Dutch Crop tour onions - week 27
Seed onions are having a growth spurt
The sowing onions are struggling to grow due to the current weather conditions. The pipes make length, both the earlier and later sown plots. The poor structure, flooding, but also free-living nematodes are present on the plots. Growers of the Boerenbusiness Dutch Crop tour have already started combating thrips and trying to keep their crops healthy.
With the wet and late spring, things were anything but smooth sailing in the first weeks of onion cultivation. The heavy rain affected almost every plot in some way, whether it was flooding or soil and contact herbicides doing their job a little too well. This applies to both the previously sown plots in April and around the beginning of May. In addition, growers indicate that due to the high moisture content, free-living nematodes also hamper growth in some areas. The current weather conditions now seem to have largely turned the tide. The lots of moisture and the warm period of the past week are good for the onion crop, several growers from the Crop Tour note. They see the foliage growing very fast and sometimes two more pipes have been added since the longest day.
The sowing onions at Jacky Dieleman in Philippine are going through a growth spurt. "The onions are growing very fast. Finally. The onions are growing like crazy, you could say. But that has to be the case, because we are of course later this season." Dieleman does indicate that not every part of the plot is affected by the growth. "Where there are many plants, they grow there and look beautiful. But the flooded areas are really not that easy. That all counts, of course." Dieleman has also started using crop protection against downy mildew. "The pipes touch each other and I have sprayed twice as a preventive measure against downy mildew. Moreover, Batavia against thrips has also been on it since last week."
Wet spring can be seen everywhere
Tom Langenberg, account manager at De Groot en Slot in Central Netherlands, also sees that the seed onions are growing. "You finally see that everything is growing fast and the pipes are shooting up. This also applies to the plots sown later. Although a backlog is often clearly visible on these plots. Unfortunately, you can see the poor structure everywhere after this wet spring. On some In places the structure is so poor or it has been under water for so long that suffocation occurs in the sowing onions, for example.
Langenberg also indicates that various plots have been hit by weed control. Growers wanted and had to do something about weeds, but in some cases they were a little too early because of the still young crop. The growing weather also requires extra attention to keep the crop healthy, says Langenberg. "Be alert. The crop grows fast and that makes the plant more susceptible to diseases.
Growing
In Marknesse (Flevoland), onion grower Peter Holster has kept up with the growth. The crop has grown rapidly in the last five days. He turned the pipes white with a spray can and examined the plant again after five days. A large part of the pipe is no longer white, as shown in the images below.
The seed onions at onion grower Jan Berend Biesheuvel in Zeewolde (Flevoland) are also growing fast. On the left image the onions on July 1, on the right on July 4.
Last Monday, onion grower Reinder Hogenhout in Kimswerd, Friesland, also started applying crop protection against downy mildew.
Jesse Torringa
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