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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] onions
  • Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:07:01 -0400

Interesting. I havc found onions one of the more drought-resistant things I grow; at least, once they've got well started.

Maybe there are variety differences? or maybe you have sandier soil than I do? My soil has a lot of clay in it; which has some disadvantages of course, but it does help hold the water.

I do drip irrigate them if things get really dry, but most years it's not worth running the drip tape into them. -- and mine, by the way, are not grown in plastic; I only use plastic for the heat-loving crops, and not for all of those.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



On Oct 21, 2009, at 8:20 AM, Bill Shoemaker wrote:

I think onions like it wet, real wet, for a long time.


Onions have short, dense root systems so its really easy for them to run out of water most years. Long ago I did some work with drip irrigation on onions. It made an immense difference to water every 3 days. Onions have a a plant-building stage, then a bulb-building stage. Daylength (actually length of night) determines when the shift occurs. Different varieties have different daylength requirements (long-day, short-day, intermediate). It is critical to have the plant well-developed before this shift. Water is the key, both before and after the shift. Mulch and weed control are just as important, but mainly because of how they impact water availability. Use well-developed transplants and never let them starve for water. You can grow great onions this way.

Bill
William H Shoemaker, UI-Crop Sciences
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road St Charles, IL 60174
630-584-7254; FAX-584-4610




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