Round-headed Onion

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Video: Round-headed Onion

Video: Round-headed Onion
Video: Allium sphaerocephalon (Ball-head onion) 2024, May
Round-headed Onion
Round-headed Onion
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Round-headed onion (lat. Allium sphaerocephalon) - a representative of the Onion genus of the Onion family. A perennial herb used in garden landscaping. Natural area - Western Asia, North Africa and Europe. Typical dreams are steppes, slopes and hills.

Characteristics of culture

Round-headed onion is a plant with an ovoid bulb up to 2 cm in diameter. The shells of the bulb are whole, leathery, splitting, brown in color. One third of the stem is covered with smooth vaginal leaves, up to 80 cm high. The leaves are semi-cylindrical, fistulous, up to 4 mm wide, slightly rough along the edge.

Flowers are collected in boll-shaped, spherical or oblong dense umbrellas. The perianth is oblong-ovate, pink or purple, sometimes whitish. Tepals are oblong, sharp. The fruit is an elliptical capsule, rarely notched.

Growing conditions

The round-headed onion is photophilous, the most decorative when grown in sunny areas and southern slopes. The soils are preferably drained, loose, fertile, with a neutral reaction. Acidic soils are preliminarily limed. An important condition for planting onions is the introduction of organic and mineral fertilizers, the amount of which depends on the indicators of soil fertility.

Roundhead onions are sensitive to a lack of potassium, therefore, the content of this element must be maintained at a constant level. Gardeners consider wood ash to be an excellent potash fertilizer. Humidity for a crop is an equally important indicator, although plants are able to withstand a short drought.

Reproduction and planting

The round-headed onion is propagated by seed and vegetative methods. Seeds are sown before winter or spring. With autumn sowing, entrances appear with the onset of stable heat for the next year. Vegetative reproduction is carried out with the help of baby bulbs, which are formed at the bottom of the mother's bulb. The round-headed onion is divided three years after planting.

Baby bulbs are planted in autumn or spring. Planting depth directly depends on the size of the bulb. Planting is carried out in moistened grooves, planting must be mulched with peat or humus. This approach will prevent soil crust formation. A culture can grow in one place for many years, but when the plantings thicken, they are thinned out, otherwise the plants will become smaller and bloom worse.

Care

The usual care is loosening the aisles, weeding, mulching, watering and feeding. With the onset of spring, the mulch is removed and a new layer is applied. Watering is carried out only in drought. Fertilizers are applied in early spring, as well as during budding and bulb formation. At the end of summer, onions are fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. For spring feeding, complex mineral fertilizers with an increased content of nitrogen and potassium are used.

Usage

Round-headed onions are an excellent ornamental crop that can decorate any garden. Plants look great in group and single plantings. Low-growing forms are suitable for the formation of rocky gardens. Round-headed onions are also used for making bouquets. Moreover, such a composition will stand in water for about two weeks. The plant is often used as a spice, as well as in therapeutic and prophylactic nutrition. Leaves and stems of onions have bactericidal and antiscorbutic properties.

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