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Onion garlic Rocambole is an unpretentious and high-yielding crop that is increasingly appearing in vegetable gardens. It is important not to make a mistake and purchase planting material of this particular natural hybrid of onion and garlic. Propagation of a new plant is exciting, but the subtleties of care and storage must be taken into account.
Onion garlic Rocambol: all about it
The culture that is grown in Southeast Asia, the countries of the Mediterranean, Western Europe has many names: elephant or Egyptian onion, German or Spanish garlic, onion garlic. This is a wild plant of Central Asia, Spain, Egypt.
In Our Country, Rocambole has been cultivated by individual enthusiastic gardeners since the 19th century. The aboveground and underground parts of the plant at the same time resemble onions and garlic in appearance and nutritional properties, but not with such a sharp taste. Its main attraction is the large volume of the head, which easily gains weight in a favorable climate. Cloves are well stored, provide vitamins until the warm season.
Rocambole belongs to the lily family. Outwardly, it resembles a leek, other gardeners claim that the stem and leaves look like huge garlic. The single-tooth, which is formed during the season from the small children of a mature plant, is identical to a round, flat bulb with white scales. Planted the following spring, produces a large, half-kilogram head of onion-garlic with several cloves.
According to reviews, Rocambole garlic is similar to onions in that it throws out long peduncles, barren flowers. The smell and taste are more garlicky, but softer and without bright bitterness.
Description of garlic Rocambole
Onion garlic is still unusual for Our Country, it is worth studying external data in detail.
What does Rocambole onion look like?
In the garden, an adult plant 50-80 cm high stands out in large sizes. On the thick stem of Rocambole there are 6-9 leaves 30-60 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, similar to linear leek feathers. A flat leaf blade with longitudinal stripes sharpens towards the top, slightly covered with a wax coating, rough to the touch, light green in color. There is a slight crease in the center of the sheet.
In 2-year-old garlic, stolons are formed on the bottom with 10-15 onion-children, weighing 1,5-4 g, with a strong husk of a darker, yellow-brown color, compared to the white tint of a large head. If the stolons grow short, the babies are close to the teeth, hiding behind the mother’s husk.
There are also long processes extending from the head up to 10 cm. Therefore, Rocambole is dug carefully so as not to lose small onions. They are planted next spring, getting large single-tooth bulbs weighing from 45 to 100 g. The heads resemble the usual rounded flat onions, covered with dry white scales.
Single teeth planted at the beginning of the next warm season form large Rocambole garlic in 110 days, as in the photo, with several juicy slices, from 3 to 5-6. The size of the vegetable depends on sufficient heat and nutrients in the soil. The diameter of the heads of garlic is from 6 to 10 cm, weight 100-500 g. One clove can be 15 cm long. From 1 sq. m collect 3 kg. New babies appear near the teeth. Everyone who has tried Rocambole notes the similarity of taste with onions and garlic at the same time.
How Rocambole Blooms
In June, a 2-year-old plant forms an arrow 1-1,5 m with a bright spherical inflorescence of sterile purple bell-shaped flowers. At first, the arrow grows in a spiral, like any winter garlic, then it straightens. Removing the arrows does not increase the weight of the teeth, but affects more children. If there is no purpose of culture propagation, Rocambole garlic flower stalks, as seen in the photo, are left to decorate the garden.
The difference between the bow of Suvorov and Rocambole
With the spread of onion garlic, confusion arose between this culture and Suvorov’s onion, which is also called anzur. This is one of the types of mountain bow with an arrow with a total height of more than a meter. And with large onions, which are eaten only after soaking or pickling. Rocambole onions are also eaten raw. The plants are a little similar in appearance – leaves and inflorescences. Although the feathers of the anzur are wider and with a bluish tinge. Suvorov’s onion is sometimes grown as a highly ornamental plant, decorating the garden for a long time with purple balls up to 12 cm in diameter.
Differences between cultures:
- on the peduncles of the anzur, seeds are formed that look like the usual nigella of other onions;
- an adult plant of Suvorov’s onion creates a head with a diameter of up to 14 cm, more often from two large white cloves;
- Anzur babies, like a hair bow, do not form;
- the cloves of a 2-year-old Rocambole onion are each covered with a continuous husk, like garlic;
- the anzur lobules have only common wrapping scales, and inside, between the teeth, there is no husk.
Suvorov’s onion is a valuable early spring vitamin plant, whose young greens are used only for 12-19 days.
What are the varieties of giant garlic Rocambole
Now in the country there are 3 cultivars of elephant garlic based on comb and grape onions:
- Pearls are created by breeders. The heads of garlic are small, up to 50 g, but spicy in taste. The variety is not afraid of cold snaps, shoots. From 1 sq. m collect 1,8 kg of onions.
- Janissary – also bred in Our Country, listed in the State Register in 2016. The average weight of a head of winter-hardy garlic is 60-70 g.
- The Belarusian variety White Elephant is rich in lobules – up to 7 pieces, head weight 150 g. The plant is cold-resistant and not susceptible to Fusarium infection. The variety does not shoot arrows.
How does Rocambole grow?
Hair onion Rocambole, according to the description, reproduces by children, which are formed at the bottom of the cloves of an adult 2-year-old plant. They are planted in the spring and get round single-toothed heads. These bulbs grow into a giant garlic with 4-6 cloves in a year. A plant planted from a single tooth produces an arrow with a peduncle, but produces seeds. A large head of garlic in the cool climate of the middle lane can be formed over 2 years. Winter plantings must be covered.
