Planting Vadalia Onions in Maryland (zone 7)

[Rick]

I am getting a shipment of vadalia onion plants, and was wondering if
anyone has any suggestions on whether to dry in the sun for a day, how
deep to plant, can I refrigerate some for a couple of weeks to stagger
them and so on?

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

Rick in zone 7

[FarmerDill]

>1. These are live plants, you certainly don't want to dry them in the sun any
more that you would a tomato plant. 2. you an cover the bulblet, but dont plant
the any deeper( get dirt up aound the green leaves). 3. You can keep the for a
short while in the refrigerator, but weeks I doubt.

4. These are typically Granex onions, (there is no such critter as a Vidalia
onion and only Granex grown in Tombs county and parts of the surrounding
counties in Georgia can be sold as Vidalia onions) which are short day types.
This means that they are designed to bulb at 10- 12 hours of sunlight ie March.
Main harvest is in late April, May. Since setting at this time will mean a June
bulbing, you will probably have better luck with a long day onion.

dill

[Rick]

The lessons we learn the hard way!

[King Pineapple]

I think I recall reading that granex onions cannot really be
grown with any success north of about North Carolina or
thereabouts, due to the "long day/short day" thing.

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[Rick]

Crushed by the Pineapple!!!!!1

[Setzlers]

Actually, you can, they just won't be as big I live in VA which is neither short or long
day, and until Candy onions there weren't any sweet onions for this region, I have grown
the granex, and walla wallas, the Northern day onions, and got nice, large, sweet onions
from both, planted at the same time.,
susan

[Rick]

Thanks Susan. (just between you and me I was gonna plant them any way)

Have yours been at least less bitter than regular ones?

How big should I let them get? Have you ever planted any as late as
april 1 ?

Rick

[Setzlers]

How big? However big they are when you are ready to plant. No where near pencil sized, but
much bigger than my leek plants ;-) Don't get them too deep.
;susan

[Setzlers]

My seedlings are ready to plant, but I don't have them in yet, or did you mean plant the
seeds by April 1?

they are sweet and good!! but that also depends on your soil. The reason Vidalias are so good
from those 3 or 4 counties in GA is because of something in the soil, which I can't remember
what it is. A sweet onion will not keep over the winter, so I freeze gallons and dry also for
cooking.
susan

[Rick]

I have plants coming.

Someone said (I believe ) "lack" of sulphur in the soil. I wonder if
there is a way to amend the soil to reflect this.

Setzlers wrote:
>
> My seedlings are ready to plant, but I don't have them in yet, or did you mean plant the
> seeds by April 1?
>
> they are sweet and good!! but that also depends on your soil. The reason Vidalias are so good
> from those 3 or 4 counties in GA is because of something in the soil, which I can't remember
> what it is. A sweet onion will not keep over the winter, so I freeze gallons and dry also for
> cooking.
> susan
>

snipped thread

[FarmerDill]

>
>Someone said (I believe ) "lack" of sulphur in the soil. I wonder if
>there is a way to amend the soil to reflect this.
>

Sulphur is anathema to onions and cantaloupe. Once introduced, I have never
heard of a way to eleiminate it, which is the major reason I throw a hissy fit
when ever someones suggests using sulphur as a soil amendment.

dill

[Rick]

To clarify......

I getting the idea that vadalias are sweet due to the soil in which they
grow having LITTLE sulphur!

Anyone know a way to amend sulfur OUT of the soil (or to test for the
level of sulphur)?

Rick

[Setzlers]

I use sulfur to lower the pH for potatoes. Would this be bad?
susan

[FarmerDill]

From my perspective , Yes. Of course if you never intend to grow vegetables
that respond negatively to sulphur or sell thye plot to someone whoo wishes
too. Then no problem.

By the way, Granex is naturally a sweet onion. It is sweeter when grown in a
low sulphur soil as is all other types of onions. Actually most people can.t
tell the difference between a Texas grown Granex and one grown under the
Vidalia trademark. One of our large supermarket chains was just fined a
quarter million for marketing Peruvian grown Granex as Vidalia onions

[Sammy's huwumin]

>
>By the way, Granex is naturally a sweet onion. It is sweeter when grown in a
>low sulphur soil as is all other types of onions. Actually most people can.t
>tell the difference between a Texas grown Granex and one grown under the
>Vidalia trademark. One of our large supermarket chains was just fined a
>quarter million for marketing Peruvian grown Granex as Vidalia onions

i have long wondered if there aren't a lot of non-Vidalia grown
"Vidalia" onions being sold. There are soooooo many sold &, it seems,
for much longer period of time.

[Rick]

Well we planted a bunch last night. We made a 4 x 20 inch hill and
planted them 4 inches apart on both faces of the hill.
May we be blessed with fine, sweet harvest.

Rick

[FarmerDill]

The Vidalia Growers Association and the Georgia Department of Agriculture are
getting very serious about protecting their trademark. Selling an onion not
grown under their supervision can get your hide nailed to the barn door.

dill

[Barbara Foss]

forget it. It`s the soil and the weather. I went out and pulled one
and we had it for lunch. retired Grandma from Vidalia