Crop tour Onions - week 27
Onion development ahead of other years
No growing season is the same, and that will be evident again in 2025. But what is a normal growing season these days? The seed onion plots were sown extremely early this year and, despite the drought, they are growing. This is also clearly visible when taking a tour of the field. How are the Gewastour onion plots doing compared to other years?
The dry spring this year ensured that the seed onions could be sown considerably earlier than in previous years. Most participants sowed their onions in March this year and the average sowing date is about a month earlier than last year.
The current growing season has been characterised by dry weather to this day. Weed control in particular caused some problems this spring, as reported by various participants. With the dry conditions, the soil herbicides did not work optimally this year, which meant that a lot of (hardened off) weeds still had to be controlled later. When the crop received a shower of water in time, growth continued quite well, which allowed the crop to develop considerably in places.
Tour along the fields
Starting in the middle of the country, with the onions of Jan Berend Biesheuvel from Zeewolde (Flevoland). Jan Berend is very pleased with the state and development of the crop. "We have now started the fourth round of irrigation. With the heat of the coming days I decided to start anyway, even though it is not too dry yet. The onions are now starting to bulb and what I notice is that there is more foliage than in recent years." Jan Berend also continues to irrigate during the warm days, he says that the crop cools down, and he expects that the crop benefits more from that at the moment. Compared to previous years, the difference can be seen in the photo compilation below.
In the Gelderse Beemte Broekland we end up at Ruud Vossebeld. Ruud indicates that his onions are really starting to take off, after he sowed relatively 'late' compared to the other participants. "I didn't think the conditions were good enough last spring. Too cold, the conditions were not to my liking for a long time and I prefer to sow in soil that has warmed up a bit." After Ruud sowed a bit later, he indicates that the soil has actually been constantly nice and moist, which means that he has not irrigated his onions yet. While others are busy with the irrigation reel, Ruud also wonders out loud whether it is the right thing to do. "I seriously wonder whether irrigation is actually beneficial to the quality of the onions."
Even at the beginning of the season, when the onion has to take root, Ruud believes that you should not 'pamper' them too much. "An onion naturally wants to look for moisture, so let such an onion do it." It is not that Ruud does not irrigate at all, because if there is really no other option, he also pulls the reel out of the shed. However, he questions the added value of frequently irrigating onions.
The most southern participant is Jacky Dieleman from Zeeland, the Philippines. Jacky is one of the first this year to start harvesting winter barley. Furthermore, Jacky indicates that his onions could use another shower of rain. "The potential of the onion crop at the moment seems good. However, we have to wait and see what effect the upcoming high temperatures will have on the crop. It can quickly wear you out."
Jacky indicates that the crop has a lot of foliage and that now that the curving has started, the crop can quickly evaporate up to 5 millimeters per day. If no rain has fallen after the warm days, Jacky will start irrigating for the fourth time at the end of the week. In addition to the onions, the sugar beets are also very dry at Jacky's at the moment. He indicates that they are sleeping during the day and that the first old leaves are already starting to die off. That is why Jacky has also started irrigating his sugar beets.
A little further north in Zeeland, in Kortgene, we come to Klaasjan Boer. Klaasjan is currently in the driest area of the Netherlands. He reports that it is now really becoming bone dry in Zeeland. This is also reflected in the onion crop, he says. "The leaf tips are starting to turn a bit yellow and the crop is also not growing well this way." The onions also did not grow evenly, which has caused two-growth. Where the north-east of the country was lucky with quite a few millimeters of significance, this decreases the further south-west you go. Klaasjan reports that he had about 5 millimeters of water last week, and since sowing he still does not exceed 50 millimeters in total.
David de Wit from Lepelstraat in Brabant reports that his onions are doing quite well. After David has irrigated six times, the crop is growing well and the bulging is starting. David says that he is afraid of the high temperatures that are coming. "The crop has a decent foliage package and I am curious to see what those temperatures will do to the crop."
The onions of Hubert Linders from Nederweert in Limburg are also doing quite well, he says. After Hubert had a nice shower of almost 20 millimeters last week, the crop has a nice buffer for the coming hot days. The same applies to René Haaijer from Veelerveen. With almost 30 millimeters, the Groningen grower was in the place where the most rain fell in the Netherlands last week. After René had previously suffered from hail damage, he says that it recovered reasonably well as the crop continued to grow.
To stay in the North, we go from Groningen to Drenthe. In Wezup in Drenthe, Arjan Jakobs has also had quite a bit of precipitation in the past week. The crop is growing well, says Arjan. "I notice that the foliage is a bit limp, probably because of the rapid growth recently. Because of the rain recently, it seems as if the crop is growing faster than there is strength in the plant," says Jakobs. It was previously written that there were problems this year with the delivery of red onion seeds and that this made many varieties available from abroad. In the Netherlands, according to seed suppliers, it is crucial for a good yield to grow varieties for the 'very long day segment'. Arjan had sown red onions for the 'short day segment'. He reports that you can see that quite clearly at the moment. "The difference in onion necks is currently enormously visible. One is much too small and the other is much too big. The crop is also not nice and even and it appears that such a variety is not suitable for the Dutch climate", according to Arjan.
Finally, we arrive at Peter Holster in Marknesse (Flevoland). Peter is pleased with how his onions are doing at the moment and his onions have started to bulb. "The crop has a gigantic foliage package, but I notice that the leaves remain remarkably light in color. When I look at my other onion plot, where I do not use drip irrigation, it is much darker in color."
Onion crop 2025 further developed than previous years
What is striking is that the crop has developed much further this growing season. The crop is a lot bigger compared to other years. The growing season of 2025 has been completely different so far than in the past two years. While it is dry this year, the years 2023 and 2024 were the opposite. Despite the fact that the average sowing date this year was only about a week earlier than in 2023, the crop has developed much further this year. The start in 2023 was quite wet, followed by a very lean and dry period. At the time, this backlog was not made up, not even in July 2023 when it rained a lot. The growth and weather conditions were very different then than now. 2024 was also a wet year. Not only does the later sowing date mean that the crop is now further developed than last year, the downpours are also still fresh in our memories.
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Year: |
Average sowing date yellow onions: |
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2025 |
March 20 |
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2024 |
April 19 |
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2023 |
March 28 |
The images clearly show that there is currently a lead in crop development compared to previous years. It is difficult to say how big that lead is at the moment. At the moment, we are dealing with extreme temperatures in the Netherlands, which will not have a positive effect on crop development. The further course of the growing season will therefore have to show whether the lead that currently exists will also be extended to ultimately higher hectare yields.
Jan Willem Veldman
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