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Ramson from seeds at home is the best option for propagating a wild-growing vitamin species. There are 2 most common types of wild garlic with lily-of-the-valley leaves – bearish and victorious. The first, with a peduncle up to 30 cm tall, with a white corolla, grows in the forests of the Caucasus, Siberia and Europe, develops before the beginning of summer, like most bulbs. The second species is found in Siberia and the Caucasus, larger, with greenish flowers, vegetates all summer. Both plants are listed in the Red Data Book of certain regions and are propagated by seeds.
How wild garlic breeds
Like any wild species, wild garlic takes root only in conditions that are as similar as possible to places of natural distribution. This wild onion is found in nature in deciduous forests, in glades, in wetlands, does not like open spaces. The natural reproduction of the species is by seeds, which independently disperse on the ground in summer and autumn. Shoots appear next spring from seeds that lie all winter. Covered with grass and leaves, the grains withstand frost. Therefore, it is advised to propagate wild garlic with seeds that have undergone stratification. They are placed in the substrate in the refrigerator for 80-90 days. Some experts insist that wild garlic seeds do not have a dormant period, and such a technique is not needed for plant breeding.
There are certain difficulties in breeding wild bear onions. Seeds collected in summer and autumn have a short germination period. Adjusting to the natural schedule, it is better to plant wild garlic with seeds before winter. Spring sowing of seeds will give sprouts half as much as embedded grains. Seedlings may appear even after a year, so it is better to mark the sown area and not process it.
Many gardeners note that the bear onion already growing on the site was propagated by dividing the bush. This method in this case is easier than growing wild garlic from seeds at home. It is necessary to carefully dig a wild garlic bush so that all the roots growing from the bulb are preserved, preferably with an earthen clod. They are divided into separate bulbs and immediately planted in wells prepared and spilled with water. Reproduction of wild garlic bulbs is possible only in those areas where the endemic grows. A culture transported within a few hours loses moisture from small roots, and more often dies in a new area.
How to plant wild garlic seeds
When choosing a plot for wild garlic, take into account the natural factors in which the plant propagates by self-sowing seeds:
- moderately moist soil, possibly close occurrence of groundwater;
- melt or rainwater is not collected on the site;
- soil made of clay, sandy loam or loam with a slightly acidic or slightly alkaline reaction;
- shady place, partial shade;
- the entire area is mulched with leaves, chopped dry grass.
If the gardener is sure that he has the seeds of a victorious onion, and not a bear one, it is better to place the plants in a sunny area. This type of wild garlic prefers light glades.
When can you sow wild garlic
Successful planting of wild garlic seeds in the fall, at the end of August, until mid-September. In the store, you need to pay attention to the date of packaging of products. Fresh seeds collected this year in the summer will provide good germination in the spring. Gardeners claim that seedlings on the ground in the garden can appear even after a year and a half. For so long, seeds that have not undergone stratification lie in the ground. If they remain intact, they will give late shoots. Therefore, the site is fenced, mulched, moistened throughout the warm season. Spring planting of wild garlic seeds is traditionally carried out after stratification.
Soil Preparation
If the seeds are sown in containers, a container with a depth of 12-15 cm is selected. Wild garlic sprouts will be held in a container for at least 2 years before the transplant date. Carefully prepare the nutrient substrate:
- 2 parts garden or forest soil;
- 1 part humus or compost;
- 1 part peat.
Drainage from small pebbles, expanded clay is laid at the bottom of the containers. The lower plane of the container must be perforated. The containers are placed on pallets.
Sowing wild garlic seeds in garden soil also provides for site preparation:
- mark the borders of wild garlic crops with a fence;
- in low-lying places, 20 cm of the fruit-bearing layer is removed in order to arrange drainage from brick or crushed stone under it;
- acidic soil is dug up in the summer and limed;
- a week before sowing seeds, organic matter is introduced, a bucket of humus per 1 sq. m.
