Onion World: The Voice of the Onion Industry

Onion Plant/Harvest

Texas Harvest
Today, Tom and Dan grow red, yellow and white onions. In addition, they also grow cabbage, sugarcane, cotton and grain. Their fresh onions are marketed to the U.S. and Europe. Harvest can come anytime between March 1 and May 1—quite a variable time to market.
"A lot of the problem in south Texas is you don't know how cold it's going to be, so you don't know when you're harvest is going to start," Tom says. "Sometimes you know when it's going to end because you get a big rain in here or something, and it pretty well ruins your quality, and it all ends very abruptly. Down here, the weather can be very moody."

John Wetegrove, Tom's grandfather, on the farm in Mercedes, Texas, pre-1937.

During the last 20 years, there has only been three times rain hasn't fallen sometime during the south Texas onion harvest. Some growers combat this by getting their crop in over the least amount of days possible.

"A lot of people try to get their whole crop within 30 days, and they'll get double the acreage," Tom explains. "Of course with that comes other concerns, one being production is bigger, and the market goes down because of the pressure on these markets. But, you have to control the things that you can."

As moody as south Texas weather can be, Tom believes the rain is part of what makes Texas onions so sweet. As a young boy, Tom remembers tat as the early onions became ready to harvest, his grandfather, father and himself would eat raw hamburger meat with onions, salt and pepper as a sort of tradition.

"Ten times I probably ate that and never got sick," Tom says. "There must have been something in those Texas onions."
-Carrie Kennington, editor, Onion World, December 2003, pages 7-8.

New York Planting
Onions are seeded between April 20 and May 10, and harvest begins in the middle of August with the early varieties and extends into early October. Onions are planted on both raised beds and "on the flat," with each farm using its own configuration of row spacing and bed width and height. Seeding is done with Stanhay belt seeders, using pelleted seed. Several farms are using film-coated seed and vacuum seeders, like Gaspardo or Monosem. All growers use a liquid drench system to deliver fungicides and insecticides and other amendments to the seed furrow.

A significant portion of red onions Spanish onions are produced from bare root transplants. Transplants are produced in Florida or Arizona and are planted in the Oswego area in the early part of May. Transplanting is done with modified celery planters or by hand.
-Jan van der Heide, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County, Onion World, July/August 2003, page 17.