The bow has gone into the arrow

Every gardener has at least once thought about why onions shoot and how to avoid it. After all, the bulb that gave the shoot is lost for the harvest, which means it was planted in vain. Let's try to figure out the reasons and learn how to eliminate them.

As soon as one onion goes into arrow, I immediately lament, like Nafanya: “Oh, trouble, trouble, disappointment, there will be no harvest, we’ll go broke and go around the world.” And I add: “We’ll die of hunger,” because onions are not just vitamins, but also my favorite vegetable in first and second courses.

That's why every arrow literally hurts me. To save the onion delicacy from these tubes, I pestered my experienced neighbor-dacha owners with questions, remembered what my grandmother did, and pestered my classmate, a successful farmer. Now the arrows in my onion beds can be counted on the fingers of one hand. What are the main reasons for bow shooting that I learned, and how do I deal with them?

An onion arrow is an inflorescence, in the place of which seed material appears over time.

The main reason why the bow shoots

The storage conditions for seedlings purchased in April-May raise the most questions. One can only guess under what conditions he has been waiting in the wings since September. If the seeds were stored in cold warehouses of a vegetable warehouse, then warming them up in the spring on a radiator (on a wooden board) or in the sun will not correct the situation 100%.

As an additional means of preventing possible fungal diseases of the bulbs, use smoke: hang nets with onions next to a small fire built in the area, let it “smoke” them.

What is dangerous for the crop?

If an arrow appears on the set, this does not mean that the future harvest cannot be used for cooking. But these bulbs are not suitable for long-term storage. They rot quickly; these onions must be used before December.

Also, you don’t need to expect an abundant harvest from the bulb on which the arrow appears. From it you can only get a small turnip head. This is explained by the fact that the bush spends most of its energy on flowering.

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Stanislav Pavlovich

Gardener with 17 years of experience and our expert

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Attention! There is another option to preserve the harvest in winter - immediately after harvesting, you need to burn the roots of the onion. Naturally, this material is no longer suitable for planting, but it is stored longer.

Soda against onion arrow

To protect onions from pests, the sets are soaked before planting in a saline solution - 1 tbsp. salt per 1 liter of warm water. Disinfect in a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate. And with the help of a soda solution you can ensure that the onion does not go into the arrow.

Select healthy planting material, peel off the top husk that easily comes off the bulb. Do not expose the bulb completely. Dip into the solution: 1 tsp. with a slide of soda per 1 liter of warm water. The temperature of the solution should not be lower than 40-45°C, or even better – 45-50. You can soak both onions and seeds in a soda solution.

Possible reasons for bow shooting

Early bow shooting can be caused by the following reasons:

Lack of moisture in the soil . In dry soil, the bulb quickly enters the reproduction phase and almost immediately, without dissolving the bunch of greenery, shoots. The gardener needs to pay attention to sufficient watering of the plant.
Seed size . The larger the volume of onion sets, the higher the likelihood of getting early shoots in the beds. You need to carefully consider the choice of planting material. The bulbs should be small, no more than 3 cm in diameter, slightly smaller than a walnut. The bulb suitable for planting is hard; when squeezing with your fingers, you need to avoid crunching. The health of the set will be shown by its appearance: the reference material has a shiny and healthy husk, peeled peel indicates improper storage (it was exposed to freezing or high humidity).
Improper storage of planting material in a room with high humidity (more than 80%), with a temperature above 28 degrees or below 0. The optimal storage temperature for onion sets is 0-20 degrees. Bulbs for planting should be stored in a dark and cool room, otherwise growth processes begin to develop under the husk. In such seed, after planting in the ground, the process of vernalization begins, and the onion will certainly shoot. And vice versa - seedlings stored in a dry room with optimal temperature conditions will not be able to germinate.
Wrong onion variety . The choice of onion variety is of great importance - this affects the quality of ripe vegetables. Typically, bows that have a golden color do not produce shoots, but purple and red varieties are susceptible to shoots.
Untimely or early harvesting of last year's fruits can affect the improper development and the onset of unwanted early vegetation of the bulbs planted after them. Onion sets collected from the beds too late for subsequent planting in the ground begin to store nutrients and prepare for overwintering, as a result of which additional roots appear - this in turn will certainly lead to subsequent bolting.

Salt against onion arrow

Break off the arrow where the bow went and sprinkle the broken area with salt. It will both disinfect and dry the remainder of the arrow, preventing it from continuing to draw juices from the bulb. If you are concerned that the salt may eat away at the entire onion, try this method on one specimen first.

If you have determined the reason why the bow went into arrow, then you can correct your mistakes only in the next season. Then, to be on the safe side, plant several varieties of onions; one of them should definitely produce a good harvest. Or plant shallots, which are not susceptible to bolting.

