Detailed Guide to Fertilizing Chives: Fertilizing the "Lazy Person's Vegetable" Requires Care

Chives are a vegetable with very strong vitality, rapid growth, and the ability to be harvested multiple times, which is why we also call them the lazy person's vegetable. During chive cultivation, the fertilizer requirement is not very high; they can survive even in poor soil, though the leaves grown in such conditions are relatively small and thin, not as wide and thick as those bought outside. To achieve high yields with chives, fertilizer application is usually indispensable. Let us take a look at the specific fertilizing techniques below.

I. Chive Fertilizing Techniques

1. Apply sufficient base fertilizer

Chives are a perennial vegetable, so to lay the foundation for a bountiful harvest, sufficient base fertilizer must be applied before sowing, but the fertilizer must be well fermented, otherwise it can easily cause pests and diseases.

During the seedling stage, chives have low demand for and consumption of fertilizer. At this stage, the root system has not yet developed well and its ability to absorb fertilizer is relatively weak. Therefore, while applying sufficient base fertilizer, it is best to also apply some quick-acting chemical fertilizer as a top dressing to accelerate root growth.

When chives grow to about 20 cm, they can be transplanted. At the time of transplanting, sufficient organic fertilizer should be applied. After spreading the fertilizer into the soil, deep plowing is needed to mix it evenly. After leveling and making beds, transplanting can proceed. Once the chives mature and can be harvested, an additional top dressing should be applied.

2. Clever use of plant ash

When growing chives, you can cleverly apply some plant ash, especially during the growth stage. Applying some plant ash can more quickly promote root development and tillering in chives. Plant ash is a water-soluble quick-acting potassium fertilizer with a relatively obvious yield-increasing effect.

In addition, one more point: chives grown in greenhouses are more prone to gray mold, and applying plant ash can reduce the incidence of gray mold. Also, some vegetable growers use too much ammonium sulfate when top dressing. Long-term use of ammonium sulfate acidifies the soil, which leads to yellowing and death of chives, but plant ash can neutralize the soil's pH, allowing chives to grow normally.

3. Timely top dressing

After transplanting, chives gradually enter autumn. Autumn temperatures are relatively suitable for chive growth and are also a critical period for water and fertilizer management, so timely fertilization and maintaining nutrient supply are essential.

For chives to overwinter successfully, top dressing is usually needed two to three times, generally once in early September, once in late September, and once in early October, with about 15 to 20 kg of ammonium sulfate per mu each time. About 3 days after harvesting chives, new leaves begin to grow slowly. At this time, you can apply ammonium sulfate once combined with watering. About two to three days after harvesting, water and fertilize promptly.

II. Key Points for Harvesting Chives

Although chives are harvested by cutting, attention must be paid to the harvest interval, which generally must not be less than one month. Too short an interval is tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs and is absolutely inadvisable. Also, the last harvest of chives in autumn, that is, 20 days before frost, should be stopped to allow the chives to prepare for winter dormancy.