Onion of Suvorov - the so-called plant of the lily family, the second name of which is anzur. As a matter of fact, this bush has no relation to a classical bow. However, the story goes that during the passage through the Alps, the great Russian commander Alexander Suvorov, using these bulbs, cured the soldiers of scurvy, thereby raising the morale of his army.
Description and characteristics of the variety
The plant is not very well known in the European part of the country, since its habitat is located in the mountainous regions of Asia - in the Tien Shan and Altai. The plant is difficult to compare with anything - the shoots of a young anzur resemble tulips, later, as they grow, these bushes become like very large garlic.
The leaves of this onion reach a length of 35 cm, and the arrows can stretch to almost one and a half meters and end with spherical purple inflorescences with a diameter of about 10 cm.The bulbs are large - up to 12-15 cm in diameter, ripen by mid-summer, like the fruits in the inflorescence. Each box on the arrow contains up to three seeds.
Properties of onions Suvorov
Like any fruit, the bulb of this plant has its beneficial and harmful properties. Given the medicinal data, such an onion can be used for many diseases.
Important! The fruits of the plant are used in pharmacology as part of many drugs, as they contain alkaloids and steroids.
Benefit
Suvorov onion contains nutrients in much larger quantities than classic vegetables. Vitamin C is especially high in it, and the leaves contain a high content of vitamins B, E and mineral salts.
- The healing properties of the bulbs are as follows:
- anesthesia;
- activation of brain activity and improvement of memory;
- strengthening immunity and metabolism;
- help in the treatment of diseases of the respiratory system;
- the fight against diabetes.
Harm and contraindications
As in the case with other useful inhabitants of the beds, this onion-garlic has some contraindications for use, which can harm the human body.
First of all, you need to know that in the raw form, the bulbs are poisonous, so they must be subjected to heat treatment. The first seedlings need to be used in food while they are at a tender age, since the leaves quickly become stiff, lose their nutritional qualities and become unpleasant in taste. It is undesirable for allergy sufferers to take greens and fruits, as the body’s reaction to an unfamiliar product may turn out to be unpredictable.
Growing methods
Ground cultivation of Suvorov onions is possible both by seed and vegetative methods. The first method is much more complicated - obtaining high-quality material is possible only with proper care of the plant. This does not always work out - it's just an onion, as many gardeners believe, so they don’t provide much care to the plant, letting it go by itself.
Important! As with growing onions, the anzur arrows before flowering can be broken off. Thus, all useful substances will be preserved in the bulbs.
Seed
To obtain high-quality seeds, it is necessary to provide the bushes with full care and be patient - the bulbs will be able to grow only after four years. Growing from seeds involves the production of frost-resistant bushes, seeds for which are planted in the fall.
Vegetative
Growing from daughter bulbs is much simpler and faster - already in the year of planting, you can get the first crop. However, it will be onions of not the same quality as painstakingly grown from seeds. The vegetative method is suitable for quickly obtaining onions for sale.
How to grow at home
Selection of high-quality planting material and implementation of recommendations for planting and growing give high chances of getting a good harvest.
Optimal time for landing
The frost resistance of this onion allows it to survive the winter cold well and give sprouts in the first sunny March days, even before the snow melts. When planting both seeds and bulbs or cloves of them, the gardener determines depending on weather conditions. Usually this is done in the middle of autumn, when the earth has a little rest from previous crops, but has not yet cooled much.
As part of proper crop rotation, cruciferous, cucumbers or potatoes should grow on the site before cultivating anzur. Late vegetables are undesirable, as the soil exhausted by them may not have time to recover even with the use of top dressing.
Selection and preparation of planting material
Given the long growing time of fruits from seed, it is worth paying attention to the choice of grains for planting. Material is selected, dried and unhealthy seeds are discarded. Then they are soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Pop-up grains are best removed.
For good germination, you can apply such a well-known method as scarification - seeds or bulbs are deliberately damaged to accelerate hatching and the appearance of sprouts. This is done with sandpaper, coarse sand or sharp tools. When growing vegetatively, large bulbs are divided into several lobules - in some ways this is also scarification.
Growing conditions
The temperature regime for Suvorov's onions is not very important - resistance to cold allows him to grow normally in quite severe conditions. A short period of vegetation of edible shoots (from two weeks), makes it possible to "have time" to grow them before the onset of the hot season.
Humidity for the plant is quite natural enough, since fleshy stems and onions are able to retain moisture to the necessary degree. That is why you should not get carried away with watering, only occasionally moistening the soil around the plant in dry periods.
Anzur really likes spring sunny days - when the soil has not yet warmed up, or even there is snow on it, the bushes grow so fast that during the day this can be traced with the naked eye. In the event that the onion was late planted or was late with development, it is better to shade its arrows with an agri-net to diffuse lighting.
