When Is the Best Time to Sow Welsh Onions in Spring

Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum) is a healthy food with a pungent taste, and eating more of it is good for your health, so when should Welsh onions be sown in spring?

1. Sowing time for Welsh onions

The sowing time for Welsh onions varies depending on the harvest time:

If they are sown in spring and harvested in autumn, sowing generally starts in March-April; if they are sown in spring and harvested in winter, sowing generally starts in March-May. Besides spring, Welsh onions are also sown in summer-autumn and winter.

In addition, different sowing times also have different requirements for Welsh onion varieties:

Welsh onions sown in spring and harvested in autumn require varieties with fast growth, tolerance to heat and rain, and high yield; options include Puwei Mingxing No. 3, No. 4, Minghui and Xin Guanjun. Generally, small-leaf varieties are not chosen for this crop.

Welsh onions sown in spring and harvested in winter require varieties with good marketability, a high marketable rate, strong low-temperature tolerance and high yield, so Yudu Welsh Onion, Mingxing No. 2, Mingmen, Changfeng Welsh Onion and Fengyu Yiben are the most ideal varieties for this crop.

Welsh onion varieties sown in summer-autumn and harvested in spring are tolerant to bolting, disease-resistant, high-yielding and can be harvested late, so Puwei Changxia, Chunhuo Wanchou and Mingjiang Wanchou are the best varieties.

Welsh onions sown in winter and harvested in spring and summer need to be tolerant to low temperatures and bolting, strongly disease-resistant and able to be harvested late, so for seedlings raised in September use Puwei Changxia, Chunhuo Wanchou and Mingjiang Wanchou; for seedlings raised in October use Mingxing No. 2, Mingmen and Fengyu Yiben.

2. Sowing methods for Welsh onions

Welsh onion seeds are small, with a hard seed coat, and the cotyledons emerge above ground; the seedlings grow slowly and the seedling stage is long. To shorten the time the land is occupied and to make management easier, seedlings are always raised and then transplanted. The seedbed must not be planted with the same crop repeatedly. After the previous crop is harvested, plow deeply and apply fertilizer, generally making raised beds 1.4 m wide (including the furrow). The seedbed should be prepared finely; before sowing, soak the bed surface with water and broadcast new seeds, using 75—100 g of seed per mu of field. After sowing, cover with 2 cm of soil, then cover with rice straw or plastic film to increase temperature and retain moisture and speed up emergence.

After sowing, field management is also needed, giving Welsh onions reasonable watering, fertilization and pest and disease control.