Stratification of wild garlic seeds
Sowing wild garlic with seeds before winter directly into the ground on the site implies their natural stratification in frozen ground. If the seeds germinate in a container, they are frozen:
- placed in a container with soil or sand;
- put in the refrigerator for 2 months.
How to sow wild garlic
For better germination, wild garlic seeds are treated in growth-stimulating solutions according to the instructions and germinated. After treatment with drugs, the seeds in a gauze bag are placed in a flat, convenient container, where a little warm water is poured from time to time. During the germination process, the cloth must remain wet and release moisture to the seeds. The air temperature should be within + 20-26 °C. The container is covered so that the moisture does not evaporate too quickly.
The germinated seeds are laid out with tweezers in recesses – rows, lightly sprinkled with soil with a layer of up to 0,5-1 cm. Now the long process of germination, their development and strengthening at home will begin.
In the open ground, the depth of the rows is up to 5 cm, the interval between the grooves is 15-20 cm. For such sowing, wild garlic seeds are not germinated, but simply laid out in grooves, using 10 g per 1 sq. m. Sprinkle with peat on top, so that in the spring it would be easier for the sprouts to break through to the light.
There is another way to propagate wild garlic seeds in the fall:
- lay out 2-3 dry grains on compacted soil in a ceramic pot;
- a layer of peat up to 3 cm is poured on top;
- the pot is placed in the garden in a hole according to its volume, covered with peat and other mulch, leaves, rotted straw on top.
Under such conditions, the seeds spend the winter, then in the spring the mulch and peat are removed, but the place with pots must be designated for watering and care.
How to grow wild garlic from seeds
To propagate wild garlic in the country, the sprouts are transplanted from the container a year later, next spring. Adhere to strict rules for the care of fragile sprouts at home:
- all this time, young plants are kept in a bright place, but not on a sunny windowsill, so that they do not fade;
- the soil must be moistened regularly;
- once a week, the soil is slightly loosened with a thin stick, not approaching the sprouts;
- in autumn and winter, crops are provided with additional illumination, up to 10-12 hours a day.
Onion sprouts that have made their way on the street are also provided with constant care:
- Easily loosen the soil with a thin narrow tool.
- Carefully remove weeds.
- Watered in the aisles.
- Pour peat if it washed out after the rain.
- Refresh a layer of leaf mulch.
Watering Schedule
Onion sprouts, which are in a seedling container, are watered every other day or two. The soil should not be waterlogged, and at the same time brought to dryness. In summer, during the hot season, watering twice a day is possible. In late autumn, it is enough to water the container 1-2 per week.
Do I need to feed
In the first year of growth, bear onions are fed with balanced complex fertilizers for greens:
- “Energen”;
- «AVA»
- Sapropel;
- “Gardener”;
- “WMD”;
- Hera and others.
After transplanting to a permanent place, organic fertilizers are also used as infusions:
- from manure;
- litter;
- green grass.
When can wild garlic be transplanted
The sprouts will get stronger only by the second spring of their development. You can transplant wild garlic at the end of April, the culture is not afraid of return frosts and cool weather:
- you need to take special thin and long spatulas for seedlings in the form of spatulas, with which you can divide the soil in the container into sections, in which there will be one bulb each;
- the soil in the hole is watered before planting with water, as in a container with seedlings;
- sections are taken on a shoulder blade and transferred to the hole, trying not to damage the long roots;
- the holes are sprinkled with earth, compacted and mulched.
Ramson grows in one area for 6-7 years. After 2-3 years, new plants bud from the bulb, a dense bush is formed, which is planted in the spring according to standard agricultural practices. Then the first flowering of wild garlic begins. Bear’s onion produces seeds in July, with withering of the aerial part. Seeds are harvested from the winning onion in August. Leaves for greens are cut after 5 years of plant development.
Conclusion
Ramson from seeds at home will give the first crop for 4-5 years of development. At the same time, only 1 leaf is cut from each plant, be sure to leave leaves for the bulbs to grow. The complex breeding process is justified, since the culture is rich in its beneficial composition.
