The right way to grow shallots is highly recommended so that the harvests will be abundant and prosper the farmers. Understandably, red onion is a commodity whose price is not stable, sometimes it rises dramatically sometimes falls free under production costs. This was also compounded by the government's import policy which increasingly made the price of local shallots fall on the market.
Before knowing more about how to plant a good onion, it is important to know that some of the conditions for growing shallots are:
Determining the location of Shallot Cultivation
- Habibat Suitable land is the main step in planting shallots. The land should be in the lowlands with a height of 0 - 800 meters above sea level.
- The temperature suitable for the growth of shallots is 27 - 32 degrees Celsius so that onion requires more than 12 hours of sun exposure every day.
- Soil pH on land for shallots growing media ranged from 6-7
- Generally the way to grow shallots is best suited for paddy fields and moorlands. Has a medium texture to clay.
- Good soil moisture for planting shallots is 60 - 70%
- he type of soil that is good for planting shallots is Latosol, Glei Humus, and Alluvial soil.
- After knowing the conditions for growing shallots, and you have found suitable land according to these criteria, the next step in how to plant good and correct shallots is:
Stages - Stages of How to Plant Shallots
1. Soil Processing Spread the soil by hoeing and leaving the soil for 1 week so that the soil poisons are carried away by the wind and evaporated exposed to sunlight If the soil where the onion is planted has acidity levels of less than 6-7, give dolomite lime with a dose of 1 ton / 1 hectare of land. Let the soil stand for 2 weeks after the calcification process before the planting period arrives.
- The next way to plant shallots is to make beds on land with a width of approximately 1 meter, 30 cm height of beds with a length adjusted to the area of land.
- Give a distance between beds of about half a meter, the distance can also be used as a ditch for rainwater roads with a depth of 30 cm.
- Then hoe and sprinkle beds as deep as 20 cm, flatten the shape of the beds not curved like the shape of a bed in general.
- Add enough manure, spread it over the beds and stir it with soil so that the fertilizer is evenly distributed and mixed with soil beds
- Leave the beds that have been given fertilizer for 1 week before planting onion seeds.
2. Selection of Shallot Seeds
The next step in how to grow shallots is the selection of superior onion seeds. This is very important because excellent seeds determine the yield of your onion plants.
If the age of your red onion bulb is less than 2 months, then cut the tip of the tuber about ½ cm. The function of these cuts is to speed up the growth of shoots on your onion plants.
3. Planting Shallots
The right way to grow shallots is to immerse all parts of tuber into the ground. For spacing between tubers is 20cm x 20cm if you feed during the rainy season. Whereas if you start planting in the dry season, then the spacing is made more tightly - about 15cm x 15cm between tubers. The purpose of planting shallots is so that the onion bulbs can grow optimally.
4. Plant Watering
In the onion plants that are only 0-10 days old, regular watering is done every morning and evening. Only after more than 10 days, the intensity of watering can be reduced to once a day in the evenings and mornings.
5. Advanced Fertilization
The next step in how to plant the right shallots is the provision of supplementary fertilizer to maintain the availability of nutrients needed by the onion plant. Subsequent fertilization can be started when the age of the plant reaches the age of 2 weeks with a dose of Urea fertilizer 90 kg, ZA 200 kg, and KCI 110 kg per one hectare of land.
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