Bouncing Back By Dan Drost, Utah State University Photos by Dave Alexander, Publisher
O
nion crop health and management approaches were the highlighted topics covered during the 2020 Utah Onion Association winter meeting held Feb. 11 in Brigham City, Utah. The growers had a lot to talk about as 2019 was a year of trials and frustrations. Most indicated that the late planting dates and generally poor finish to the year resulted in lower than expected yields and difficulties in storage.
Irrigation Issues
Cody Zesiger and Niel Allen, Utah State University (USU) irrigation specialists, reported on the 2019 Onion Water Use project. “Utah House Bill 381 provided funding to assess applicable agriculture irrigation technologies to help Utah farmers save water while maintaining productivity and profitability,” Zesiger reported. Onions were one of the crops chosen to document consumptive water use in drip- or furrow-irrigated fields. After describing the trial setup, Zesiger went on to highlight differences between the furrow- and drip-irrigated sites. He noted that in the furrow-irrigated field, “total application was quite high, with each irrigation delivering 5 to 6 inches of water. This resulted in both deep percolation and some surface runoff at the end of the field.” In contrast, “drip used significantly less water, had no deep percolation or runoff, and had a calculated ET of 15 inches of water over the 70-day irrigation period,” he said. While the two fields evaluated did not differ greatly in yield, they were not directly comparable as soil type, variety grown and harvest dates varied greatly. The study will be repeated in 2020 with additional field sites monitored. Findings will be shared with the industry at the summer field tour and again at the winter meetings.
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Onion World • May / June 2020
Claudia Nischwitz warns growers in Utah to be on the lookout for allium leafminers.
Corey Ransom stresses the importance of pre-treatment with herbicides for yield at the Utah Onion Association winter meeting in February.
