By Clint Thompson
Vidalia onion growers are a few weeks away from planting this year’s seedbeds. Chris Tyson, University of Georgia Extension area onion agent at the Vidalia Onion & Vegetable Research Center in Lyons, Georgia, said plantings will commence in September, with some seed going in the ground during the first couple of weeks.
“We’ll probably start the very first ones the first or second week in September. Once we get into mid-September, it’ll really pick up, planting seedbeds,” Tyson said. “Usually, you’ll have a few that get started before Sept. 15. You have a lot that are planted between the 15th and the 25th of September. You’ll have a really big chunk of seedbeds that get planted during that time.”
After seed is planted, growers will wait around 60 days, eight or nine weeks, to begin transplanting, usually around Nov. 15.
Acreage
Georgia Vidalia onion production has netted around 10,000 acres in previous years. Acreage estimates are hard to make this time of year because of the different variables that can impact production.
“We’ve been around 10,000 acres for a while. I haven’t heard of any talk of anything being much different than that. Every year it could fluctuate from that percentage, 10% or 15% either way. You just never really know, depending on the year,” Tyson said. “Also, I think it’s a little too early to tell because, like with the hurricane (Helene) last year, we lost a lot of our beds. We had intentions to do more than what we did.
“We plant our seedbeds real high density, and we plant around 2 million seeds per acre. The actual stand you get on seedbeds, the seed germination rate, weather conditions, all of that plays a part into how many actual transplants you’ll get out of an acre of seedbeds.
“There’s just a ton of variables that go into it.”