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Dixondale Farms is in the midst of our "other" crop season, cantaloupes! The farm and packinghouse are busy shipping out sweet Texas cantaloupes to consumers.
While our onion customers are still in their growing season, we wanted to share some common micronutrient deficiencies that can occur in onions and make sure our customers are prepared with ways to keep their onions strong and healthy!
Happy growing,
Bruce "The Onionman" and Jeanie
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| Common Micronutrient Deficiencies in Onions |
Are your tops falling prematurely? Manganese and zinc deficiencies are the most common problem that causes tops to prematurely bend over or become disfigured. Tops falling over prior to the bulb reaching maturity can result in decreased yields.
Onions are very sensitive to manganese and zinc deficiencies. Deficiencies result in stunted plant growth with noticeable twisting and faint interveinal discoloration of the leaves. Older leaves take on an orange mottled appearance. Younger leaves have a faint chlorosis and yellow striping. This weakness causes the leaves to fall over or bend and may also progress to a tip burn eventually curling and dying. These deficiencies may also cause delayed maturity and a high percentage of thick necked bulbs at harvest.
One of the easiest ways to apply manganese and zinc is with the Mancozeb Fungicide with Zinc which contains both micronutrients. This fungicide will also protect from diseases such as blight, downy mildew, neck rot, and purple blotch.
Manganese and zinc deficiencies sometimes surface after strong winds are accompanied by heavy rain or by overwatering the plants. Applying Mancozeb Fungicide with Zinc on a weekly basis will straighten the plants back up and greatly increase your yields. Cut back on the watering of your onions for a week after spraying this material, and the tops should start to stand back up. An application of nitrogen will also replace the nitrogen that may have leached from the soil. We hope this information helps our customers keep their onions healthy and on the path to full size onion bulbs!
As always, we are available year-round to answer any growing questions you may have along the way or specific questions about rain in your onion patch. Contact us by phone at (830) 876-2430 or email at
[email protected].
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Issac Gootee of Springtown, TX is pictured here with his crop. His father, James Gootee, is a long time customer with Dixondale Farms. He writes, "We've been using your onions for 10 years, but this is the first year that Issac did everything including planting, watering, fertilizing, harvesting, and curing. He did it all this year."
We are always pleased to see youngsters in the garden, and this is no exception! Thanks for sharing Gootee family, and keep up the good work!
We love seeing customer photos! If have photos that you'd like to share with us, email them to
[email protected].
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Can You Identify this Onion Disease?
This is referred to as bulb splitting, and is a physiological disorder that occurs in onions.
Causes
Uneven irrigation of onion fields increases the incidence of this disorder. Fields that are over-irrigated, allowed to dry completely, and then over irrigated again often have many split bulbs. These openings, or splits, can provide an entrance for secondary microorganisms, which cause bulb decay. Variations of temperatures (especially when it drops below 20
˚F) compound the problem due to periods of rapid growth followed by slow growth. Over fertilization can also increase the chance of split bulbs.
Splitting is more common in some varieties. For example, some red onion varieties will produce a higher percentage of splits if grown at wider spacings. The same is true of sweet Spanish onions, which prefer slightly crowded conditions.
Identifying
The first symptom observed is the splitting of the basal plate. Secondary growth of the affected bulb often occurs as one to several smaller bulb protruding from the split basal plate as seen in the picture above.
Control
Maintenance of uniform irrigation and fertilization practices to prevent phases of rapid and slow growth of onion bulbs can help reduce the incidence of this disease. Be sure to not over fertilize and follow the onion planting guide provided with each Dixondale Farms order.
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Mancozeb Fungicide with Zinc
Disease Prevention and Curative
Mancozeb Fungicide with Zinc is a liquid fungicide containing zinc, iron, manganese, ethylene, and bisdithiocarbarmate, and does an excellent job of preventing fungus damage to plants. It protects against diseases resulting from excessive moisture such as downy mildew, tip blight, stemphylium leaf blight, botrytis, white tip, and more. Spray on a weekly basis 3 weeks after planting and continue until 2
weeks before harvest for best results.
Oxi
Date Organic Fungicide
Organic Fungus Prevention
OxiDate is an organic fungicide/bacteriacide. It's EPA registered, offers a great alternative to copper-based products, contains no chlorine or ammonia, and leaves no harmful residue. It will stop powdery and downy mildew, phytophthora, brown rot, blights, and bacterial wilt on contact, all without harming the environment or posing a risk to human health or safety. Begin spraying your o
nions and leeks 3 weeks after planting. Continue to spray every 7-10 days all the way to harvest. OxiDate works best as preventative or "early curative" by applying spray when c
onditions are conducive to disease, but no symptoms are to be seen yet.
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Cooking with Onions
Tomato Onion Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 large tomatoes (about 2 pounds), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
- 1 large or 2 medium red onions (about 1 pound), cut crosswise into 1/4-inch rounds
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a 9x13 inch baking dish, arrange tomatoes and onions in rows, overlapping slightly. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake until tomatoes are lightly browned and onions are tender, about 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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Around the Farm
We are growing, harvesting, and packing cantaloupes at Dixondale Farms. Cantaloupe season is an extremely fast-paced 60 days around the farm and packingshed. Here are some pictures from throughout the season that we wanted to share! Pictured below is the harvest crew harvesting in the fields, a bee busy pollinating the crop, and some pictures of our cantaloupes!
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All Your Questions Answered
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| We have answers to your frequently asked questions! Just click the link for information on planting, caring, feeding, harvesting, and storing onions.
And be sure to review our short videos on Facebook. Topics range from fertilizing and dealing with cold weather to how onion plants are harvested. You can view these videos even if you don't have a Facebook account. |
As the largest and oldest onion plant farm in the U.S., Dixondale Farms offers a wide selection of top-quality, disease-free, ready-to-plant onion plants. To see our complete product line or get growing tips and cultural information, visit our
Web site
.
New customer? Order your 2017 catalog
here.
We're available from 8:15 AM to 5:00 PM CT at 830-876-2430, or e-mail us at
[email protected]
.
Whether you're planting one bunch or thousands of acres, we're committed to your success.
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 We invite you to join the community on our
Facebook page
. You can connect with us and fellow growers to share stories, photos, recipes, weather information, and other tips.
 Don't forget to subscribe to our
YouTube channel! Our videos will guide you on selecting the right onion variety, applying fertilizer, the best weed control options, and more.
 We're on Pinterest too. Check out
our Pins
which include photos covering small space onion gardens, tasty onion recipes, planting tips, and more.
 You can also join us on
Instagram, a photo community where we're sharing even more Dixondale photos.
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