The onion is a rather unpretentious crop, but it often happens that its feathers begin to turn yellow, wither and fall off. Most often this is caused by improper plant care, attack by pests or unfavorable weather conditions. You can save the onion only if you know exactly the cause of its drying and take the necessary measures as soon as possible.
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Causes of drying and falling onion feathers
1. Insufficient soil moisture
This is one of the most common causes of yellowing onions that require a lot of water (especially during the growing season). It is the sufficient amount of moisture in the soil that ensures its active growth and the accumulation of nutrients. With the establishment of dry hikes and insufficient watering, the feathers become less elastic, turn yellow and break.
Weather conditions mainly determine the frequency of watering the beds with onions. If there is no rain for a long time in June, then they are watered 1-2 times a week, at least. In this case, they consume up to 15 liters of water per 1 sq. m. Further, the number of watering is reduced, and a couple of weeks before ripening and harvesting, they stop altogether, otherwise it will start to rot and will be worse stored.
2. Lack of nitrogen
At the initial stage of onion planting development, nitrogen is vital to it. Its lack leads not only to yellowing and falling of feathers, but also reduces their number, they grow short, thin and brittle.
The problem can be solved by feeding the onion with any nitrogen-containing fertilizer. It can be mineral fertilizers, for example, a solution of urea in water. Maybe organic matter: mullein, chicken droppings, horse manure. A good effect is given by the combination of mineral and organic fertilizers.
Simple and effective fertilization - infusion of freshly cut chopped grass. It is filled 2/3 with some container and filled with water, after which it is allowed to settle for about a week. When the formation of foam stops, the infusion is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 5 and poured over the beds with onions.
3. Insect pest attacks
They also lead to yellowing and dropping of the feathers of the bow. The most common pest is the onion fly, which appears as early as mid-May. Moreover, the danger is not the insect itself, but the eggs laid by it, which turn into larvae. They begin to actively devour onion pulp, which may well lead to the death of the plant.
It is imperative to destroy its larvae, otherwise they will soon turn into adult flies, which, in turn, will lay their larvae on the bow. As a result, you can lose your harvest altogether.
You can fight the onion fly in the following ways:
- Dusting the beds with tobacco dust or wood ash. You can prepare a mixture of tobacco dust and ground black pepper by taking them in 1 tbsp. l. and mixed with a glass of wood ash. The use of this mixture against onion flies will at the same time become an effective prevention of fungal diseases.
- The use of ammonia. Having diluted 3 tbsp. l. in a bucket of water and adding a little potassium permanganate to it, a solution is obtained that not only effectively destroys onion fly larvae, but also replenishes the nitrogen deficiency in the soil.
- Using birch tar, 1 tbsp. l. which is diluted together with laundry soap (30 g) in 10 liters of water. Onions are poured with this solution every two weeks. And if you take only 1 tsp for 1 liter of water. l. birch tar, then in this solution you can soak the onion sets before planting, which will be an excellent preventive measure against onion flies.
- Using special chemicals (insecticides) to combat plant pests ("Mukhoed", "Alatar").
You can also scare off onion flies by planting carrots next to onions. This pest does not like its smell, and does not lay eggs next to its plantings.
Fungal lesions of onions
Their signs: the smell of rot, the scales become gray or even transparent, the roots begin to rot, and the bottom softens. All this indicates the defeat of plants by Fusarium - a dangerous fungal disease that causes yellowing of the tips of feathers and, in the future, leading to the death of the plant.
The fight against fusarium should begin with removing the plants affected by it from the garden bed, which will prevent the spread of the disease. Next, the bed must be shed with a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate or biofungicides, for example, "Agat 25 Super", "Fitosporin-M", "Maxim", which are bred in accordance with the instructions.
Regular inspection of onion plantings will help to identify the problem in a timely manner, and therefore have time to solve it. This is the only way to save onions in the beds and then get a bountiful harvest.
Do you know how to prevent the feather from drying out and falling off the bow?
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