Cooperative Extension Service
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The University of Georgia

Volume 6/Number 5

May, 2002

George Boyhan, Extension Horticulturist-Vegetables
East Georgia Extension Center
Rosenwald Building, Third Floor
PO Box 8112
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460
912-681-5639 | 912-681-0376, Fax | 912-682-3481, mobile

Twilight Summer Field Day

Our twolight summer field day is planned for June 13, 2002, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center. We will be serving a sponsored supper at 6 p.m. and visit the field plots around 7 p.m. We have several faculty members on the agenda to speak about their work at the farm.

Crops that will be discussed include blackberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, squash, pumpkin, sweet corn, tomato and strawberries. Work with these crops includes variety evaluation with watermelon, cantaloupe, squash and sweet corn; disease control with strawberries and tomatoes; disease resistance selection with pumpkin and watermelon; and cultural practices with blackberries and watermelon.This should be a great program, so please encourage all interested parties to attend.

The address and telephone number for the center is --

Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center
8163 Highway 178
Lyons, GA 30436
(912) 565-7822

Directions: From I-16, take US 1 south to Lyons, then take Highway 178 south from Lyons about 10 miles. The center is on the left; a black and brown sign is at the entrance. There is a brick house at the entrance with a horseshoe-shaped hedge in the front yard. Enter the driveway and continue back through the gate; the office is a couple of hundred yards on your left.

If you need additional information or better directions, please contact me or Randy Hill (Farm Superintendent). My numbers are listed above. In addition to the farm telephone, Randy's mobile phone number is (912) 282-4453.

Vidalia Onion Variety Trial Results, 2002

The preliminary results of the Vidalia onion variety trial are in the table below. Total marketable yield ranged from 630 50-pound bags per acre for DPS 1039 to 232 50-pound bags per acre for Granex Yellow PRR Asgrow. Overall, the trial was much worse this year than in past years due to Stemphylium and sour skin, with the latter disease causing higher than normal cull rates. The season started later and ended early for the trial. Early onions matured later and late onions had to be harvested somewhat immature to avoid complete loss. The top five varieties for jumbos were DPS 1039, DPS 1024, Nirvana (1027), DPS 1032 and Sugar Belle F1 (SSC 6371).

Pungencies were lower overall this year compared to previous years, with pungencies ranging from 1.1 to 3.5 µm/gfw. The mildest top five onions based on the pyruvate test were RCX 6043, SSC 6372 F1, Sweet Vidalia, Savannah Sweet and Sweet Melissa.

Vidalia Onion Variety Trial, 2002
Variety Seed Company Clipped
(date) 		Field Yield
(50-lb bags/A)		 Cured Yield
(50-lb bags/A		 Jumbos
(50-lb bags/A		 Mediums
(50-lb bags/A		 Total Marketable Yield
(50-lb bags/A		 Pungency
(µm/gfw) 		Sugar
(%) 		Doubles
(No/50-ft plot)
DPS 1039 D. Palmer Seed 4/29/02 827 804 583 47 630 2.3 9.7 43
Nirvana (1027) Sunseeds 4/22/02 740 706 572 39 611 1.7 8.4 8
DPS 1024 D. Palmer Seed 4/29/02 820 789 574 29 603 1.9 8.9 5
DPS 1032 D. Palmer Seed 4/22/02 706 669 542 57 600 1.9 8.7 6
Sugar Belle F1 (SSC 6371) Shamrock 4/22/02 664 638 542 42 584 1.7 8.3 5
SSC 6372 F1 Shamrock 4/22/02 679 647 522 60 582 1.2 9.4 5
Sweet Advantage D. Palmer Seed 4/17/02 608 606 419 139 557 2.8 10.0 42
Sweet Vidalia Sunseeds 4/22/02 658 623 480 73 554 1.3 8.5 7
WI-3115 Wannamaker 4/17/02 713 654 467 83 550 2.3 8.7 13
99C 5092 Sakata 4/22/02 711 673 450 71 521 1.6 9.0 3
Sweet Melissa Sunseeds 4/29/02 750 695 450 47 497 1.4 8.3 8
DPS 1033 D. Palmer Seed 5/6/02 853 821 476 17 492 2.1 8.0 8
Granex 33 Seminis/Asgrow 4/29/02 660 637 457 35 492 1.8 8.3 7
Yellow Granex PRR Sunseed Sunseeds 5/6/02 776 753 442 23 465 1.8 8.2 5
RCX 6043 Sunseeds 4/29/02 675 650 454 11 465 1.1 7.6 1
EX 07592001 Seminis/Asgrow 4/29/02 759 566 374 60 434 2.2 8.1 13
WI-609 Wannamaker 4/17/02 627 475 387 47 433 1.7 9.0 7
Cyclops (XP 6995) Seminis/Asgrow 5/6/02 734 714 390 28 418 2.1 8.3 14
Rio Bravo Sunseeds 4/29/02 656 620 374 36 410 1.8 8.7 8
RCX 5195-1 Sunseeds 5/6/02 830 813 399 7 406 1.5 7.7 4
PS 7092 Seminis/Petoseed 4/29/02 579 551 368 32 400 2.0 9.4 9
EX 19013 Seminis/Asgrow 5/6/02 782 765 387 8 395 1.9 8.4 1
Southern Belle D. Palmer Seed 4/17/02 573 455 300 94 394 3.5 9.9 69
Numex Chaco Lockhart 5/6/02 751 736 377 12 389 2.8 7.6 6
EX 07592000 Seminis/Asgrow 4/29/02 714 679 363 21 384 1.7 8.0 3
Savannah Sweet Seminis Petoseed 4/29/02 867 678 358 19 377 1.3 7.2 6
Liberty Bejo Seed Co. 5/6/02 615 576 263 29 292 2.7 7.7 2
Sweet Melody Sunseeds 5/6/02 502 795 269 12 281     6
Southern Honey D. Palmer Seed 4/29/02 558 522 212 49 261 2.5 8.6 8
Pegasus Seminis/Asgrow 5/6/02 633 611 237 13 250 1.8 8.5 1
Granex Yellow, PRR Asgrow Seminis/Asgrow 5/6/02 633 599 226 6 232 2.1 8.6 6
- R2 0.331 0.247 0.405 0.756   0.613 0.745 0.657
- CV 23% 29% 39% 84%   35% 9% 64%
- Adjusted LSD (p0.05) 262 354 263 35   0.9 0.8 5
*Only 99C 5092 had any seedstems (2 in a single plot) as counted on 3/26/02.

 

From My Desk

The onion harvest is complete and the results across the onion belt have not been very good. Some growers reported a total loss while others did fairly well. Overall, it appears that 50-60 percent loss is not out of line for this season. We have not been able to lock it down as to why some growers did better than others. There is still too much data to analyze, and perhaps some things will become clearer in the next few months.

Don't forget about our Twilight Summer Field Day. This is a great opportunity to see some of the work we are doing with spring and summer crops at the VOVRC. Please make an effort to attend.

Talk to you next month.