One of the famous southern varieties of onions is Yalta. This is an excellent choice for gardeners who want to get a crop of red onions with a sweet taste for fresh consumption. Read more about the characteristics, timing and method of cultivation of this crop, read on.
Yalta bow
The taste of Yalta onion is sweet without bitterness
Yalta onion grows only on the southern coast of Crimea
Grade description
In the 50s of the 20th century, the Yalta Onion was bred in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, which is the result of the artificial crossing of several "foreign" cultures brought by travelers to the territory of Crimea in the 19th century:
- flat and round purple varieties from the Portuguese island of Madeira;
- sweet varieties from Spain.
The qualities of the bred plant can be found in the table:
Parameter | Description |
Ripening period and productivity | Mid-season variety - bulbs reach ripeness on 150-160 days from the moment of planting in the ground. From 1 hectare of the site will be able to collect up to 80 tons of heads. |
Feathers | Dark green feathers are large and covered with a waxy coating. |
Bulbs | Unscrupulous merchants often soak regular onions in an ink solution to pass it off as the Yalta sweet variety. In order not to be deceived in such a situation, you need to pay attention to the following parameters:
|
Destination | Onions with sweet and juicy inner scales are most often cut into rings and used raw for salads or garnishing. They can also be baked or grilled until semi-soft by cutting them into thick rings and sprinkling with oil and salt. However, it is better not to heat salad onions in order not to reduce their beneficial properties. |
Keeping | Yalta onions are not suitable for long-term storage - ripe heads do not lie longer than 4-5 months due to the content of large amounts of water and sugar. |
Given the indicators of keeping quality and the fact that the crop is harvested before the beginning of September, it becomes clear that at the end of winter, spring and early summer it is impossible to buy a genuine sweet onion.
Where to grow?
Real Yalta onion can be cultivated only in the southern coast of Crimea, as it is very demanding on the long summer season, as well as on the composition of the soil and moisture. Basically, onion fields are located in the following suburban villages on the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula:
- Landslide;
- Simeize;
- Blue Bay;
- Zaprudny;
- Lavrov.
If this variety is grown in other climatic conditions, then it loses its originality - sweetness and juiciness, and also acquires an uncharacteristic pungency.
Agricultural technology
Crimean onion is considered a whimsical variety, since violation of the rules of its cultivation leads to the formation of dry fruits with thin pale husks and bitter flesh. To prevent this, you need to follow all the rules of agricultural technology exactly:
- Planting method. The variety is grown not from seedlings, but from seeds using seedlings. If they are immediately sown outdoors, the ripening period will increase and the bulbs will acquire bitterness. In addition, with the seedless method, the crop yield will decrease from 200 to 100 kg / ha, and the bulb shape index (height to diameter ratio) will increase.
- Sowing dates. To get a rich harvest, you need to sow seeds for seedlings at the end of winter (in the last decade of February) or in early March (from 1 to 10). After 1.5-2 months, grown and strengthened seedlings can be transplanted into open ground. The optimal time for planting is in late April - early May.
- Lighting. The landing area should be well lit by sunlight during the whole daylight, so that the onion develops actively and can acquire the most sweet taste.
- The soil. The main reason why this variety cannot be grown in other regions is due to inappropriate soil conditions. Onions will acquire their quality characteristics only when cultivated in Tauride schists. This soil heats up very well during the day and gradually gives off heat to the root crops throughout the night. At home, it is impossible to recreate its characteristics, so you need to use the most fertile, loose and shallow soil.
Experienced gardeners note that Yalta onions feel comfortable in rocky soil. In such a land composition, the bulbs do not deepen excessively, therefore, they receive the required amount of solar pace, actively grow and acquire the best commercial qualities.
- Predecessors. According to the rules of crop rotation, you cannot plant a vegetable after other varieties of onions. They should also not be located in the neighborhood. As for the good predecessors, these include the following cultures:
- potatoes;
- bushes of tomatoes;
- cabbage;
- greenery.
Site preparation
The selected place for planting seedlings must be prepared in advance, adhering to the following guide:
- In the fall, six months before planting, plow the site to a depth of 40 cm and remove all weeds. Then level the soil and destroy the plant residues. Finish all these procedures in October, otherwise the soil will dry out, which will negatively affect the onion.
- In early spring, if necessary, fertilize the soil with ammonium nitrate and potassium salt. Before planting onions, harrow the garden bed once every 7-10 days so that the soil is as loose and soft as possible.
Seedlings are planted in early April, so by this time the garden should be in perfect condition.
Growing seedlings
Growing strong seedlings is essential for a good yield of sweet bulbs. In the southern regions, seeds can be sown in a greenhouse or in a greenhouse, and in other areas it is better to grow seedlings at home to provide it with the proper level of light and heat. This procedure can be divided into two stages, each of which requires separate consideration.
Sowing seeds
The technology of sowing seeds for seedlings is as follows:
- Seed handling. In order to disinfect, the seeds need to be sorted out and soaked for 30-40 minutes in a soft pink solution of potassium permanganate. Further, it is recommended to rinse them and keep them in a growth stimulator, following the instructions for the preparation. After soaking, drain the water and dry the seeds.
- Preparation of the container and substrate. Any container can be used as a container for growing seedlings, but the requirements for the soil are more stringent. It must be loose and fertile. To obtain such a composition, you can mix sod land and humus in equal parts, and then add 50 g of mineral fertilizers. The resulting mixture remains to be poured into the container with a layer of the order of 14-15 cm and well watered.