In the meantime, don’t let the goodness go to waste! If the onion bed is bristling with arrows, prepare some delicacies from them: eat the young, fleshy and juicy ones like ordinary feathers, and cut the older arrows like green beans and freeze until winter. Place the weakened onions in a frying pan or pan until the second month of winter.

The bow has gone into the arrow: what to do?

If the peduncle has already grown, it is simply broken off. But you need to do it correctly so that when you remove it the pen does not open. Otherwise, rain or irrigation water will get into the feather, and rotting will begin. You need to remove the arrow higher, where the feather is not tubular, but solid. Although there is an opinion that it is necessary to remove as close to the neck as possible, this will allow the bulb to grow larger.

The thick feather removed is quite suitable for eating either fresh, adding it to salads or soups, or pickling or freezing for the winter. If you don’t want to use them for food, then simply put them on the compost heap, they will also be useful here.

The remaining bulb will not grow large, so, if possible, remove it from the garden first. In addition, this one is stored much worse.

Prevention of bolting

All measures to prevent the appearance of archery arrows should be aimed at eliminating those factors that ultimately contribute to the formation of flower stalks.

Selecting planting material

Onion sets vary in size:

Small bulbs do not exceed 1 cm in diameter.
The middle fraction sets have sizes from 1 to 3 cm.
Large planting material includes specimens larger than 3 cm.

Bulbs are best formed from sets 1-3 cm in size. From smaller material you can also get a full-fledged turnip, but such sets are especially demanding on storage conditions, as they dry out quickly.

When onions are planted

It has been noticed that arrows can appear on the bow even if the timing of planting the planting material is not met. In warm regions, the bulbs can be planted in the soil before winter. But this method is not suitable for areas with temperate and cold climates.

It is unlikely that bow shooting can be avoided if the seedlings are planted in soil that is not warmed by the sun. The optimal time for planting the material is the end of April - the first ten days of May.

However, they always focus on the average temperature. It should be stable for several days within 15 degrees Celsius. And the soil should warm up to 12 degrees.

Advice. To avoid the appearance of shoots, planting planting material prepared according to all the rules into the ground after the first young leaves appear on the birch trees. This advice is followed by most experienced gardeners.

The bulbs are planted in rows, after making a 2-3 cm deepening. The top is sprinkled with earth, and the bed is watered. After planting, it is advisable to cover the onions with PVC film; remove it after green shoots appear.

Recommendations from gardeners

The main advice that experienced gardeners give is to grow onions yourself, going through all the stages. They plant seeds first to get a head of onions and then plant the best planting material next year.

In this case, the person controls all the stages himself and then it is easier to identify mistakes in order to prevent them from happening again. If you buy all the time, you won’t be able to be sure of the result.

Knowledgeable vegetable growers also recommend paying special attention to watering onions. Because for this reason it can also give an arrow.

Another way for gardeners to prepare seedlings for planting against bolting is as follows. Nets with heads are hung around a small fire and thus warmed up for several hours. Just don’t bring it close or light a strong fire. The method has proven itself very well and is gaining popularity.

Onion varieties that do not produce arrows

If you want to avoid the problem of bolting, you need to pay attention to onion varieties in which the likelihood of bolting is minimal.

Among the winter crops, the varieties Centurion and Shakespeare can be noted.
Varieties that are planted in April: Stuttgarter, Centurion F1, Red Baron.

The seedling method of planting will also give noticeable results; for example, with this method, leeks will not begin to sprout.

In order not to resort only to certain varieties of onions, experienced gardeners prefer to control the entire growing process on their own, going through all the stages. The goal is to identify errors and prevent them. The seeds are first grown to provide high quality planting material for planting the following spring.

If you use purchased seedlings, there is a risk of not reaping a rich harvest.

What to do if the bow has released its arrows

If preventative measures do not help and the onions start to shoot, then you need to cut them off as soon as possible. The sooner the peduncle is removed, the larger the bulb will be. You need to break out or cut the arrow right at the neck. Turnips obtained from bolted onions should first be consumed as food; they will not be stored for long. You can easily recognize such an onion by its thick neck.

When planting garlic, I always break off the arrows, but if the arrows appear on onion plantings. which is intended for winter storage, I think that the harvest is spoiled - such onions cannot be stored. I'm trying to put this onion into use as quickly as possible. Fortunately, I have a rare onion that is growing: I don’t plant it early, before planting I warm the onion in hot water and “undress” it.
Zosia
https://chudo-ogorod.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=1289&start=30

And last summer I just broke my “arrows”. As a result, there was a harvest. Not quite the size I would like. But not small ones either.
Venera
https://chudo-ogorod.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=1289&start=20

Broken onion arrows are used to make salads and fillings for pies; they can be rolled, pickled, or frozen. Some gardeners prefer to completely remove such a bulb and use it for salads or herbs.