Planting and caring for Rocambole garlic
It is not difficult to grow an exotic culture in the climate of the Federation.
When to Plant Rocambole Garlic
Small baby teeth are planted in April or early May, when the earth warms up to + 5 ° C and still retains moisture after the snow melts. Domestic varieties of Rocambole are cold-resistant. It is better to purchase this planting material, and not slices brought from Spain or Cyprus. Such varieties will develop well only in the southern regions.
Site selection and preparation of soil
In our conditions, Rocambole onions or garlic are planted only in a site lit all day. Shading can cause teeth reduction and disease. Important requirements:
- elephant garlic prefers neutral soils;
- acidic soils alkalize when digging in October;
- in autumn, the site is fertilized with 5-6 kg of humus or compost, 150-200 g of bone meal and 500 g of wood ash are added per 1 sq. m;
- the rows are oriented from north to south;
- the soil is deeply loosened by 20-25 cm.
Rocambole is demanding of its predecessors. It develops well after legumes and melons, cabbage, cucumbers. You can not plant its slices after garlic, onions, potatoes. Possible pests of these plants, having overwintered, will begin to multiply again, causing damage to the expected harvest.
Planting Rocambole Garlic
Having received children, slices from a large head or round single-pronged Egyptian onions are stored in a dry, warm place with a temperature of 25 ° C in winter. Algorithm for preparing Rocambol for landing:
- from March or from the end of February, garlic is stratified for a month in the refrigerator;
- cleaned of integumentary scales;
- expose them to the sun for several days so that the cloves turn green;
- the day before planting, the onion is soaked in a solution of dark pink potassium permanganate for several hours or in another disinfectant, following the instructions;
- dried and placed in the garden.
The interval between rows is 30-40 cm, the distance between the holes is 20 cm. If large single teeth are planted, they recede up to 25-30 cm.
The nuances of planting Rocambole in the fall
For winter planting, the rules are the same, except for stratification, but the beds are prepared more carefully, making deep furrows:
- lay down a layer of humus or compost at 6-8 cm;
- material can not be disinfected;
- deepen by 10 cm;
- mulch up to 4-6 cm.
It is important to choose the time when frost is still a month away. Garlic takes root but does not germinate.
How to grow garlic Rocambole
After germination, the soil is slightly loosened near the sprouts of Rocambole. Planting and care in the open field for exotics are simple. Remove weeds regularly. In May and June, a moisture-loving crop is watered after 3-7 days, guided by the weather. Enough buckets of warm water per 1 square. m.
Feeding:
- For seedlings 3-5 cm high, add 15 g of ammonium nitrate per 1 sq.m.
- After creating 4 leaves, a solution is prepared from a glass of chicken manure to a bucket of water and 20 g of urea, spending 3 liters per 1 sq.m.
- At the end of June, when the heads are tied, they are fertilized with phosphorus-potassium preparations. Or, having dissolved a glass of wood ash in 10 liters of water, pour 5 liters per 1 sq.m.
When the Rocambole Garlic is Harvested
The signal for harvesting a hybrid of garlic and onion Rocambole is the withering of the lower leaves and yellowing of the upper ones. Winter plantings are dug in July, spring – in September. Late cleaning will cause the heads to deepen and the babies to separate and get lost. The heads are dug up and freed from the ground with their hands. You can not beat a tender onion on the ground. The texture is damaged, rotting will begin. Vegetables are tied up 1-2 up in a dry room. After 15-20 days, the roots and leaves are cut off, keeping 10-15 cm of the stem. The bundles are left hanging until cold.
Rocambole onion storage rules
Vegetables for eating are stored at a temperature of + 1-10 ° C, for planting – 20 ° C. Put in boxes with loose walls or hang. Onions retain their properties until spring.
Diseases and pests: methods of control and prevention
Egyptian garlic suffers from powdery mildew and rust on the leaves. Donets is affected by fusarium and bacterial rot. Pests: nematode, root mite, thrips and onion fly. Cultivation begins with prevention:
- the use of crop rotation;
- re-planting in the same place of any garlic or onion is allowed after 4 years;
- disinfection of planting material;
- autumn cleaning of the soil and burning of residues;
- drying Rocambole after harvest;
- before planting, the cloves are kept under the sun for 3-5 days.
To combat diseases and pests, pesticides and folk remedies are used:
- previously infected soil is treated with Fitosporin, copper oxychloride, Bordeaux liquid;
- the onion fly is repelled by pollinating the plants in May weekly with a mixture of 1 tsp. red pepper, 1 tbsp. l. tobacco dust, 1 can of 0,5 l wood ash.
Stop treatment with insecticides and fungicides at the time before harvest, as indicated in the instructions.
The benefits and harms of Rocambole
Greens and onion slices Rocambole are useful for their rich vitamin and mineral composition. Its calorie content is up to 150 kcal/100 g. The vegetable has a positive effect on the body as a natural antibiotic, and also tones the blood vessels. Portion should be moderate. Garlic should not be included in the children’s diet, pregnant women and in diseases of the kidneys, gallbladder, stomach.
The use of garlic Rocambole in cooking
A portion of a fresh clove or Rocambole greens is crushed into salads. Garlic is stewed and baked as a side dish, used in marinades, canning. Greens are frozen or salted for the winter. Various spicy sauces are prepared from finely chopped onions, they are added when cooking fish to beat off the smell, or to add flavor to the meat.
Conclusion
Onion garlic Rocambole is a valuable vitamin vegetable. Having received high-quality slices for planting, they are disinfected, the plants are regularly watered and fed. Particular attention is paid to drying heads for long-term storage.
