When Is the Best Time to Water Onions in Spring

AbstractOnions are generally watered around Qingming Festival, and as spring temperatures rise, they can be watered about once every 10 days. During the bulb enlargement stage, water once every 5 days, and watering should be stopped about one week before harvest.

1. Timely watering

1. Onions are usually transplanted in autumn. To ensure they survive the winter safely, be sure to water thoroughly after transplanting.

2. Around mid-March in spring, onions enter the greening stage and can be watered around Qingming Festival. As temperatures gradually rise, onions enter a period of rapid growth. To promote rapid growth, watering about once every 10 days is generally sufficient.

3. Onions need a relatively large amount of water during the bulb enlargement stage, so water about once every 5 days, and stop watering about 7-10 days before harvest.

2. Reasonable fertilization

1. To promote rapid growth of onions, fertilization can be carried out in stages. If sufficient base fertilizer was applied before transplanting onions, there is no need to apply early-stage fertilizer.

2. When the plants enter the rapid growth period, organic fertilizer should be applied as a top dressing, at about 4000 jin per mu, along with phosphate and potassium fertilizers. When fertilizing, do not apply excessive nitrogen fertilizer, as it can easily cause excessive leaf growth and premature bolting.

3. When the bulb enlargement stage arrives, a second top dressing can be applied. To promote enlargement of the underground part, mainly phosphate and potassium fertilizers should be applied.

3. Cultivation and earthing up

1. When planting, in order to enhance soil permeability and improve nutrient utilization, cultivation and earthing up should be carried out in time. This helps promote bulb enlargement and thus increases yield.

2. During the onion seedling stage, the frequency of loosening the soil should be appropriately increased, with at least about 4 times. During the onion stem and leaf growth period, the number of soil loosenings can be appropriately reduced, and about 1-2 times is sufficient.

3. Note that when loosening and earthing up the soil, the underground onion bulbs must not be damaged, so as not to affect onion quality. Therefore, shallow cultivation is best.

4. Removing bolts

1. During the onion growth period, premature bolting may occur. Removing buds and splitting bolts appropriately helps promote the growth of side buds and enlarge the underground bulbs, thereby increasing onion yield.

2. Generally, remove them when onions are budding, before flower heads have formed. It should not be done too early, otherwise it will affect normal onion growth.

5. Pest and disease control

1. Common onion diseases include purple blotch and leaf blight. If disease is found, it must be controlled in time. Continuous cropping should not be used; rotation is better.

2. Before planting, seeds can be dressed with carbendazim. In the early stage of disease, chlorothalonil or mancozeb can be sprayed for control.

3. To control thrips and seed maggots, deltamethrin and similar products can be sprayed.