Time-tested variety of onions “Karatalsky”
People love and appreciate onions for their beneficial properties for the body and taste. This is one of the most common garden crops. Among the many varieties cultivated in the garden beds, the Karatal onion, which has been grown in our country for 60 years, especially stands out.
What kind of onion is this?
Karatalsky or simply Karatal is one of the oldest varieties of onions in Russia. The culture is early ripening, unpretentious in care, excellent for winter storage.
Origin and development
The Karatalsky variety was bred by breeders of the Kazakh Research Institute of Agriculture in 1955 on the basis of the Johnson variety. In 1959, the culture was included in the register of those admitted. For more than 60 years, Karatal has been chosen for landings both summer residents and farmers for industrial cultivation.
Distinctive features
Karatalsky has a round, sometimes slightly flattened bulb shape. Dry scales are golden, juicy scales are white. The light green feathers are quite well developed, reaching 30–40 cm.
Vegetables grown annually reach 130 g, from sets - about 200 g. The crop produces 3-4 arrows 130–140 cm high. The taste of onions is moderately spicy.
Description and characteristics
The variety is early ripening: 95–120 days pass from the emergence of seedlings to the lodging of feathers.
The yield is high: on average, 3–5 kg per 1 m² is harvested. Product indicators are 200–440 c/ha.
How to grow
The variety's unpretentiousness to air temperature and soil composition makes its cultivation easy and economically profitable.
Plant seeds in open ground if there is drainage cover. The soil should be loose and non-acidified: this will allow the bulbs to form better and provide oxygen access to the roots. To increase productivity, before planting, the soil is fertilized with compost or manure: 5 kg of the product is added for every 1 m².
Onions are planted in areas where zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, pumpkins and legumes previously grew. The crop is not grown in the same place to avoid rot and other diseases.
Important! Stagnation of water in the soil when growing Karatal leads to rotting, so drainage is provided in advance.
Landing dates and rules
The sowing time is calculated based on climatic conditions. The soil must be well warmed up, otherwise the seeds will sit in the ground for a long time. A temperature of +3...+5°C is sufficient. Depending on the region, planting is carried out from late March to mid-April.
Even if it’s cool in April, sowing onions is not delayed for long. This will lead to late ripening and loss of a large part of the crop. Karatalsky successfully withstands short-term frosts.
For growing onions from seeds they are treated before planting in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 24 hours, the floating specimens are removed. After disinfection, place in damp gauze and put in a warm place for germination.
Onion planting scheme:
- Plant the seeds at a distance of 10 cm from each other. The depth of the groove does not exceed 2 cm.
- The row spacing is at least 20 cm.
- To prevent the formation of an air gap between the seeds and the soil, the soil is slightly compacted when digging.
- After sowing, the soil is moistened with warm water.
After the emergence of seedlings, the plantings are thinned out, leaving a distance between shoots of about 2 cm.Repeat the procedure after 2-3 weeks, increasing the distance to 7 cm.
Attention! Do not water the seeds before the first shoots: the crust formed by the water will prevent the emergence of sprouts.
Care
The Karatalsky variety can do without care, but to obtain large, juicy bulbs, basic agrotechnical procedures are carried out:
- Culture regularly watered: from late spring to mid-summer, the soil is moistened once every 7–9 days, spending 5-6 liters per 1 m2 of area. During the dry period, the frequency of watering is doubled, using up to 10 liters per 1 m2. Irrigation is stopped 3-4 weeks before harvest.
- The beds are mulched to retain moisture and slow down the growth of weeds. If the mulch is organic, it will enrich the soil with nutrients as it decomposes.
- The soil is periodically loosened after each watering for root ventilation. Weeds are removed as they grow.
- Mineral fertilizers are applied once a month. When enriching the soil with organic matter in autumn, the crop is not fed in spring and summer.
Nuances of cultivation and possible difficulties
There are no difficulties when growing the Karatalsky variety. Unpretentiousness in care makes the plant almost “independent”.
It is important to prevent the formation of a crust on the soil and to moisten the plantings in a timely manner, especially in dry times. Most often, the variety is grown as an annual crop from seeds, although sets are also planted.
