Drought is hitting onions in the south

The seed onions have started to grow, but the drought continues to affect growth in the south. The number of pipes on the plants is still not too bad, but the length and mass of the foliage is considerably less compared to other years. Thrips pressure is also increasing. 

In the north, the necessary precipitation has fallen in the past two weeks, although there can be considerable differences within a radius of 10 kilometers. That is, of course, inherent in showers. In the northern half of the Netherlands, an average of 40 millimeters fell in the first half of July, where the southern part of the Netherlands had to make do with an average of 10 to 20 millimeters. Due to the moisture, the onions in the north and center of the country have started to grow. In the south of the country, where there was less rain, the onions are in survival mode.

The onions in Kimswerd (Friesland) continue to grow nicely with the occasional rainfall and sufficient temperature. The amount of foliage on the onions is less this year compared to previous years. Because the onions have little foliage, the factory of the plant is missing. It is therefore important to keep the foliage on it green and going, according to Reinder Hogenhout. "I have occasionally found thrips in my field but it is still well controlled. I am trying to stay on track with my disease control so as not to give downy mildew a chance with this rapid foliage growth."

The onions are doing well on the sandy soil in Drenthe. The onions were sprinkled this week with 100 kilograms of KAS per hectare. The onions are growing nicely due to the rainfall of recent weeks.

This week, the Gewastour plot with onions in the Flevopolder was fertilized with 150 kilograms of 16-0-30. In addition, liquid potassium is also administered to the onions by Powerleaf Kali and Multimix.

Drought is increasing in the south
There has been little precipitation in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen recently. Dieleman therefore continues to faithfully make his rounds along the various crops with the reel. "I am glad that I have the opportunity to irrigate my plots. The differences are large between the plots that can and cannot be irrigated," says Dieleman.

Dieleman can keep the thrips well under control. "I have sprayed the onions against thrips three times so far. This is also important because the foliage is not large and you don't want thrips damage. I haven't had any problems with downy mildew yet. I haven't heard anything from downy mildew in nearby plots, not even in organic onion sets," says Dieleman.

In Kortgene (Zeeland) the onions were sprayed against downy mildew on Thursday and foliar fertilizers were also added to the spraying. The onions are still vital at the moment. But with little foliage between the four and seven pipes. "The onions have started with bulbs, but are simply suffering from the drought. 6 millimeters have fallen here twice in recent weeks, but no more than that. For the onions it is survival at the moment," says Klaasjan Boer.

"At the moment there is no rain forecast for the coming weeks. I don't know what it will be in the end. It is starting to look more and more like 2018. This year we only sowed later than 2018 and the structure was of course not great at the time of sowing."

The KNMI map shows that the precipitation deficit is increasing further in the south of the country.

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