Watering onions with ammonia: how to water and why

Vegetable growing » Onions

7484

Article rating

Kira Stoletova

Growing onions is not difficult, but not everyone knows how to water onions with ammonia. This root crop is also susceptible to damage from harmful insects and microorganisms, and can also suffer from specific diseases.

Watering onions with ammonia

If young onions are not diagnosed and processed in a timely manner, they will eventually grow small and cannot be preserved for a long period. Only proper care will give this crop the strength to grow and produce a good harvest.

A little about onion culture itself

Every gardener who wants to get the maximum yield invests energy in his crops. To do this, he carefully cultivates the soil, preparing it, then buys seeds or ready-made seedlings and, in addition, uses fertilizer. One of the most popular crops cultivated in gardens is onions. It is used almost every day, because it is added to first and second courses, salads, etc.

The agronomic norm of onions is 19, that is, they carry little fertilizer from the soil. Most gardeners and agronomists ignore fertilizing, are indifferent to pests, and ultimately begin to resent the fact that their harvest is so meager, even though it is an ecologically natural product.

Thoughtless use of chemicals for growing onions is the wrong approach, but watering onions with ammonia in normal quantities does not lead to the accumulation of nitrates, because it acts as a protector against pests.

From one field of "berries"

People have long used onions and garlic to fight infectious diseases. Vegetables are eaten raw, added to salads, soups and meat products. In almost every garden there are these healing crops that strengthen the immune system. The quality of products depends not only on weather conditions. There must be enough nitrogen in the soil so that spice crops can absorb it. However, they do not always succeed.

The reason is the structural features of plants:

thin weak root system;
roots, fruit, stem smoothly transform into foliage;
the interconnection of all parts of a culture (one gets sick, everyone suffers).

In order for vegetables to absorb nutrients from the soil, they should not be too deep.

If plants experience nitrogen deficiency, it is determined by a number of signs:

the plates take on a pale green color;
yellow spots appear on the foliage;
redness of the tips is observed;
the drying process is gradually taking place;
the underground part stops growing;
the heads begin to rot.

High-quality fertilizing saves crops. Of course, you can add urea or urea. However, even the slightest dose violation usually leads to disaster. Let's find out the best option for a unique fertilizer that costs pennies.

Features of using ammonia

Professionals highlight a special technique for how to water homemade onions with ammonia and how often this can be done, so they immediately answer all the related questions: why spray, can onions be treated with ammonia, when to water, etc.

Ammonia or ammonia is a colorless, transparent solution that has a strong, characteristic, pungent odor. It is ammonium hydroxide dissolved in water. This is a nitrogen fertilizer that is quite quickly and easily absorbed by plants, but not all crops can be treated with ammonia, because it does not act in the same way. For example, it has no effect on strawberries.

Treating young onions with ammonia is an important procedure, since this crop absorbs ammonia well. Therefore, to the question of whether it is possible to water onions with ammonia, the answer is obvious; the main thing is that you need to use the correct dosage so as not to harm the root crop.

Feeding scheme

Feeding onion plantings with ammonia, diluted in the correct concentrations, is carried out in June and July once a week. In addition, before the onset of winter, they fertilize the soil while loosening the beds by pouring a weak ammonia solution to a depth of 15 cm.

Experienced gardeners practice the following feeding scheme:

first treat the onion by applying the product at the root;
after a week, feed by spraying;
after 10 days, repeat foliar feeding;
let the onions rest for another 10 days - and feed them again using the root method.

It is recommended to fertilize with an ammonia solution once every 7 days. First, use a weakly concentrated solution, then increase the dosage to the desired level.

If the onion turns dark green, it means that fertilizing with ammonia needs to be stopped. Shrunken feather tips also become a signal to stop processing plants.

Ammonia as a fertilizer

There is an opinion that watering with ammonia does not have a negative side, that is, it is simply impossible to overfeed the plant with ammonia, because even the wrong dosage of the drug does not lead to negative consequences, that is, the accumulation of nitrates. But this is not true, because if you often use the mixture, the plant will quickly absorb nitrates and accumulate them.

Onion is a plant that belongs to the category of those that absorb ammonia nitrogen well. Ammonia is a complex caustic compound; at high concentrations in water, it can easily burn the feathers of a plant or even a turnip. Incorrect proportions of the solution lead to the development of the upper part (green mass), but at a loss to the root crop, it promotes the reproduction and development of harmful putrefactive microorganisms, so it is important to clearly know the correct dosages so that fertilizing the onions with ammonia will be beneficial.

Salt

The amount of salt per bucket of water makes one shudder when reading it.
Moreover, the would-be advisers are confused about what to water with such a concentrated solution: onion feathers or the soil? We'll give you a hint. There is no need to water anything with strong saline solution. Napalm! We need to burn everything clean with napalm! Or, just to be on the safe side, hit it with a nuclear charge. The effect will be the same: absolutely barren scorched earth.

