Shallot or Ashkelon is a perennial plant belonging to the onion family. Appreciated for its light taste and lack of strong smell.
Description of shallots and its difference from onions
Shallot is a type of onion. He is also familiar under other names: Alexandrian, potato, family, shrubbery. The homeland is the Middle East (Palestine), where it was known as an escalator. In Europe gained distribution after the XIII century.
This is a two year old plant. Shallots are characterized by early ripening, high productivity and frost resistance. Gather his turnip and use a pen. In the first year, they plant seeds to grow onion sets, and it is planted in the second year. A cluster of children (5-20 pcs.) Is formed from one seed, therefore, it is considered a shrub. Each bulb brings a yield of 200-300 g, and from m2 you can collect 3-4 kg of turnip and up to 5 kg of green mass.
Shallot is distinguished by a high content of vitamin C, the presence of B, PP and minerals K, Mg, Fe, S in it. The use of onions helps to improve immunity, prevent colds and has an antimicrobial effect. It is useful to use to strengthen the cardiovascular system, stimulate the digestion of food, and a positive effect on blood formation processes.
It is harmful to use in large quantities. There are contraindications.
Shallot belongs to onions, but differs in the following:
- Smaller and more elongated shape in turnips. Highly spreading feathers. Better stored.
- Grows nests. Inside the bulb, zones with primordia are visible, not rings.
- The color of the turnip depends on the region of growth. In the northern regions it has a yellowish tint and bitterness in taste. In the southern regions - lilac.
- It tolerates temperature extremes in the spring months, does not go immediately into the arrow, like onions.
- First, the root system is formed, and then only in warm weather - greenery. This feature allows you to plant it in the winter.
- Feathers have a delicate delicate taste that gives piquancy to different dishes.
- It does not have a pungent odor, does not cause pain in the eyes when cutting. Delicate, sweetish with a piquant aroma, taste that allows you to freely apply it fresh and as a seasoning for meat and fish.
Varieties of shallots
Onion varieties are divided into three classes, based on their formation periods:
- early
- medium;
- late.
Early varieties have a sweet, spicy taste. The nest contains up to 10 bulbs.
Shredder
Differs in lilac color: the external dried-up scales - with red, internal - with whiteness. A fresh and early thin feather grows to 35 cm. The head forms an oval shape up to 10 cm in size, 2.5 cm across.
White Queen
Light bulb, and a cream-colored husk. It multiplies rapidly. Very rarely gets sick. Can be stored for a long time.
Belozerets 94
Dry husk has a purple color. Characterized by a large yield, remarkable persistence and immunity to disease.
Mid-season varieties
Fewer bulbs in the nest. Taste quality depends on the variety.
Airat
Soft, but quite spicy taste. There are 5-7 bulbs in the nest. Round turnip with yellow husk.
Delicacy
Refined taste. Golden onion is distinguished by a white juicy pulp.
Features of growing shallots
When planting in open ground, it prefers loosened, fertile soils with an acidity of pH 6-7. These include chernozem and a different mixture of clay and sand. Be sure to deep groundwater. Otherwise, good drainage is needed to drain them. Landing is carried out on a hill in a well-lit place. A shadow is not desirable.
Seeds are sorted. Only healthy bulbs are chosen for cultivation: a diameter of 3 cm is needed to turnip, if more than 3, then get greenery and arrow. A large sowing will have more lobules than a medium-sized one, but they are slightly smaller.
Forerunners and neighbors for shallot
If you need a good harvest, then you need to pay attention to previous grown plants. It is best to plant shallots after peas, beans and beans. You can place it on the site, if in the previous year representatives of nightshade, pumpkin or cabbage grew. It is not advisable to choose the place where corn, sunflower, garlic or beets grew.
It is very bad if the precursor was carrots. It is better to plant it next to scare off the onion fly.
You can place on adjacent beds: lettuce, radish or strawberries.
Landing site preparation
To saturate the earth with oxygen, to destroy pests and weeds, the site must be dug up to the depth of the shovel. Before this, it is advisable to make fertilizer per m2: 3-4 kg of manure or compost, 15-20 g of superphosphate and urea, 45-80 g of wood ash. In the spring, nitrogen is necessarily added to the site - 15-20 g per m2. When planting onions in the fall, a place is prepared for him at the end of August, if planted in the spring, then in the fall.
