Other Methods of Planting Onion

a) Planting bulb in the field:-

• To meet the demand of early green crop of Onion, medium sized bulbs from the previous season harvest and dibbled 15cm apart on the sides of 22.5cm wide ridges or in beds in the month of Aug. – Oct.
• Early green Onions are ready for harvest in 1 – 2 months (Oct. – Dec.). Yield per hectare is reduced in this method.

b) Direct Sowing

• Soil is thoroughly pulverized and made free of clods.
• About 16 – 23 Kg seed/ha. are sown in rows, 30 cm and 10 – 12.5 cm apart within the row, during Aug. – Sept. in plains and during Feb. – June in the hills.
• Depth of sowing is 2 – 2.5 cm.
• Seedlings 6 – 8 weeks old, may be thinned and thinning are used for gap filling in the field.
• A light irrigation is given immediately after sowing.
• Direct sowing is done where labors are costly and transplanting becomes an expensive operation.

c) Planting By Sets:-

• Sets are small sized Onion bulb produce by the seedling which matures in nursery bed as such instead of transplanting them.
• For planting 1hac, 5 – 8 Kg seeds are sufficient to raise enough nos. of seeds.
• Mid Jan. – Feb. is ideal time of sowing.
• Let the plants remain in the nursery till their leaves fall (till April).
• By this time plants form small sets due to lesser spacing.
• Later on dig out the sets.
• About 1.5 – 2 cm sized, disease free sets are selected and stored in hessian cloths bags or in swallow baskets or in racks under properly ventilated conditions.
• For 1 ha. area 10 qts. of sets are required.
• The sets are planted 10 cm apart in rows on both sides of ridges spaced at 35 – 45 cm spacing.
• Seeds are normally planted by mid Aug. to get an early crop by mid Nov.
• The planting may however continue up to Sept. so as to prolong the availability of the produce up to mid Dec.
• A light irrigation is given immediately after planting the sets.