Growing leeks is a profitable business

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Growing leeks is a profitable business, because this rather unpretentious crop gives high yields. The plant is usually cultivated on fertile loose soils with a high degree of moisture supply, but land plots with an acidic reaction do not produce a crop. The soil for plants should be prepared in the fall by adding an average of four kg of manure, 35 g of superphosphate and 17 g of potassium chloride per square meter of future plantings.

Cultivation of leeks in the spring begins with additional soil fertilization with ammonium nitrate (average 25 g) and urea (about 17 g) per square meter. meter. Further, in mid-May, when the soil is well warmed up, you can plant leeks in open ground on ridges of sufficient height in an ordinary way. The optimal distance between rows is 0.3 meters, between plants in one row is at least 0.2 meters, and the planting depth is 0.1 - 0.15 meters.

Growing leeks cannot do without regular loosening of the soil, weeding, watering and hilling plants. The growing season of the crop is about two hundreddays during which the onion needs to be fertilized a couple of times with a mixture of manure (or bird droppings) with mineral fertilizers. This increases the yield and gives improved palatability. The amount of applied nutrients is usually calculated according to the same norms as for onion varieties.

Growing leeks from seeds is usually done from autumn. To do this, at a soil temperature of 1-2 degrees Celsius, they dig it up, fertilize it with a couple of buckets of humus and 70 grams of nitrophoska per square meter. The plot (or ridges) is leveled and the seeds are planted to a depth of about 2 cm at a distance of 3 cm from one another. From above, the seeds must be covered with humus or peat with a layer of a couple of centimeters. With sufficient snow cover, the plants survive the winter well and sprout together in winter. Sowing is usually carried out in early November or late October.

Growing leek seedlings begins two months before planting in the ground. Before sowing in greenhouses, the seeds are soaked for three days and then planted to a depth of two centimeters with a distance between rows of 0.05 meters. The optimal temperature for germination is in the range of 20-22 C, then the temperature during the day can be maintained at 18-20 C and 10-12 C at night.

Cultivation of Carentan leek produces plants with relatively small bulbs that keep well. The Bulgarian variety, on the other hand, produces larger bleached bulbous parts, but it cannot be sown for the winter due to insufficiently goodcold tolerance. Onion harvesting of all varieties selectively begins in mid-August, while thinning it out. Mass harvesting begins in early October, while the plants are cut off the roots up to 2 cm, and the leaves - up to 0.25 meters. The harvest is stored in cellars in the sand, dug in. From one square meter you can get within one and a half - two and a half kilograms of stems and greenery. Leek greens contain a large amount of vitamin K, as well as manganese, folic acid, magnesium, molybdenum and other essential substances, which makes its use very beneficial for the body.