Crop tour Onions - week 35
Harvesting seed onions in full swing, how are you?
The harvesting of the first seed onions is in full swing. For example, the Gewastour plot in Oeffelt (North Brabant) was harvested last weekend and the harvesting machine was running in Nagele (Flevoland) on Monday. What is the yield and what happens on the other onion plots?
The seed onions were swathed on the crop tour plot in Oeffelt on Friday 26 August. This makes Oeffelt the second plot that has been cleared, after the plot in Ysselsteyn (Limburg) was cleared and loaded at the beginning of August. The end is also in sight for the other onion plots. Yesterday (Monday) a start was made with grubbing in Nagele (Flevoland).
Harvesting Oeffelt
Early in the season it became clear that the onions were growing well. The plot in Oeffelt was one of the first to start ironing. But partly due to the downy mildew, the wear and tear started quickly, reports onion grower Geert Jillissen. "As the end of the season approached, more and more mildew started to grow. The harvesting conditions were good and the crop was still somewhat green. With a view to the storage quality, we therefore decided to start harvesting."
From the trial grubbing-up of week 32, the yield was 57,3 tons per hectare. The current yield is probably not far from that. Jillissen doesn't know exactly how many tons there are per hectare in the swath: "I don't dare to say much about it. I hear around me that the yield is lower than previously thought. When everything is loaded, I know how many trucks be gone and I can make an estimate." Loading will take place today, Tuesday, August 31.
Red Naile
In Nagele (Flevoland) a start has also been made with harvesting onions since yesterday (Monday). Onion grower Harmjan Hospers is satisfied with how the harvesting is going, but had expected the onions to be a bit coarser: 'The onions have died off considerably and there is little green to be seen on the plot. The harvesting is going well, but now that they are in the swath, we expected them to be a bit coarser.'
From the trial harvest of week 32, the plot came out at 47,6 tons per hectare. Since that time, there has been some growth: 'Last year we were just under 60 tons per hectare. If you look at what's there now, I think it's equivalent to last year' Hospers sounds satisfied. The onions dry on the land for a few days and then go into storage.
Latest disease sprays
The end of the growing season is also in sight on the other onion plots. All fields of the Crop Tour are being ironed, but the disease pressure is not yet easy everywhere. Despite that, the last disease sprays are a fact and the grubbing-up is on the schedule. As with Dirk Binnema from Eenrum (Groningen): "Last Thursday was the last disease spraying on the plot. Now they just have to save themselves, then it will be harvesting in 2 or 3 weeks."
In Wezup (Drenthe) the crop is still very fresh and the onions become very coarse due to the thin position of the onions, says onion grower Arjen Jakobs. The wear of the crop is also slow.
Jesse Torringa
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