Seed storage

It is recommended to store bulbous seeds at an air temperature of 1-3 degrees. If the temperature on the thermometer is below zero, then this will not affect the quality of the future harvest. Onions withstand cold and frost. A warm room is much more dangerous for planting material; it begins to grow and rot.

By the end of summer, seeds - nigella - ripen in the inflorescences. Seeds suitable for sowing are dried and placed in a fabric or paper bag. From the seeds of the vegetable, sets of 2-3 cm in size are initially grown.

The harvested seedlings are stored in a room with good ventilation using cold, warm or mixed methods:

With a warm storage option (for example, in an apartment closet), the air humidity is 68%, the temperature should be kept at +21 degrees. With this method, there is a high probability that the seedlings will dry out.
The best storage location is a basement or cellar. The cold method involves maintaining the room temperature at -1...-3 degrees, air humidity is 82%.
With a mixed storage option, it is suggested to choose a cold method in winter, and a warm option in the spring and autumn months. The main thing is to avoid sudden changes in temperature.

What can you do with a shooting bow?

If an arrow has formed, you need to go and remove it. If you cut off a flower bud immediately after its discovery, the bulb will begin to produce them until it is completely depleted.

We must wait until swelling appears on the arrow. This means that the bulb has directed all its efforts towards cultivating this peduncle, and mechanisms have developed that inhibit the appearance of other buds. If you cut off the pipes of an arching bow as they swell, then most specimens will still form a large turnip.

In an onion variety where the arrow grows from the side, the quality of the turnip will be good, and the root crop can be stored for about a month. If a variety expels a flower bud from the middle of the bulb, then this greatly spoils the turnip. After breaking out the pipe, putrefactive processes begin in it, which makes it unfit for food.

Features of onion care

The formation of flower stalks on onions also depends on the degree of soil moisture; the drier the soil, the higher the likelihood of bolting. Properly organized watering of the plant helps to avoid the formation of shoots:

After planting, the onion beds are watered 2-3 times a week so that the soil is completely saturated with moisture.
The watering regime should be increased in June - July when hot days occur and there is no rain.
In August, watering is reduced.
Two weeks before harvesting, onions should be completely stopped watering. During this period the bulbs will ripen and will be well stored. This way you can increase the keeping quality of those turnips from which arrows appeared in the summer.

For watering in spring and early summer, it is better to use warm, settled water.

Cut off arrows before flowering

If you do not cut off the arrows at the beginning of flowering, then seeds appear on them.
Photo: agrarii.com Why does the bow go into the arrow:

Everyone has encountered such a problem as shooting a bow. This is when the head bifurcates and a flower arrow appears from one part, and the second forms a small bulb. This type of bow loses in size, has a more rigid structure and is not suitable for storage.
To prevent the appearance of shoots, you should first of all choose good seed from trusted suppliers. A common reason that onions shoot can be improper storage of the sets. If the seeds have been lying in a warm and humid room for a long time, the bulbs will quickly germinate and shoot.
For planting, you should choose onions with a diameter of 1 cm. Such planting material will give an excellent harvest and eliminate problems with bolting. Large onions are suitable for early feather forcing, which are advisable to use during the summer.
When arrows form, they should be broken off just like garlic. The main caveat here is that they should be broken off in the middle to prevent the head from rotting during watering.
Another important point could be the procurement of your own planting material, grown in accordance with all the rules of agricultural technology. By providing favorable conditions for germination, the bulbs are more likely to avoid sprouting and provide a good harvest.

Blooming onion with nigella seeds.
Photo: maja-dacha.ru The author of the video recommends choosing small-sized sets for planting. Large bulbs may go into arrows and not give a good harvest:

What is shooting and why is it dangerous?

Bolting refers to the appearance of a peduncle or otherwise an arrow from a plant. First, a bud forms at its end, then a flower, and then seeds ripen in it. That is, bolting is necessary for the propagation of garden plants.

Arrows are completely harmless when it comes to onions that are grown for greens. Peduncles taste almost no different from ordinary green feathers, only they are more rigid in structure and drier.

Onion arrows can be used for food; there are a number of dishes that are prepared with flower stalks.

Shooting is only dangerous if it affects the onion that is grown for its bulbs.

During the flowering of a garden crop, the process of distribution of nutrients changes - the green mass, rather than the rhizome, begins to receive most of the valuable substances.

As a result:

The onion is formed small, that is, the yield is liquefied.
Turnips are poorly stored and rot quickly.

That is, bulbs from plants with arrows will also form. But they are unlikely to satisfy with their weight, but the most important thing is that the crop will be stored well for no more than 2 months. Such bulbs cannot be left for the winter; they will rot.