrients and vitamins B1, B2 and PP, as well as carotene and all the necessary salts that are beneficial to the body.

Choosing a place for landing

Any onion requires properly prepared fertile soil, and it is imperative that it be loose, fertilized and completely free of weeds. In addition, an important factor is the precursor plants. As mentioned above, do not plant shallots on the same plot for several years in a row.

The interval between plantings should be at least 3-4 years. Also, this species does not tolerate the neighborhood with onions, so if this plant grows close to it, then it is better to find another place. Such spatial isolation is necessary not only so that these two species do not overlap, but also to protect the plant from the invasion of common pests.

Humus should be added under the autumn plowing, at a rate of 4-6 kg / m².

Features planting shallots

Despite the fact that most onion crops are planted with the arrival of spring, shallots calmly tolerate the autumn planting. Each of these options has its own peculiarities of the process, so we consider each of them separately.

Autumn planting

At first glance, the answer to the question "When to plant shallots?" quite predictable, but in some cases, the standard spring planting can be replaced by autumn.

When planting shallots before winter (they usually do it in the middle of October), it is important that it takes root, but does not start to grow, since in such a state he will have more chances to successfully transfer the winter frosts. After planting the bulbs to a depth of 2-4 cm, the beds mulch with peat, which will help the plant to cope with serious sub-zero temperatures.

When podzimny landing in the middle lane, summer residents usually lose up to 50% of the planted bulbs, moreover, if small specimens are more resistant to low temperatures, then a large crop almost completely dies.

Nevertheless, there are certain advantages of the sub-winter landing. For example, overwintered onion forms more leaves than the one that was planted in spring. Planting shallot bulbs in the fall, after the snow melted, you will have the earliest greenery.

Spring landing

Given that shallots are not afraid of frost, it is planted in the ground in April. In this case, the "family" (the second name of this species) has time to get enough good with melt water, and the active growth of onions falls on the longest days of light in a year. If you are going to use planted onions only on greens, then the distance between the rows should be 20 cm, and between the bulbs themselves - 10 cm.

With this scheme, every third plant can be used on greens.In the case when the harvest of the bulbs is more preferable, they are planted a little less often, following the 20 x 15 scheme. If you plant very large bulbs, you can leave them up to 30 cm, and they should be dredged to a depth of 5 cm.

For planting in early spring, bulbs are selected, the mass of which is not less than 9-10 g (it turns out 190-250 g per 1 m²), and the diameter in the middle corresponds to 3 centimeters.

Trying to answer the question "How to grow shallots in the country?", You will probably learn about the seed method of propagation of this culture. In this case, the landing process is as follows: Onion seeds are sown in grooves up to 3 cm deep, having previously weathered them in a wet gauze bag for 48 hours. After sowing, planting grooves should be sprinkled with peat or compost.

It should be noted that the vegetative method of growing shallots is much more efficient and much more convenient, since the seeds of this species ripen very badly.

Cultivation and care

In the process of growing shallots, it is necessary to adhere to certain agrotechnical rules, which, first of all, provide for compliance with the regime of irrigation, loosening, fertilizing and weeding the soil.

Watering, loosening and weeding the soil

We have already figured out how to plant shallots in spring or in autumn, but for a rich and high-quality crop this information is not enough. The fact is that watering plants plays an equally important role, which should be regular in the first half of the growing season.

I.e starting from May to mid-July, the application of liquid to the soil is carried out 3-4 times a week, and in particularly hot and dry weather the amount of watering additionally increases. In the second half of the summer, their frequency is reduced, completely stopping the introduction of fluid for 2-3 weeks before harvest.

According to the general rules of onion cultivation, watering of plants is carried out as needed, but so that the soil is slightly moistened and not filled. In addition, after each introduction of fluid, the aisle should be loosened to a depth of 3-5 cm, and two or three times per season, loosening is performed to a depth of 5-6 cm.

When growing shallots under greenhouse conditions, shallow soil loosening is performed after each watering.

To obtain a large crop in mid-summer, some of the bulbs are removed from the nest, leaving only the largest specimens (5-6 pieces) in it. This kind of weeding is performed as follows: the ground is carefully raked off and, together with a feather, the smallest onion is pulled from it. You should also collect all the weeds that can only be found in the soil.

Fertilization

The quality of the future harvest is also significantly affected by the timeliness of feedings. For example, the application of fresh organic fertilizers contributes to the formation of massive feathers and loose bulbs that are unsuitable for storing onions in shallots, so three-year manure is more suitable for dressing. In the year of supposed sowing of onions, the ground should be fertilized, for which it is better to use decomposed rotted compost.

In order for shallots to grow and develop normally, during the growing season, the plants spend two additional feeding: the first - 2 weeks after the growth of the bulbs (as fertilizer used bird droppings or mullein, diluted in water in a ratio of 1: 1), and the second - At the beginning of the formation of bulbs. In the first case, the diluted slurry of 1: 5 is also suitable for the role of fertilizer (one bucket should be enough for 10 m²).

In the absence of organic fertilizers, they can be replaced by mineral. For example, 10 g / m² of ammonium nitrate and 10–15 g / m² of superphosphate. Organic matter can also be replaced during the second stage of onion fertilization. In this case, for 1 m² of planting you will need 10-15 g of potassium chloride and 10-15 g of superphosphate.

Diseases and pests of shallot

The main reason for the emergence of diseases of shallots is long-term use of the same planting material without updating it. The fact is that over time, the infection builds up in it and it is often possible to find bulbs affected by gray mold, due to which the crop is poorly preserved.

Therefore, after three or four years of active use, you must either purchase another planting material, or independently grow it from seeds.

To protect shallots from the accumulation of infections, which are also clearly visible when preparing the bulbs for planting, or to protect them from pests, they often use crop rotation or combination of different crops on one bed. For example, landing on one bed of shallots and carrots will help to limit the mass distribution of onion flies.

Both cultures act as defenders of each other, but it should be noted that carrots perform their functions better, because on such beds there are practically no onion flies, while carrot insects do appear.

If the weather is damp and cold outside, you can never rule out the likelihood of hitting your onions with perenosporosis or neck rot. In this case, all affected plants should be removed immediately, and the rest should be treated with special antifungal agents.

For those gardeners who prefer to use alternative methods of pest control, it is advisable to dust the beds with ashes. In addition, when the worms appear in the leaves, all the plants are watered with a solution of sodium chloride at the rate of 1 cup per 10 liters of water.

Harvest time and storage

It is no secret that shallots quickly produce a good harvest, rather than a bulbous appearance. It is possible to start harvesting a crop as soon as it takes 50-70% of its feathers. It must be said that it is the lodging of onion leaves that is the main sign of its full maturation, indicating the dying of the roots in the Donets.

This phase begins when the plant no longer forms leaves, and all its forces are directed to the formation of closed juicy scales inside the onion. In calendar time, the described processes occur at the end of July, and later harvesting can lead to a decrease in its keeping quality, since complete drying of feathers in combination with sufficient soil moisture often leads to further development of the root system.

Harvesting is best done on a sunny day, digging shallots with feathers. In this form, the bulbs are laid in one layer and left to dry for 10-12 days (drying in open, sunny and well-ventilated areas contributes to the disinfection of the bulbs). After this time, all feathers are cut, leaving only a thin, dried neck of plants.

For further storage, only completely healthy specimens of bulbs are suitable, which are immediately determined by sorting.

It is better to store shallots in boxes or boxes at a temperature of 0 - 3 ° C, while not dividing the nest into separate bulbs.