Protecting The Onion Crop

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Many of us have faced such a problem as rotting onions during storage. You often have to sort out vegetables, remove rotting ones, otherwise there is a terrible smell in the basement and shed, and the "neighboring" bulbs begin to deteriorate quickly. Let's try to figure out why this is happening and how to deal with this phenomenon?

What can provoke onion rot?

The main reason that causes such an unpleasant phenomenon as spoilage of the onion crop is disease. Which?

Rot of the bottom

Otherwise, this disease is called fusarium. The causative agent of this very unpleasant disease is a fungus. And it often manifests itself even in the period when the onion "sits" in the garden. The first sign of this unpleasant disease is the rapid death of onion feathers. If you notice a similar phenomenon in your onion garden, then pull out the onion with dead leaves and carefully examine it. If the roots on the bottom are absent, that is, they have rotted, and the bulb itself is soft and watery to the touch, then most likely your onion is infected with fusarium.

Before harvesting for storage, carefully examine all the bulbs and exclude diseased fruits from entering the basement or shed.

Bacterial rot

A very unpleasant phenomenon. The worst thing about this disease is that during harvesting it is impossible to notice signs of the disease and immediately eliminate diseased bulbs, usually bacterial rot appears within two to four months. What does bacterial rot look like? It is easy to recognize it when peeling and slicing onions: healthy onion scales alternate with diseased, soft ones. The smell of a diseased bulb is very unpleasant.

Cervical rot

Another disease leading to crop spoilage. Also, like the previous disease, it is invisible at the beginning, although it can be avoided, since this rot affects only those bulbs whose neck is poorly dried. If such a bulb is stored, then its deterioration begins in about a month and a half, a gray bloom appears on the neck, and after a while black spots appear. These spots are the focus of the spread of the disease. All healthy bulbs lying nearby also become infected and deteriorate over time. Therefore, it is extremely important to track the disease in time.

Improper preparation of the crop for storage can also cause the death of the harvested onion. It is important to dry the onions well, to exclude the bulbs with mechanical damage. Also, be sure to follow the recommended storage temperature.

What to do?

First of all - to carry out the prevention of the above-described diseases, starting from the moment of planting the seedlings in the garden. By the way, before planting onions, you need to find out about the correct crop rotation and, based on this, select a site. For example, cabbage, cucumbers and potatoes are considered excellent precursors. You can plant onions in the old garden no earlier than after three to four years. Before planting, be sure to decontaminate the seed with special means (if you have a supply of potassium permanganate, then hold the seed in its weak solution).

During the growth process, be sure to use organic pest repellent and exclude bacterial diseases (for example, tobacco, mustard, etc.).

After harvesting, cut the neck to a height of 5 centimeters, dry the bulbs thoroughly in the sun. It is advisable to lightly "ignite" them in a heated bath or stove.

Then fold it into small drawers with holes, thereby providing excellent ventilation, and lower it into the basement or put it away in the shed. Sort out the harvest every month and if there are damaged and diseased bulbs, be sure to remove them from the total mass.