Mkulima today we have received several requests asking for a review on some of the minerals needed in onion farming. As a result today we cover mineral deficiency to look out for in onion farming.
This is a short introduction to onion farming by an experienced farmer. You are free to leave a question or a comment on any subject in agribusiness.
Production
You will always find on the seed packets they have written the expected tonnage but to some even hitting half of that is a problem but why?
Read more
You might be asking yourself and start thinking you have been duped by the marketing department.
The reality is that there are several factors in onion farming that might lead to this and mineral deficiency to look out for in onion farming might be the issue and not the seeds producer.
Together we will cover some of the basics on this issue and hope that you will learn one or two tips and boost your production.
There are many factors but today I will focus on our communication with our crops.
There are many times when things get messy and the farmer just plays along with all foliar trying to solve the mess.
Zinc
First of all, we look at zinc. Onions are very sensitive to this deficiency of which many confuse with Nitrogen deficiency your crop first gets stunted growth then has a faint interval chloro-sis common for farmers in black cotton soil.
Nitrogen
Then when do you know in my soil Nitrogen is not enough for my crop by observation.
This you will be able to notice by first checking on the tips of the plant.
You see dieback from tips then pale green to yellow leaves. Also, don’t confuse this with phosphorous deficiency as they behave the same when it comes to dieback on tips but no yellowing in this case.
Potassium 
Then when your soil potassium is deficient your leaves become darker green and also older leaves begin to wilt.
This is common in places where sodium level is high other parameters like Boron, manganese, iron magnesium, calcium to be discussed later…
Credit Joseph Clinik

Having an agribusiness question? Do you know of a successful agribusiness venture or story that you wish to share? I would like to hear from you. Send me the TIP(s) at mkulimatoday@gmail.com

Like and follow MkulimaTODAY on Facebook | twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Group share this article and leave comments or questions or WhatsApp me +254700761190 on what you would like me to answer in the next article.