While most Georgians are hustling to finish last-minute shopping
for the holidays, Vidalia onion farmers are planting
the last of their fields and checking them twice.



“Right now, most everything looks good,” said Reid
Torrance,
Tattnall County Extension Service director. “The majority
of growers will be through planting before Christmas, which is
a little ahead of schedule.”



Except for some damaging, warmer-than-normal weather in
November,
the tiny onion plants are well on their way to a fruitful
spring.
They just have to get through winter first.



New Year, Less
Onions



Because prices have been so low recently, Vidalia onion growers
are planting less of the crop in hopes of improving market
prices.
So there won’t be as many onions on the market next year,
Torrance
said.



Georgia growers usually plant about 15,000 acres of the crop.
Tattnall County farmers grow about half of those. This year,
Torrance
said, he expects farmers to plant about 1,000 fewer acres than
last year.



“The growers would like to see a reduction in acres,”
Torrance said. “These guys need a good year to put some
money
in their pockets. Farmers have barely broken even on prices over
the past few years.”



In an average season, fresh-market prices usually start high,
then drop as the harvest continues. Over the past few seasons,
however, Georgia farmers have produced an abundance of
onions.



This oversupply has lowered the price farmers get, said George
Boyhan, a horticulturist with the University of Georgia College
of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Barring any adverse weather, though,
there should still be plenty of onions for shoppers next
year.



Extreme Weather
Tough



The onions don’t mind some hard winter weather. But high winds
and extreme temperature swings can damage the crop.



Onions take the hardest hit when temperatures drop into the low
teens after a spell of warm, sunny days. The onion is 90 percent
water. Low temperatures can cause the water in the tender onion
cells to freeze and rupture.



The Vidalia onion crop hasn’t minded the extended drought that
has gripped the state, either. In fact, the onions like it
dry.



“The drought doesn’t much affect the onion,” Boyhan
said. “Dry conditions keep disease pressure down.” Vidalia
onions
are planted under irrigation.



Sweet Treat Available
Now



Shoppers don’t have to wait until spring to enjoy fresh Vidalia
onions, though. Small Vidalias, sold as salad onions, are in
grocery
stores now.



The junior-sized onions are planted in early August. They are
then harvested until December, before they become mature. The
onions are good in stir fries and salads.



“You can grow a lot of salad onions on a small number of
acres,” Torrance said. “It’s a nice niche market for
some growers.”



Mature Vidalia onions are harvested in mid-spring, mostly in
April.
Controlled-atmosphere storage allows growers to extend the time
they can market the crop. But even the stored onions don’t last
far past September, Boyhan said.