Important! To obtain a large harvest, feathers are not torn off.
Diseases and pests
The vegetable is susceptible to fungal diseases and pest attacks. The most dangerous for the variety:
- Powdery mildew — the speed of spread of the fungus makes this disease dangerous for many plants, including Karatal onions. Dirty yellow stains on feathers are a clear sign of powdery mildew.The affected areas are treated with Trichodermin or Baktofit.
- Gray rot — destroys onions during storage, affecting the neck of vegetables. As a result, the entire crop rots. In the fight against the disease, only careful sorting and sorting of the collected bulbs, as well as regular checking of the crop during storage, helps.
- Onion fly — to eliminate the pest, carrots are planted next to the onion bed. Plants are watered with saline solution at the rate of 300 g of salt per 10 liters.
Collection, storage and use of crops
Harvest in mid-August. To keep it well and for a long time, do it on a sunny day. A week after harvesting, the vegetables are dried in the open air, turning them over periodically, at a temperature not lower than +25°C.
Important! The bulbs are not pulled out of the ground, so as not to damage them, but carefully dug out with a pitchfork.
Store the harvest in a dark, dry place at a temperature of +2...+5°C.
Karatal is used raw, feathers and bulbs are added to salads. An indispensable vegetable for soups, stews, casseroles and many other dishes in the cuisine of different countries of the world. It is also used for preservation.
The time-tested Karatalsky variety has taken its rightful place in folk medicine. Them are being treated colds and bronchopulmonary diseases, increase immunity, stabilize blood pressure, and are used as a tonic and diuretic.
Interesting fact. The vegetable is also useful in everyday life: skillful housewives bleach shoes with onion pulp, clean irons from scorch marks, clean metal objects from rust, and add shine to varnished surfaces.
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
The advantages of onions significantly outweigh their disadvantages, which makes the variety beloved by many gardeners.
Advantages:
- high productivity;
- unpretentiousness to climatic conditions and soils;
- cold resistance;
- excellent presentation of the bulbs;
- semi-sharp taste;
- possibility of mechanical cleaning;
- high transportability;
- suitability for storage;
- resistance to a number of viral diseases: mosaic, fusarium, yellow dwarfism;
- good keeping quality.
Onions of the Karatalsky variety are susceptible to fungal diseases and are susceptible to attacks by the onion fly.
What regions is it suitable for?
Onions are grown as an annual crop in the Volga region and the Central Black Earth region of Russia. In addition, the variety is successfully cultivated in the near abroad - Uzbekistan, Armenia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
By the way! Karatal is a full-fledged variety, not a hybrid, so it is bred from seeds collected on its own plot.
At the same time, the variety is also suitable for regions with colder climates. To keep within the vegetative cycle, the seedling method of cultivation is used. To do this, the sprouted seeds are placed in peat pots at the end of February, and in May the seedlings are planted in open ground.
Farmer reviews
Vegetable growers often speak positively about the variety, but finding that same Karatal today is a problem for many.
Denis Ulyanov, Perm: “There are a lot of rumors, stories, reviews, both negative and positive, about the Karatal onion variety. However, not every farmer has the opportunity to purchase and, accordingly, grow more or less “pure” Karatal, since it has long been “suffering” from over-grading. My personal opinion: if there is at least 60-80% Karatal in the bag and the rest of the onion matches our turnip at least a little, I advise you to take it.”
Elena, Taganrog: “Yesterday we chose sevok Karatalsky - all different shapes and colors! Horrible! I have no words!"
Alina, Shakhty: “In general, the initial goal was to buy the Karatal onion, which I love most and usually buy, but this year there is some problem with it. It is very difficult to find. So I dialed another one.”
Conclusion
Despite the abundance of new hybrids and varieties of onions, Karatalsky has been cultivated in gardens and dachas for many years - true connoisseurs are willing to pay twice as much for the seeds as for any other variety.
Karatal is highly productive, requires virtually no care, and withstands frost and major viral diseases. Semi-sharp juicy onions are universal in cooking and can be stored for a long time without losing their taste or presentation.