Nowadays, how to grow shallots has experienced a lot of innovation and progress. Many farmers use the latest technologies for shallot cultivation, so the yields are also more abundant. Shallot is a seasonal holtikutura species that has a high economic value. When the harvest season is carried out simultaneously sometimes the price of shallots drops. Therefore it is necessary to plant shallots outside of the normal planting period.

Onion cultivation outside the planting period needs to be done so that there is no buildup of shallots on the market. Moreover, the durability of this commodity is relatively short so that if there is accumulation, decay will occur. This certainly will harm farmers who cultivate this plant. To do this, of course, the role of the government is needed in educating farmers who grow shallots.

Practical Guide on How to Plant Shallots.

Red onion cultivation is suitable when summer arrives, because plants need more than 12 hours of sun exposure every day. For shallot cultivation, you should choose an environment that is at an altitude of 0 to 900 below sea level. While the temperature of the area that supports the growth of shallots is around 25 to 35 degrees Celsius. Whereas the acidity limit of the soil ranges from pH 5.6 to 7.

Below will be discussed about the technical guidelines for shallot cultivation in an easy way. This method has been widely applied by shallot farmers and has obtained satisfactory results. Immediately start for the steps to plant shallots.

Choosing Shallot Seeds.

There are many varietes of onion seeds that you can cultivate. Among them are local seeds until imported hybrid seeds. For seeds sold there are seeds, there are also seeds in the form of tubers. The second type of seed is widely used by farmers in shallot cultivation. A good shallot seed is a seed that comes from tubers harvested old or around the age of 80-100 days depending on the location of planting.

The number of seeds needed in the cultivation of shallots also depends on the varietes of what will be planted. For a spacing of 20 x 20 with a weight of 5 grams of seed, it takes around 1.4 tons of seed for each hectare. For the same tuber seed weight and using a 15 x 15 spacing it takes around 2.4 tons of seed per hectare. If the size and weight of the seeds are smaller, the need for seeds per hectare is even less.

Processing Soil and Planting Shallot Seeds.

Before planting shallots, it is first necessary to prepare a planting area. Make beds with a width of 1-1.2 meters, height of 50 cm beds, and display beds adjusted to the available land. Make the distance between beds about 50 cm, as well as used as a trench with a depth of 50 cm. Spread the soil in the beds by hoeing 20 cm deep. The shape of the bed surface becomes flat.

If the condition of soil acidity is less than pH 5.6, use lime or dolomite as much as 1-1.5 tons for one hectare of land. The addition of lime should be done about 2 weeks before the soil is planted with shallots.

For basic fertilizer, use manure or compost. Spread the fertilizer over the beds then stir with the soil evenly. You can also add chemical fertilizers such as ZA, SP-36 and KCL for 47 Kg, 311 Kg and 56 Kg for one hectare of land. Combine all the artificial fertilizers then let stand for one week before the beds are planted with onion seeds.

Prepare the bulbs or seedlings onion that are ready to be planted. If the seeds used are less than 2 months old, it should be scratched at the end of the tuber, about 0.5 cm. This aims to break down the dormant period so as to accelerate the growth of plant buds.

The way to plant shallots in the dry season is to provide the spacing to be compressed to 15 x 15 cm. While planting in the rainy season make a spacing of at least 20 x 20 cm. How to plant red onion seeds by immersing all the tubers into the soil.

Shallot Cultivation Treatment.

How to plant shallots that need to be considered is watering the plants. This activity should be done twice a day, namely in the morning and evening. This is done from the beginning of planting until the plants are 10 days old, after which the frequency is reduced to once a day.

The next treatment is the provision of additional fertilizer when the plants are 2 weeks old from the beginning of planting. The type of fertilizer used is a mixture of KCI, ZA, urea. The composition of each fertilizer is 112 Kg, 200 Kg and 93 Kg. Subsequent fertilization was carried out when the plant entered the age of 5 weeks with a composition of urea fertilizer 47 Kg, ZA 100 Kg, and KCI 56 Kg per hectare. Peping is done by making strokes around the plant.

The way to grow a crop of onion is to clean the weed plants that grow around the onion. Weed weeding is usually done 2 times per one planting season. To save on maintenance costs, weeding can be done simultaneously with the provision of supplementary fertilizer. But if weeds that grow too much, weeding must be done immediately.

Red Onion Plant Pest Control.

Red onion plants have several types of pests and diseases that attack. But there are several types of diseases that often attack onion cultivation, namely caterpillar pests and wilt. Caterpillar pests often attack the leeks, symptoms that appear appear white spots on the leaves. If the telescopic leaves will be seen caterpillar bite marks.

To overcome this pest can be done manually by taking the caterpillars and eggs directly, then destroyed. If onion cultivation is carried out in a large scale, this pest control can be done using sex trap pheromones. Use about 40 pieces for each hectare. If the attack intensifies and results in damage to the plant, spraying with insecticides can be done with active ingredients of chlorphyrios.

This type of wilt also often attacks onions. Symptoms such as leaves turn yellow like twisted. The base of the onion starts to rot. If this happens immediately unplug the plants indicated by this disease, then burn the plant. The next step is to spray fungicide.

Shallot Cultivation Harvest.

One characteristic of the onion plant that is ready to be harvested is that 60-70% of leeks have begun to fall. Or you can check tuber randomly. Especially when using seeds from tubers, the level of leaves that fall should reach 90%.

The next way to plant shallots is to pay attention to plants that have begun to be harvested. Usually red onions can be harvested in the 55-70 days since planting. The productivity of shallots also varies, depending on climate, weather and the type of onion planted. In Indonesia on average in one hectare of land can produce around 3-12 tons of shallots with a national average of 9.47 tons per hectare.

Onion bulbs that have been harvested will go through the drying process first. For terrible red onions can be done with the drying process for 7-14 days. If the water content on the onion has dropped to 85%, it means that the onion is dry and ready to be marketed.

Finally, a practical guide to how to grow shallots is finished. Don't forget to practice what has been taught in the article above.