Crop tour onions - week 11
Easy sowing first onions, but 'sowing onions is harvesting'
It is still early in the season, but the first onion growers of the Boerenbusiness Crop tour are busy sowing the onions. The conditions are certainly good, but there are still many doubts about the right sowing time in connection with the weather forecast.
As usual, it is the fields in the south where the onion seed goes into the ground first. In Oeffelt (North Brabant), the onions were sown last Monday and Tuesday. Today (Thurs 17 March) in Kortgene (Zeeland) sown is also done on the Zeeland clay. Also a lot further north, such as in the east of Groningen, the first onion growers are venturing onto the field. Compared to last season, the sown hectares are increasing rapidly in the south. The conditions for sowing on the lighter soils are quite good. On the heavier plots it is sometimes dirty, but it is not as bad as expected. Many onion growers had expected a lesser structure after this relatively warm and wet winter.
Geert Jilissen, onion grower from Oeffelt (North Brabant) was the first of the Gewastour to sow the onions with the Vento variety and that is not disappointing: "The conditions for sowing were good on the lighter plots. Sowing was fine on the heavier plots. one thing. We postpone sowing on the heavier soils that lie on the winter furrow due to the drought. Sowing onions is harvesting."
The same image has onion grower Klaasjan Boer from Kortgene (Zeeland). He grows on clay soil and the structure did not disappoint when preparing the land. The onions have now been sown, but the amount of moisture in the soil is disappointing: "It's starting to get pretty dry on the land again. I try to put the seed deep in the moist, firm layer."
It is still early in the season, but the temperature is good and the soil still contains sufficient moisture. The weather forecast is dry and sunny for the time being, as a result of which many onion growers have doubts about the right sowing moment. They want to prevent the newly germinated seed from drying out. In the southern provinces, the first reels are already running over the onion fields. That may also be necessary at Jilissen if there is no precipitation: "I have to take into account that if it stays dry next week, I will have to irrigate the onions on the heavier soil."
Jesse Torringa
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