How to Prevent Onion Seedling Gaps? Latest Methods Explained

When planting onions, no one wants to see seedling gaps appear, but this is something everyone often runs into. So if you want to prevent this situation, from which aspects should you approach it? Let's take a look together below at how to prevent onion seedling gaps.

1. Soil Management

The first thing to do is soil management, because many onion seedlings easily fail to take root and sprout due to factors in this area. This process mainly includes several aspects such as sterilizing the soil, leveling the land, and building up the soil. Sterilization treatment means eliminating substances such as weed seeds and pathogens hidden in the soil to avoid harming the seedlings. Then loosen the soil by plowing and level it into a state suitable for planting. Finally, apply fertilizer and water appropriately to make the soil more fertile. In this way, the factors on the soil side that cause seedling gaps are reduced to the greatest extent.

2. Reasonable Planting

Reasonable planting here means that during planting, the planting depth and other aspects all meet the standard, avoiding the death of seedlings caused by planting too deep or too shallow. The best planting depth for onion seedlings is about 3 cm. First close the soil back in, making sure the soil being closed in is loose and free of clods. Then press the soil down a bit so that the soil can fully wrap around the onion seedlings. This makes it less likely for the seedlings to fail to come into contact with the soil, and can effectively prevent seedling gaps.

3. Heat Preservation and Moisture Retention

No one can control the climate. The weather may be fine at planting time, and then it may keep changing afterward. To prevent seedling gaps caused by weather, the only thing to do is to do a good job of heat preservation and moisture retention. If the temperature is relatively low, then it is best to use plastic film for heat preservation, especially for open-field planting, where special attention should be paid to this. Next, if the soil is relatively dry, you can water after covering with plastic film, which can effectively reduce water evaporation and ensure the moisture needs of the onion seedlings. Doing these two things well can also reduce the occurrence of seedling gaps.

4. Reasonable Culling

No one can guarantee that all the onion seedling seeds they plant are good, nor can they guarantee that all the ones that grow out are high quality. But you can carry out selection and replace these poor-quality seedlings with high-quality ones. Reasonably culling some seedlings that do not meet the standard can effectively reduce the harm these weak seedlings do to the surrounding area. Next, you can continue planting new seedlings on the basis of these seedlings, reducing seedling gaps. Things like diseased seedlings and stunted seedlings are generally the first to be culled, because they have a certain ability to spread.

The above are some methods for preventing and controlling the occurrence of seedling gaps when planting onions. If you run into it, you should first find out what cause led to it, and then address it in a targeted way. In this way, it will not easily happen again afterward.