Growing leeks is a profitable business

Cultivation of leeks is a profitable business, since this rather unpretentious crop yields high yields. The plant is usually grown on fertile, loose soils with a high degree of moisture supply, but land plots with acid reaction of the crop do not yield. Soil for plants should be prepared in autumn by applying on average four kg of manure, 35 g of superphosphate and 17 g of potassium chloride per one square meter of future planting.

Cultivation of leeks in spring begins with additional fertilization of the soil with ammonium nitrate (on average 25 g) and urea (about 17 g) per sq. M. meter. Further, in the middle of May, when the soil is well heated, it is possible to plant the leeks in the open ground to ridges of sufficient height in the ordinary way. The optimal distance between rows is 0.3 meters, between plants in one row - not less than 0.2 meters, and the depth of planting - 0.1 - 0.15 meters.

Cultivation of leeks can not do without regular loosening of the soil, weeding from weeds, watering and hilling of plants. The vegetative period of the culture is about two hundred days, during which the onion should be fertilized a couple of times with a mixture of manure (or bird droppings) with mineral fertilizers. This increases the yield and gives improved taste. The amount of nutrient input is usually calculated according to the same standards as for the varieties.

Cultivation of leeks from seeds is usually carried out in the autumn. For this, at a soil temperature of 1-2 degrees Celsius, it is dug, fertilized with a couple of buckets of humus and 70 grams of nitrophosphate per square meter. The plot (or ridges) level and seed the seeds to a depth of about 2 cm at a distance of 3 cm from each other. On top of the seeds should be covered with humus or peat layer of a couple of centimeters. With a sufficient snow cover, the plants are well experienced in the winter and are rising together in winter. Seeding works are usually carried out in early November or late October.

Cultivation of leeks seedlings begins two months before landing in the ground. Before sowing in the greenhouse, the seeds are soaked for three days and then closed to a depth of two centimeters with a distance of 0.05 meters between the rows. The optimum temperature for emergence is 20-22 C, then the temperature can be maintained at 18-20 C and 10-12 C at night.

Cultivation of leeks of the Quarantine variety gives plants with a relatively small bulb that is well kept. The Bulgarian variety gives larger bleached bulbous parts, but it can not be sown for the winter because of insufficiently good cold tolerance. Cleaning of onions of all sorts selectively begin from the middle of August, while thinning it. Mass harvesting begins at the beginning of October, with the roots cut to 2 cm and the leaves cut to 0.25 meters. Crop storage is carried out in basements in sand, in a kind of prikopannom. From one square meter can be obtained within one and a half - two and a half kilograms of stems and greens. In the green of leeks contain a large amount of vitamin K, as well as manganese, folic acid, magnesium, molybdenum and other necessary substances, which makes its use very useful for the body.