Vidalia onion plants will soon be going in the ground across Southeast Georgia. Chris Tyson, University of Georgia Extension Area Onion Agent at the Vidalia Onion & Vegetable Research Center in Lyons, Georgia, pinpoints the week of Sept. 7 that some growers will start planting this year’s crop with most planting the week after.
“After Labor Day, definitely there will be some going in. Then there will be a lot that will go in around…I’ll just use the (Sept.) 15th as an arbitrary date. A lot of people will plant at the 15th; a big bulk of the onions. But there are some that are planted before then, definitely,” Tyson said.
Vidalia onion acreage the past two years has hovered around 9,300 acres, which is down from what it had been for several years prior. Tyson said this year’s acres could fluctuate some either way, but he doesn’t anticipate any huge changes in acreage.
“The acreage has been about the same the past two seasons. But you never know, it could go up some or it could stay the same,” Tyson said. “A lot of times we really don’t know until after planting, really what everybody does and what it’s going to actually look like.”
Seedbeds will be planted in September through the first of October.