Cooperative Extension Service
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The University of Georgia
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
Mark your calendars for November 15, 2001, when the Georgia Department of Agriculture in conjunction with Georgia Organics holds a workshop at the Macon Farmer's Market. The workshop is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and is open to all free of charge.
The USDA national organic standards went into effect April 21, 2001, and are to be fully enforced by October 22, 2002. These standards will control the term "organic" in interstate commerce, which should help organic growers expand their markets.
Georgia Organics, which had been the organic certification agent in Georgia, will no longer handle this responsibility. With the new rules, certifying agents can't help growers get certified; they must remain independent for the process to work. Georgia Organics feels that they should focus on their mission of education, so they will no longer handle certification.
For more information about the workshop, contact Skip Glover at glo-farm@mindspring.com or call 770-920-5358. If you have growers in your county who are certified or are thinking of becoming certified, both you and your growers should attend.
Most onions grown in the Vidalia growing region are transplanted from field-grown transplants. This process is very expensive and labor intensive. For the past two years, we have been working on direct seeding onions.
Many barriers must be overcome for this process to work. Planting time, variety selection, coated seed and other cultural considerations have to be addressed. The first year, we sowed seed the beginning of October and, with the cool dip in May, we had a tremendous poblem with seedstems. The following year, we looked at three planting dates -- beginning, middle and end of October. The first planting had seedstems while the two latter plantings did not. The last planting, however, had very poor stand establishment due to freezing weather in December.
Varieties also showed quite a lot of difference in their responses to bolting (seedstem formation). This is an area of ongoing evaluation to determine which are the best varieties to resist this phenomenon. We've also looked at using growth regulators and mowing the onions to reduce bolting. The growth regulators did not give the response we were hoping for. We plan on continuing our evaluation of mowing the crop to stimulate the effect of transplanting.
We also found that using raw seed, even with the Monosem vacuum planter, resulted in two and sometimes three seed being planted together. Coated seed offered much better singulation. This year, we sent seed to Harris Moran Seed Company to have seed coated with their Filmcoat Plus, which is a polymer coating.
This year, we are again evaluating direct seeding with three planting dates, four varieties, with and without mowing as well as a direct comparison with transplanted onions. We have also gone to the trouble of putting in a drip system for these onions, since it may not be possible for growers to get enough water on the crop from their center-pivot systems. Seeded onions often require light watering several times a day, particularly during hot weather, and center-pivot systems can't be moved around the field that quickly.
| Effect of variety, ethephon, maleic hydrazide and mowing on seedstem formation, 2000-2001 | |||
| Variety | Seedstems (50 ft row) |
Below
4" (%) (18 inches) |
Stand
Count (18 inches) |
|
Sweet Melissa |
25 | 42% | 5 |
| WI-3115 | 13 | 67% | 7 |
| Sweet Vidalia | 42 | 55% | 5 |
| PS 7092 | 11 | 51% | 5 |
| - | |||
| Mowed | |||
| No | 22 | ||
| Yes | 21 | ||
| - | |||
| Growth Regulator | |||
| Nothing | 20 | ||
| Maleic Hydrazide | 23 | ||
| Ethephon | 21 | ||
| - | |||
| P>F | |||
| Varieties | 0.011 | 0.008 | |
| Mowed | 0.756 | ||
| Growth Regulator | 0.063 | ||
| Planted
10/5/00, Monosem Planter with 36-hole plate set on B2, 5.375 inches. Stand Counts 11/7/01 Mowed once on 2/7/01, growth regulators applied 3/21/01 Seedstems counted on 4/9/01 |
|||
| Evaluation of Monosem Planter with Different Seed Space Settings | ||
| Percent Spacing Below 4" | ||
| Cultivar | ||
| Spacing (inches) | Pegasus | DPS 1033 |
| 2.5 | 94% | 75% |
| 3.125 | 96% | 89% |
| 3.75 | 85% | 87% |
| 4.375 | 88% | 83% |
| 4.75 | 74% | 63% |
| 4.875 | 53% | 57% |
| 5.375 | 43% | 62% |
| 5.5 | 65% | 58% |
| 5.75 | 50% | 69% |
| 7.0625 | 70% | 70% |
| Planted
October 16, 2000 Evaluated January 3, 2001 |
||
One of the great successes of the Vidalia onion industry has been the adoption of Federal Market Order 955, which gave national protection and recognition to Vidalia onions. In fact, growers just unanimously re-enacted this market order.
On June 25, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of United Foods, Inc., of Bells, Tennessee, who challenged a mushroom marketing order. They claimed it violated their rights to free speech since they were being coerced into supporting generic advertising that supported their competitors.
Other challenges have quickly followed from companies challenging the California pear marketing order, California Table Grape Commission and the California plum marketing order.
It is still unclear exactly what this will mean for Georgia Vidalia onion growers. The courts are still working out the rules that will be in place. The market orders and the committees that are part of them will apparently still be in play, but growers may be allowed to opt out of paying checkoff funds for advertising and promotion.
From My DeskInformation in the market order article comes from the October 22, 2001, issue of The Packer. If you have questions or comments about the results of this past year's work with direct seeding Vidalia onions, please feel free to contact me.
Talk to you next month.