Well, what kind of plant can live with such a concentration of salt in the soil? They recommend salting the onions, yeah. Moreover, it is recommended to water it with clean water in between “salting”. This means that the solution should penetrate the soil deeper, to be sure.

No doubt, there will be no onion flies in the beds. And nothing at all will happen for several years. Until the normal microflora of the soil is restored.

Advice. Gentlemen, use logic and common sense. Look for other methods of getting rid of the misfortune.

Fight against harmful organisms

The time when you can water onions with ammonia is called favorable, because during this period not only the plant is fed with useful substances, but also the fight against the main harmful organisms is carried out. The same insects simply cannot stand the smell of ammonia, therefore, when onions are treated with ammonia, even a minimal concentration leads to the destruction of pests.

Who can be destroyed in this way:

flies (onion);
bugs;
secretive proboscis.

In order to destroy the secretive proboscis, which is classified as a dangerous insect pest, you need to water the plant with ammonia. This procedure is repeated 2 times, for it you take 10 liters of ordinary water, and you need to dilute 20-25 g of ammonia in it. The first spraying should be done at the beginning of bolting (approximately in spring), the second - after 2 weeks.

For flies and bugs, the bed must be irrigated with an ammonia solution. More precisely, it is necessary to spray between the rows with a specialized solution, which can be made from 10 liters of water and 1 spoon of ammonia.

Other folk remedies

Washing powder. Scoop up 1 handful of the cheapest powder and drop it into 10 liters of water. First, thoroughly pour water or treat after rain. Scoop up the soap solution with a ladle and pour the onion under the root. (advice from the video channel “Garden Head”).
Sawdust or peat are mixed with creolin (20:1) and mulch the soil around the onions and garlic. This will scare away the pest.
Dandelion infusion for prevention. Recipe: 350 g of finely chopped dandelion leaves are placed in 10 liters of water and infused for a week. You can water the onions with dandelion infusion every 2 weeks. And the first treatment should be carried out in the spring, before the fly begins to fly.

Reasons for using ammonia

Fertilizing homemade onions with ammonia belongs to the “fast” category, therefore, if you urgently need to fertilize the plants, ammonia is used. The main sign of nitrogen starvation, which is primarily diagnosed by gardeners, is whitened tips of the leaves. This can be observed not only in onions or garlic, but also in carrots. There are a lot of reasons for this condition, so you need to be able to distinguish and classify them:

The feathers have a very light greenish or even yellowish tint. This indicates that the plant needs emergency help with ammonia. Nothing can deal with this condition faster and better than ammonia treatment.
The feathers not only have a white tint, but also begin to curl at the ends. This indicates that the plant lacks a chemical fertilizer such as potassium. For such a situation, treatment with potassium fertilizer is suitable, it doesn’t matter what it is, you can even use one that contains chlorine and salt: onions, like garlic, are quite normal in this regard.
Freeze effect. The onion stem becomes exclusively white. This is the time when watering young onions with ammonia is simply necessary, as the plant needs additional help.
The tips of the leaves have become white, but the feathers themselves have not curled and have a normal color for a root vegetable. There is no need to fertilize with nitrogen; it simply won’t help. To normalize the condition, it is necessary to use a copper-containing preparation, which is spilled between the rows.
One more thing: the white tips of the feathers indicate that the soil is too acidic. You cannot make a fatal mistake and further deoxidize the soil before you start planting root crops. To normalize it, it is worth adding dolomite flour or saltpeter, or, as a last resort, lime. Onions need slightly alkaline soil, so you need to cope not only with excess soil acidity, but also additionally water the bed with ash. Treat the bed with a solution based on 1 bucket of liquid and 2 cups of ash.

Methods for preparing working ammonia essence

Watering onions with ammonia is not a difficult task, but in order not to burn either the root vegetable or the leafy part, it is important to correctly formulate the solution. This recipe is designed for the gardener to use a standard drug from a pharmacy.

Watering onions with ammonia has concentration limits, a maximum of 1 tbsp is allowed. l. for 1 l.
Processing onions at the root (feeding): dilute 3 tbsp for every 10 liters of water. l. ammonia.
For spraying or to water onions with ammonia, dilute 5 tbsp per 10 liters of water. l. chemical substance.

Basically, the point of such procedures is to ensure that the main active ingredient remains on the feathers of the plant for a longer time. It is for this reason that the essence is supplemented with a specialized component (adhesive), which can be purchased at any place where fertilizers are sold. But if this is not possible, everything that is really needed to prepare the solution is always freely available.

Ammonia for onion flies - folk remedy No. 1!

