Red Onion: Benefits and Effects, and Fertilization Methods to Increase Yield
Red onions are round and bulbous, and are one of the vegetables many people prefer. For farmers, of course, the greatest hope is to harvest a crop that sells for a good price, so what are the benefits and effects of red onions? How should red onions be fertilized? How can yields be increased?
1. Benefits and Effects of Red Onions
Red onion tastes sweet with a slight pungency and is warm in nature; it enters the liver, spleen, stomach and lung meridians; it has the effects of moistening the intestines, regulating qi and harmonizing the stomach, strengthening the spleen and promoting appetite, dispelling wind-cold, warming the middle and unblocking yang, promoting digestion and dissolving meat, refreshing the mind and strengthening the body, and dispersing blood stasis and resolving toxins; it mainly treats exogenous pathogenic factors.
2. How should red onions be fertilized? How can yields be increased?
(1) Seedling stage: red onion seedlings grow slowly and have few roots, so the nursery bed for the 12582 Nongxintong website should be chosen as loose, fertile soil with strong water retention. Fertilization of the seedbed has a great influence on seedling quality and yield. Generally, for a seedling bed (11.3 sq m), 10kg of Diliwang base fertilizer can be applied, plus 0.5~1 kg of superphosphate. After evenly spreading the base fertilizer over the bed surface, dig and turn the bed soil twice so that the fertilizer and soil are mixed evenly, then rake the bed surface level and sow. During the seedling stage, combined with watering, 17~20 kg of decomposed human and livestock manure and urine can be applied per bed as a top dressing, or 0.2~0.25 kg of quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer can be applied as a top dressing to promote seedling growth.
(2) Planting stage: before the red onion seedlings are planted, sufficient base fertilizer should be applied. Generally, 200——250kg of Diliwang base fertilizer per mu is applied, along with 20-30 kg of high-potassium compound fertilizer (such as Wofute 15-5-20 nitro-sulfur-based, Tianji 18-918 nitro-sulfur-based). Generally, slightly less is used in the south, but a certain amount of plant ash is often mixed in; slightly more is used in the north, and in some places 25~40 kg of superphosphate is additionally applied. Generally, this is done in combination with land preparation and bed making, and is broadcast evenly over the whole area.
(3) From after planting to the harvest stage: top dressing of red onions should be carried out according to their nutrient uptake pattern. During the seedling stage, growth is slow and nutrient absorption is not much, especially for overwintering seedlings, where fertilizer and water must be strictly controlled to prevent excessive growth causing premature bolting. If the base fertilizer is insufficient and the seedling leaves are yellow and thin, 3~5 kg of nitrogen per mu can be applied combined with watering.
About 20 days before planting, if the seedlings are still weak, a light top dressing can be applied once more. After planting, top dressing should be applied in stages and in appropriate amounts so that the plants can grow vigorously. For those planted before overwintering, after greening up in March, combined with watering for greening up, about 1000 kg of decomposed manure water per mu of vegetable field, or about 10 kg of ammonium sulfate, is applied.
As the temperature gradually rises and the plants enter the period of vigorous leaf growth, fertilizer demand increases, and top dressing should be applied 1~2 times, using 10~15 kg of ammonium sulfate and 5.0~7.5 kg of potassium sulfate per mu, or 1000~2000 kg of decomposed manure and urine. At the same time, the amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied should also be controlled to prevent excessive aboveground growth and delayed bulb expansion.
The beginning of bulb expansion is the key period for top dressing red onions. Apply another 20~25 kg of ammonium sulfate per mu of vegetable field, or 10~12 kg of urea, together with an appropriate amount of potassium fertilizer. After that, apply top dressing as appropriate according to field growth conditions to meet the needs of continuous bulb expansion. Throughout the entire bulb expansion period, the soil should be kept moist at all times.