Dutch Crop tour onions - week 33
Onions begin to iron, fear of faster wear
The yellow seed onions are already starting to thrive on the various plots participating in the Boerenbusiness Crop tour. In addition, several growers carried out the MH spraying last week. Growers are curious how long the crop will remain vital with the higher temperatures expected for the coming week.
Temperatures of around 30 degrees are predicted in or after next weekend, with damp and humid weather. Onion growers of the Gewastour agree that it does not benefit the condition of the onions, causing the crop to wear out faster.
160 millimeters in 2 weeks
In Lepelstraat (NB) last week was sprayed for the last time against mildew with the agent fandango. August 16 was sprayed with luna against leaf spots. Precipitation has been particularly high on the onion plot recently. From July 27 to August 11, a total of 160 millimeters fell, of which even 65 millimeters fell on one day. "The ground was suddenly completely saturated. This made ironing the onions faster," says onion grower David de Wit. The expectation is that the onions can be harvested in two weeks. Spraying was carried out on the MH plot on 10 August.
De Wit did a trial harvesting of his onions last weekend. "With the trial harvesting, 1,5 square meters of onions were harvested. I came up with 8,8 kg fresh weight of 135 onions. Converted to tons per hectare, that is more than 58 tons gross. About 17% of the onions are now 60% gone. There is still potential in the plot to grow further," says De Wit.
In Wezup (Dr) part of the plot has been ironed. "The plot is not even in terms of soil. As a result, there is a difference in the places where the onions land on the plot," says Arjen Jacobs. "I sprayed foliar fertilizers during the season to keep the crop more vital. I hope that the crop can also benefit from this now. As the crop looks now, it will take another four weeks before I can harvest the onions. They predict high temperatures next weekend, so I don't know how hard the crop will wear out."
The MH spraying is much earlier this year at Jacobs. "I sprayed MH on August 8. Normally I spray MH later, but that didn't work out well last year. As a result, I made the choice to spray earlier this year."
Sprinkle while ironing
At Jacky Dieleman in Philippine (ZL), the onions are also starting to grow rapidly. He sprayed MH on August 12. "I found a stem with downy mildew on my other plot of onions. I therefore made the choice to tighten up my spraying schedule, so a lower interval. Now I spray every five to six days."
Dieleman has not had much rain in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen during the growing season. "So I'm thinking about irrigating my onions again, but we haven't decided on that yet," says Dieleman. He expects it will take another four weeks before the onions are lifted, but with temperatures above 30 degrees, the crop can wear out quickly. "Normally I harvest the onions when the onions are still on the green side, but this year I let the onions grow out completely because every kilo counts".
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