Slime Bow
Slime onion (lat. Allium nutans) is a perennial plant of the Onion family. Another name is drooping onion. Under natural conditions it grows in meadows, rocky soils and steppes of Western and Eastern Siberia, as well as in the north of Kazakhstan.
The plant got its name from the mucus released when the leaves break.
Characteristics of culture
Slime onion is a herbaceous plant with a thick stem 25-70 cm high, equipped in the upper part with two winged ribs, drooping before flowering and straight during flowering. The leaves are flat, brittle, braid-like or linear with rounded ends, smooth, with a bluish bloom, up to 30 cm long. The leaf blade has a slight helical bend around the longitudinal axis.
The bulb is weakly defined, cylindrical or conical, covered with a thin filmy shell, attached to an obliquely growing or horizontal rhizome. The arrow is without a cavity, drooping in the upper part at the initial stage of the growing season, and erect at the beginning of flowering. The inflorescence is a spherical umbrella, multi-flowered, capitate, dense. The perianth is pink-violet or pink, has an inconspicuous vein. The tepals are obtuse, oblong-ovate, up to 4-6 cm long.
Growing conditions
For growing slime onions, well-moistened and fertile soils are preferred, otherwise the leaves acquire an unpleasant pungent taste and become very rough. The crop should not be cultivated on acidic soils. Loamy and sandy loam soils with a rich mineral composition are optimal. The plant can grow in the same place for up to 5-6 years or more. Slime onion is light-loving and develops best in intensely lit areas. The plant is neutral to spring frosts; adult plants can withstand frosts down t o-6C.
Reproduction and planting
Slime onions are propagated by seeds and by dividing the bush. The second method is simple and effective; healthy and tasty greens are obtained the very next year after planting. The cuttings are planted in May or early June in a row manner with an interval of 20-25 cm. Sowing seeds in open ground is carried out in early spring and during the summer, but no later than the first of August. Narrow grooves 1. 5 cm deep are formed on the ridges and seeds are sown. About 15 g of seeds are needed per 10 m. When three true leaves appear on the plants, thinning is carried out. The distance between plants should be 20 cm, between rows — 40 cm.
Slime onions can also be grown on a windowsill to produce green feathers. Before the onset of stable frosts, 3-4 year old bushes are dug up and planted in separate pots. After 25-30 days, the onion feathers are ready for cutting. In the future, the “indoor” slime onion requires watering and fertilizing. If you follow all the rules of care, the plants will reward you with good and juicy leaves, suitable for consumption.
Care
Slime onion care is standard. The plants are watered regularly, and the soil in the stem zone is loosened and free of weeds. The slime onion is resistant to pests and diseases, so it does not require preventive treatments. The first harvesting of leaves is carried out in the second year after sowing, the subsequent ones after the leaves reach a length of 30 cm. Leaves should not be allowed to overgrow, otherwise they will be too rough and tasteless. The last cutting is carried out in October, at which time the arrows that appear are also removed. The culture has a positive attitude towards fertilizing with phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium fertilizers (10-15 g per 1 sq. m.). Organic matter is added in early spring or late autumn, as well as after each cutting.