- Sowing. Place the treated seeds in the soil to a depth of 1 cm, leaving a distance of 5 cm between them. After sowing, moisten the substrate from the spray bottle, cover with polyethylene and put it in a warm, well-lit place (for example, on the windowsill of the south side).
Seedling Care
To obtain strong seedlings that can actively grow and give sweet juicy bulbs, it is necessary to provide competent care for the planting, which consists in carrying out such activities:
- Creating an optimal microclimate. After sowing, the seed containers should be kept at a temperature of + 20… + 25 ° C. After about 2-3 weeks, when the first shoots appear, provide the seedlings with a cooler temperature (during the day no higher than + 15 ° C, and at night - 10 ° C), otherwise they will stretch and weaken. At the same time, make sure that the containers are always well lit. This may require the use of phytolamps or other lamps.
- Watering. The top layer of the soil must always be kept moist by regularly moistening it with a spray bottle. Reduce the frequency of irrigation should be closer to the timing of planting seedlings at a constant place.
- Top dressing. It is carried out twice for the entire period of growing seedlings:
- 2 weeks after sowing - apply mineral fertilizers to the soil (10 g of superphosphate, 5 g of urea and 3 g of potassium chloride per 5 liters of water);
- 20 days after the first top dressing - fertilize the soil with a solution of ammonium nitrate (1 g per 10 liters of water).
- Thinning. When the onion sprouts grow a little, they need to be thinned out - remove weak specimens, leaving at least 1 cm between healthy and strong bushes.If this procedure is neglected, then the seedlings will not be able to gain strength.
- Hardening. 7 days before planting, take out the seedlings daily to fresh air, so that in the future they quickly adapt to new growing conditions. The hardening time must be increased every day, so that by the end of the procedure they would be on the street all day.
By the age of 2 months, the seedlings will acquire 3-4 true leaves 15-20 cm long and a stem at least 0.5 cm high.In this phase, it is excellent for planting in a garden.
Planting seedlings in open ground
Mature seedlings need to be transplanted into prepared soil, following these instructions:
- Sprinkle plentifully, gently pouring water under their root.
- Young plants are slowly removed from the container, shortened their roots and leaves (about half their length).
- Water the soil abundantly and plant shoots on the site according to a wide-row pattern:
- the distance between plants in a row is 8-10 cm;
- row spacing - 35-40 cm;
- grooves depth - 4 cm.
Adhering to such planting parameters, per 1 sq. m beds will be able to accommodate about 35 seedlings.
- After planting, cover the roots of the onion with earth, carefully compact and water.
Landing care
So that the efforts to prepare the site and grow seedlings are not in vain, after planting in open ground for onions, you need to provide competent care. For this, it is necessary to carry out a number of agrotechnical measures in a timely manner.
Watering
It should be regular to prevent drying out of the soil. If you neglect this rule, then the heads of the Crimean onion will not be sweet, but will be sharp. It is necessary to water the culture by irrigation of the rows between the well-maintained warm (+ 20 ... + 22 ° С) water.
Stop watering 20 days before the expected harvest time in order to increase the keeping quality of the heads.
Tillage
After watering, the soil must be slightly loosened in order to prevent the formation of a crust on its surface. If this is not done, then the plant roots will not be able to receive the required amount of oxygen and moisture, which hinders the formation of large juicy onion heads.
Together with loosening, it is necessary to weed the beds, that is, to remove weeds. If weeds are left on the site, they will shade the onion plantings, interfering with the normal development of the vegetable.
Top dressing
From the moment of planting until the last days of July, the seedlings need to be fed every 10-12 days, alternately using the following nutritional compositions:
- Organic. To prepare the solution, dilute mullein (1: 5) or chicken droppings (1:10) in water.
- Potassium phosphate fertilizer. The solution can be prepared from 20 g of potassium chloride and 40 g of superphosphate per 10 liters of water.
When feeding onions, do not exceed the specified norms of nutrients, as this will only damage the culture.
Disease protection
The Yalta onion is resistant to various diseases, but when the soil is waterlogged, it can become infected with fungal pathologies, including root rot and peronosporosis. In this regard, it needs to be watered frequently, but in moderation. As a preventive measure, the culture can also be processed by adhering to the following scheme:
- in the rooting phase of seedlings - 1% Bordeaux liquid;
- 2-3 weeks after the first treatment - with 0.4% Arcerid solution;
- 20 days after the second treatment with Arceride.
If there are signs of fungal diseases, the planting should be treated with Bordeaux liquid or fungicide (Ridomil, Arcerid, Allett).
Harvesting and storage of crops
Harvesting should be started with massive leaf lodging. This period begins later than with ordinary onions, and often occurs at the end of August - beginning of September. It is impossible to delay digging out the ripe heads, since autumn rains can cause their decay.
It is enough to forge mature onions with a pitchfork or dig them up, and then pull them out manually. It is advisable to eat them for several weeks. If it is planned to lay the bulbs for storage up to 4-5 months, then the following rules must be taken into account:
- the room temperature can be in the range of + 10 ... + 15 ° C;
- the air must be dry and the humidity low (up to 50%);
- the heads are best tied into bundles with the help of long shoots (they can be woven into "braids" and form an onion "bunch") and suspended from the ceiling, preventing them from touching each other.
In its original form, the Yalta onion grows only in Crimea, but in other regions with a warm climate and long daylight hours, this sweet red vegetable can also be grown. The culture is quite whimsical and requires strict adherence to the above rules of agricultural technology. Their violation will lead to a decrease in yield and the production of ordinary spicy bulbs with poor keeping quality.