In this blog, our expert, Chris, breaks down how to transplant Negi (Japanese bunching onion) for a successful growing season. He explains transplanting for both commercial and home gardeners.
Preparation:
- Pruning your transplants is very important to stimulate growth. Evenly trim the tops of your negi plants while they are still in trays. This will help your plant vigorously snap out of transplant shock.
- Home gardeners: Dig a trench 6 to 8 inches deep. Lay out Negi in trench 2 inches apart from each other.
- Commercial planting: In the field, use a standard furrow shovel to open up tops of bed, then transplant negi at bottom of the ditch 2 inches apart.
- We go through this step of digging out the dirt so that in a few weeks we can push dirt around the bases of the negi. It will stimulate growth, protect the shank from the sun and give us a nice white, long shank.
Transplanting:
- Once the beds are prepared, place Negi 2 to 4 inches apart in the trench. Start patting the soil around the base, standing Negi upright without any bend.
- Once they are established, add an additional layer of soil all the way to the top of shank where it branches.
Tip: Get transplants as deep as you possibly can. This will help with cultivation later in the season. The deeper you get the transplants, the easier it will be to push dirt later on. Ideally, we will get a beautiful 10-18 inch shank.
