Today we are going to talk about scallion. Its scientific name is Allium fistulosum and it is commonly known as chives or long onion. It belongs to the Aliyaceae family. In this family there are more than 600 species. Each one has its own characteristic smell and taste since they have organosulfur substances. This substance gives vegetables an itch, so much so that we are able to cry when we cut it.
If you want to learn everything about green onion and how to grow it, this is your post 🙂
Generalities
The cultivation of scallions is very old. Its origin is from Central Asia, Iran Pakistan and Afghanistan, and later domestication in India and Europe. From there it goes to America. Within this family we find garlic and leeks. The chive is considered a medicinal and food vegetable for its great beneficial effects on health. It is widely used to cure pathologies. It is said that with several of them you can cure and prevent health.
Not only scallions, but many plants in this family are credited with the ability to reduce cardiovascular disease, decrease blood lipids, and reduce the risk of cancer of the color and esophagus.
The onion is consumed in its bulb form in general and in the green form when its green leaves are also consumed from the base. This onion is consumed before the characteristic bulb develops. It is the organ where nutrients are stored for their formation in the subsequent growing cycle.
The onion with bulb tends to be sown more frequently and is a more extensive crop than the green onion. This type of onion is sown both outdoors and in greenhouses and throughout the year. It is a perishable vegetable, which cannot be stored for long, and has the same requirements for its conservation as a leafy product: low temperature and very high relative humidity.
Green onion cultivation
These plants have quite thin leaves, cylindrical in shape, hollow and turgid. As they grow, they thicken and bend, having a sharp shape. When it has grown to the maximum, es capable of reaching heights of up to 60 cm. It usually has between eight and more leaves.
Normally, its cultivation begins through the usual direct technique. The seed is placed along a line. It can also be done post-transplant, making a seedbed in the ground or in trays with substrate. If we are in the late summer or autumn season, the onion heads can also be planted and they will green. The germination of this seed is quite slow and its development as well. The seedling that is formed is quite small in size, so it does not have enough surface to capture a lot of light. If its photosynthetic rate is low, its growth will be slow.
During this stage of its development, the plant competes rather poorly with weeds. It is necessary to eliminate any type of weeds to avoid the theft of nutrients or sunlight. Seedling can be made in the ground, as it is able to tolerate bare root transplants. We can also do it in trays that contain substrate containers. To do this, we will place between 3 and 4 seeds for each cell.
All varieties of scallion are characterized by requiring quite a few hours of light. If we want the bulb to not form, we will not have it in the sun for long. Preferably this crop is sold without bulb. The outer leaves of this "false stem" are colored white, red, or orange. They are famous for being quite resistant to heat. For this reason, they also continue to be cultivated in the hottest times.
Crop cycle
If this plant is sown by bulbs, the cycle is much shorter than it is if it is by seeds. They are capable of regrowth emitting between 3 and 5 rods. The bigger the bulb we have planted, the more rods it will emit. Optimum temperature conditions are 20 degrees, although they are able to bear more. Once sown by bulbs, it can be harvested after two months. On the contrary, if it has been sown by seedling or transplant, it may take another couple of months before it can be harvested.
The only work you need is to make carpids. The carpid is that operation that is carried out at a variable depth (depending on the crop and the soil) between 8 and 12 cm, to eliminate weeds and remove the soil, thus improving the granularity, increasing the air content and the necessary weathering. to activate the reactions of the soil and, with it, the decomposition of organic substances. Machines are used that remove the soil by means of cutting elements arranged more or less vertically.
Its harvest can be done from the plants grow to a size of 30 cm. It is not necessary to wait for them to grow to the maximum of 60 cm, as we mentioned earlier. Its performance in good conditions can reach 700 grams to 1,6 kg of production per square meter.
Medicinal properties
As we have said before, green onion is used for medicinal purposes, both externally and internally. If we want to clean and disinfect wounds with this onion, we can make a preparation that contains two or three green onions, two cloves of garlic and lemon juice. We crush all this well and put it on the wound. It will help us a lot with the healing process.
If we make this preparation diluted in water, we can use it to avoid internal parasites. It is very good to favor the proper functioning of the kidneys and urinary system. In addition, it has diuretic properties. If we take it daily, we can prevent flu and some colds. It also helps us fight coughs and makes expectoration easier.
Among the nutritional properties it possesses, we find a great contribution of calcium, potassium, iron and vitamin A.
As you can see, green onion is an easy crop with great health properties. Don't wait any longer to sow it.