Landing time
The best time to land is when the snow has completely melted. Therefore, in the southern regions, onions are the end of February, and for the middle lane - mid-April. After 30 days, feathers will appear on it, and after 45-60 a turnip will form. Spring planting is preferable because the bulb is well formed and is less likely to be attacked by pests. At a later date in the spring - it will not give good greenery, but the root will immediately begin to grow.
To obtain early feathers, it is better to plant shallots under winter before the onset of cold weather, but so that it does not begin to grow cloves. In this case, onions will please with good shoots in the spring, and greens will appear at the very beginning of spring.
Shallot planting technology
It is necessary to plant shallots for two consecutive years: first the seeds, and then the seeds. The technology of this process is almost the same, but there are some differences.
Sevkom
Sort out the entire set, leaving only healthy bulbs. It is advisable to choose according to size: not large and not small - medium. They must be fried in the oven (40 ° C) or placed on a hot battery. You can pour water at an acceptable temperature.
They are planted in beds or in ridges, without pressing, but sealed with soil so that only small tops stick out. To do this, prepare grooves or pits (4-5 cm), leaving a distance of 7-10 cm between them. When autumn planting, increase the depth and distance to 20-30 cm.
Seeds
The order is similar. The seeds are moistened by wrapping in a wet cloth for 48 hours. Do not allow them to dry out. The depth of the grooves is made smaller (3 cm) and planted according to the scheme of 7-8x20 cm. If the procedure is carried out in autumn, then the seeds do not need to be soaked.
Care
Shallots, like other plants, require the necessary work to get a good harvest.
| Work | Actions |
| Watering | Regular, moderate. It does not require auxiliary humidification with an appropriate amount of precipitation. In dry weather, watering is carried out every 2-3 days. |
| Weeding | An important stage before the appearance of the first feathers, as weeds at that moment can destroy the plant. |
| Loosening | Carried out with the formation of a hard crust on the soil surface. |
| Thinning | Carry out, if necessary, grow a large turnip. Usually carried out in the middle of summer, removing small bulbs. |
| Top dressing | After 1.5-2 weeks after germination, they are treated with a solution of cow manure or bird droppings in a ratio of 1:10. At the same time, mineral fertilizers (phosphate, nitric acid salts or urea) are used - 10-15 g per m2. Repeatedly can be carried out with the formation of bulbs. Then a potassium solution is used: 5-7 g per bucket of water. Stop all species 30 days before harvesting. |
Diseases and Pests
Onions are rarely attacked by pests and a number of diseases.
| Problem | Remedial measures |
| An uneven white strip forms near the bottom of the bulb. | The onion nematode is a small worm. The sevoc is soaked for 2 min in a 4% solution of formaldehyde with methanol. It can be dipped in hot water at 45 ° C. |
| The tips of the feathers turn white, wilts. Bulbs rot. | Light gray onion fly with a green back. Drives her planted carrots next. You can spread between the rows of wormwood or tansy. |
| Aphids prefer young shoots, sucking juice. | Spray the cooked broth (chamomile, hot pepper). You can use special drugs. |
| Powdery mildew, fusarium, peronosporosis, rot of the bottom | Fungal diseases. Healthy turnips are treated with insecticides. Patients destroy. |
Harvesting and storage
Harvesting begins after the greens become harsh and first turn a little yellow, and then creep. Before this, the collection does not begin, otherwise the shallots will be poorly stored and will germinate prematurely. Harvested early in the morning on a dry sunny day and dried properly under a canopy. Leaves are cut off from the bulbs, and then they are twisted into clusters.
They are kept suspended in a dark place with good air access. You can leave it in the nets for a month by attaching them to the wall. Then the onions are sorted out and the earth removed from it.
You can store middle and late varieties for a year after harvest:
- in boxes made of cardboard or wood;
- in baskets;
- on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator;
- in kapron stockings.
Bulbs require a temperature of + 8 ... +10 ° C, and seeds + 15 ... +20 ° C. Humidity is maintained no higher than 60-70%.
Mr. Summer resident recommends: beneficial properties of shallots
Onion contains the necessary components for human health (vitamins, minerals), so its regular use can improve body functions. It has the following positive effects:
- normalization of blood pressure;
- strengthening the walls of blood vessels;
- lower cholesterol;
- increasing the body's resistance to foreign objects;
- improvement of the gastrointestinal tract;
- destruction of pathogenic flora;
- positive effects on vision;
- elimination of toxins;
- straightening the quality of hair and nails.
The attractive taste and smell available allow us to classify shallots as delicacies, and are widely used in French cuisine. It is added to liquid, meat and fish dishes during cooking. Onions can be kept in the marinade, frozen or dried.