In the arsenal of folk remedies for onion flies, ammonia takes an honorable first place! Experienced gardeners and vegetable gardeners advise: as soon as you notice signs that an onion fly has “ruined” in the garden bed, the onion should be watered at the root with water with the addition of ammonia. The proportions are:

for 10 liters of water 2-3 tablespoons of ammonia.

You can start treating with ammonia in the spring, at the very beginning of the flight of the onion fly (usually mid-May, coinciding with the beginning of dandelion flowering). You need to water 3 times, with an interval of 10 days.

In plant growing, ammonia is also used as a fertilizer for onions and garlic (as a source of nitrogen). For feeding, the solution is prepared in the same proportions. It is best to water onions and garlic with ammonia in May. It is in the spring that plants of the onion family have a greater need for nitrogen.

By the way!

Ammonia is also useful because it reduces the acidity of the soil and improves its structure. It is known that onions and garlic do not grow well in acidic soils. In this case, ammonia will also come in handy.

Tips for gardeners

If the onion is grown exclusively for feathers, then it is processed; additional processing is a solution of water with the addition of a small amount of dry mustard.
As one of the sticking options, to treat onions with ammonia solution against pests, you can take the most budget dog or cat flea shampoo. But there is one drawback: the feathers cannot be eaten. After careful processing, they will simply become unsuitable for consumption.
If an unnaturally dark shade of foliage is visible, this is a signal that there is a glut of ammonia. It follows from this that the plants do not need fertilizing, so you should immediately stop watering the onion root crop.

Application of iodine

Iodine is a well-known antiseptic. In the garden, it is used both to control pests and fungi, and to enrich vegetables with this important element, which a person will receive in a bioavailable form. However, iodine is practically not used for onions. A more popular substance is a solution of brilliant green. The following fertilizer is prepared from it: 10 ml of brilliant green and 50 g of urea are dissolved in 2 liters of whey. The resulting solution is sprayed onto the bushes. This remedy is both an excellent prevention and an effective means of combating powdery mildew.

Partner news

Rules for processing and fertilization

Ammonia for homemade onions is an ideal fertilizer. But if feeding or processing is carried out exclusively by spraying, then the leaves will not be able to receive a sufficient amount of the working substance. You should try to water the onion root crop as often as possible; for this, use a watering can with good holes (water sprays the surface of the feathers as correctly and thoroughly as possible).

Having understood the benefits of this type of treatment, you need to find out the time for watering. When to water young onions with ammonia, or more precisely, what is the best time to do this?

Treatment outside the root is done early in the morning in cloudy or dry windless weather, or at sunset.
Initially, a solution is prepared, which consists of the main components: purified water, supplemented with ammonia, after which salt and other minor components are added.
The ammonia for onions is poured so as not to raise the watering can to a high distance. In this way, you can thoroughly water and nourish the onion fruit, plus you can also spray garlic with this solution.
If the plantings are very large in area, then you should water the onion plot using a specialized spraying system.

Growing onions for turnips has its own peculiarity: first you need to treat the young onions with ammonia (here we are talking about the root of the plant), then you need to do at least 3 treatments of the feathers, and then feed the root one more time. As soon as the leaves begin to dry out, you need to stop watering the onions with ammonia altogether. That is, the use of the solution as a treatment agent should be stopped.

Fragrant infusions

Very good recipe. You can use as much as you like, even throughout the season. The frequency of treatments is once every 8-9 days. They start from the moment the first onion shoots appear and end 20 days before harvesting the turnips.

The recipe itself is incredibly simple. We go out to the site or for a walk nearby. We look around carefully. We are looking for plants that have a strong scent of their own. These are tansy, valerian, fir, pine, mint. We tear a medium-sized bunch. We drag all this stuff home and throw it into an enamel bucket. Next, pour boiling water to the top and cover with a lid.

As soon as the mixture has cooled to room temperature, feel free to strain it and pour it into a garden sprayer. Then we generously water the onion beds.

Don't have a sprayer handy? No problem! The old fashioned way, a bucket and a broom. And they went to save their crops from the pest. There was no broom and you don’t know what to replace it with... Sir or madam, you are clearly not of Russian origin! Our relative will always find a way out of the situation. Instead of a broom, he will pick a bunch of shepherd's purse or yarrow and calmly spray the beds with it.

Advice. Tomato tops have identical properties. When making an infusion, its specific aroma perfectly cancels out the onion smell.

Safety precautions

Ammonia and garden onions are interconnected components of the struggle for the harvest.

No matter how many different treatment methods there are: nitrogen, iodine or minerals, they all require precautions. Ammonia is a volatile, caustic chemical, so contact with exposed skin or inhalation of the aroma can lead to serious consequences.

Basic precautions:

Wear goggles and a special apron for protection.
There must be a head covering to hide the hair.
Be sure to use a respirator or gas mask.
Everyone around them moves away to a distance that is permissible for their health.