Rules for watering onions with salt
When growing onions, even experienced gardeners can encounter a number of troubles, such as wilting and yellowing of feathers. Some believe that the reason for this may be rather dry environmental air or, conversely, excess moisture, but, as a rule, the onion fly larvae are to blame. It is very important to take appropriate measures in time, otherwise most of the crop may die. There are ways to deal with them and, fortunately, in this situation, you can do without chemical treatment.
Signs of pest damage
Onion flies are small insects, reaching a size of 7 mm. These pests lay their larvae near planted onions or garlic; They are the ones that harm the plant. They look like this: white small worms about 10 millimeters long. They feed on the pulp of the bulb while inside it.
One of the first signs is the yellowing of onion feathers. In the future, if you do not carry out competent processing of the beds, the following signs appear:
- reduced growth of onion heads;
- feathers become lethargic, faded;
- lesions are visible on the onion heads themselves, they are soft, and an unpleasant odor can be felt.
Salt treatment
This method of pest control is the oldest and most reliable. All gardeners prefer this folk method to chemistry due to the fact that onion heads very actively accumulate harmful substances (including nitrates), and it is important to keep the crop not only healthy, but also tasty and healthy.
Watering must be done for the prevention and control of flies.In the second case, even a grown onion can be saved. For the purposes of prevention, it is necessary to water with a solution when about 3-5 full leaves are formed on the plants. But it is worth noting that the excessive content of salt components in the soil negatively affects the growth of onions. The fact is that sodium and chlorine, contained in salt, wash out calcium from the soil, and, as you know, it is vital for plants.
The chemical composition of the soil must also be taken into account, it can vary significantly in the regions. In some cases, watering with a solution will simply be necessary to enrich the soil. That is why you need to be careful with watering with salt.
Proportions
This solution is prepared quite simply, and the proportions are easy to remember. For cooking, ordinary food table salt and running water are used. To achieve the best effect, watering is done several times, and the proportions change slightly with each of them.
Thus, in the first watering, 300 grams of salt dissolves in 10 liters of water. For the second watering 450 grams for the same amount of water. And for the last time, the mass of salt increases to 600 grams per 10 liters. One bulb will need 250-300 milliliters of solution. An increase in the amount of active substance should be done if live pests remain during the examination. To do this, you need to slightly rake the ground next to one of the affected plants a week after the first use of the solution.
The second watering, in the case of surviving larvae, takes place after about 2-3 weeks. The third - with an interval of 3 weeks. And the best time of day for this procedure is the evening hours before sunset. In other words, early evening is the most favorable time.
Particular attention should be paid to the fact that the solution does not fall on the feathers of the onion, watering with salt water is done under the root.
And also 4 hours after treatment with saline, water the plants with ordinary tap water. This is necessary in order to wash excess salt from the soil and maintain its fertility. It is worth using this method with additional top dressing in order to preserve useful substances as much as possible. It can be carried out with several substances.
- Ammonium chloride. Used in the proportion of 3 tablespoons per 10 liters of water. They are fed immediately after germination.
- Dissolve in a 10 liter bucket 2 crystals of potassium permanganate, ammonium nitrate and table salt in the amount of 1 tablespoon of each substance. This procedure should be carried out about a month after planting.
- And finally superphosphate fertilizer in the proportion of 2 tablespoons per bucket of water.
These fertilizers are used in small quantities to avoid harming the onion.
Fly Control Methods
Experienced agronomists advise watering onions with saline and to prevent the appearance of pests. Thus, the appearance of onion flies can be prevented. To do this, you should follow some rules of planting and care.
- Before planting onions, it is necessary to dig up the beds well. This should be done in the fall. It is necessary to repeat the procedure immediately before planting the plants.
- Onions need a lot of space, so the beds should be made at a distance of about 20 centimeters from each other.
- The best neighbors for onions are carrots and tomatoes. It is their smell that flies do not tolerate.
- Weeds need to be removed on time.
- Plant nutrition is also very important.
- Branches from tomatoes can be laid out around the planted onions, this will repel pests.
- It is necessary to loosen the soil around the onion regularly, as flies do not like such soil.
- It is advisable to change the place of planting the onion every year for its safety.
- Around the plants, you can create small earthen slides.
- Sprinkling the bed with peat will also be a very useful procedure.
For pest control, you can use the following: mix baking soda and salt in a 1: 2 ratio and sprinkle this composition on the beds affected by the larvae.
In general, this method is well suited to those gardeners who are faced with pests in the face of an onion fly, but are afraid to use chemicals to combat them. The method is quite effective, especially if all recommendations are followed, including proper plant nutrition.
And for those who are still afraid to harm the composition of the soil using salt water, you can try the following method. Immediately before planting the onion, more precisely, 12 hours before, the seedlings are soaked in the solution. It is prepared by diluting a glass of salt in a bucket of water. Seedlings are placed in the prepared liquid, so that the upper shell absorbs enough salt to scare away the larvae of onion flies.
About 10 secrets of productive onions or how to grow healthy large onions, see the following video.