Soil and fertilizer
Suvorov onions love light loose soils with normal acidity. He perfectly breathes in them and he responds with good growth and productivity. In heavy clay soil there is a danger of stagnation of moisture and rotting of the bulbs. Plants are planted on hillocks or form artificial tall beds. so that excess water goes into the soil.
Fertilizers are introduced during planting - traditional superphosphate and a little humus. You can also pamper the bushes with fertilizer for the bulb.
Sowing technique
When sowing seed way, grains are laid to a depth of about 2 cm. After this, the bed is covered with peat and survives the winter well. After the snow melts, the first sprouts of seasoned onions appear, which will wither by the onset of summer, and the formed bulb will be no more than 3 cm in diameter.
First-year bulbs are dug up, dried, and in September they are planted for the winter. In spring, the plant will release the first true leaves and arrow for flowering. The crop of the second year is again dried and stored until spring. And only the fruits planted in the third year are able to acquire a full presentation, size and weight.
Vegetative way involves planting mature bulbs or parts thereof.
How to plant daughter bulbs of the first or second year:
- the material is laid in the fall to a considerable depth - up to 10 cm;
- care is no different from winter garlic - loosening, hilling;
- at the end of flowering and drying of the arrows, the bulbs can be dug up and used in food or for conservation.
Planting both seed and bulbous material is carried out according to a 30 by 20 cm pattern: the first size is between the plants in a row, the second is between the beds.Did you know? Suvorov's onion is a good honey plant - with natural growth, its flowers are much higher than the inflorescences of the rest of the herbs, and the bees simply swarm around them.
Basic care rules
Suvorov onion is an undemanding plant, but the implementation of certain rules of care will help to grow a much larger crop.
Watering rates
As mentioned above, the main period of plant vegetation occurs in spring, when the soil is still saturated with moisture after snowmelt. In the future, you need to monitor the state of the layer below the top, if necessary, carry out moderate hydration, avoiding fluid stagnation.
Soil cultivation and weeding
Light and loose soil is perfectly perceived by the plant, and it develops well in it. After snow, rain or watering, you need to loosen the earth, raking it to the stem.
Weeding is necessary for any weeds that began to grow in the aisles or near the bushes. Thus, weakening of the soil can be ruled out and all onion forces directed to growth rather than recapturing their “place in the sun”. You also need to remove from the soil all the roots of the weeds, as well as their remains, which have already begun to shed.
Top dressing
When the first leaves appear, anzur is fed with urea, ash and nitrogen fertilizers. Twice during the growing season, you can add potassium top dressing, from which the plant shoots arrows well and forms bulbs.
Diseases and Pests
Pests bypass any kind of onion, and Suvorovsky is no exception. But the disease, in the form of various rot and dysplasiamay well occur under improper growing conditions. Excess moisture leads to rotting of the bulb and stem, the lack of lightness brightens the arrows, heavy soils reduce productivity and lead to shredding of shoots.
The main method of prevention is the high location of the beds. With significant lesions, fungicides (for example, Bordeaux fluid) can be used.
Video: Onion of Suvorov (Anzur)
Harvesting and methods of harvesting
Young shooters are cut off and used as components of salads or simply poured and used as food. Riped bulbs are carefully dug up and sorted for future planting or for food.
The uninitiated often raises the question whether this fruit is edible or not. It is not only edible, but also has many useful properties. As it is, you can consider the example of garlic - what this is known to everyone, you just need to use it as a seasoning for the main dish in a small amount.
Did you know? Anzur is best used in food marinated or baked. Before this, the fruits need to be soaked for about a month in water. Even after such processing, you need to eat it in small portions, like any other delicacy.
Useful recommendations from gardeners
Despite the small popularity of the culture, sufficient experience has been accumulated in its cultivation.
Here are some tips for beginners:
- it is better to cut the leaves at the most tender age - they can perfectly complement the sorrel in borsch or add a variety of flavors to the spring salad;
- during the planting of the bulbs, it is necessary not to damage the root tubercles;
- when the roots rot, it is necessary to plant the bush from the common garden for several days, if it does not recover, then it is destroyed;
- arrows with blooming purple balls can be cut off not only to improve the formation of bulbs - they will stand in a vase for several weeks, pleasing with a spectacular appearance.
Suvorov's onions are known only to a few gardeners, but they have long studied how they grow and eat them. Under natural conditions, the habitat is small enough, but successful cultivation is already bringing this plant to the category of beneficial to humans. It is only necessary to pay attention that under a beautiful purple head of inflorescence, in the earth there is a bulb - a whole storehouse of nutrients.
