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Preventing Bacterial Soft Rot
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May 2009
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Dear Fellow Gardener,
This issue, we thought we'd take a look at
one of the most common onion diseases our
customers face: bacterial soft rot. I want to
encourage you to do something now to prevent it.
The symptoms of bacterial soft rot include
water-soaking and discoloration of leaves to
a pale yellow or light brown. As the disease
progresses, the leaves wilt and turn white,
eventually becoming soft and breaking down
into a foul-smelling viscous fluid.
The bacterium that causes the rot is called
Erwinia, and is spread by rain,
irrigation water, and insects. It can survive
from year to year in soil and crop debris.
Erwinia enters the bulb through the
neck tissue of maturing plants and through
damaged leaves. Insects such as onion maggots
and thrips can spread the pathogen. Optimum
weather for infection is 68-86º F, and the
infection can continue in storage if the
temperature is above 37º.
Mancozeb
(containing Dithane and Manzate) should
be sprayed weekly on the crop to prevent the
occurrence of this disease. In addition,
there are some new products such as Pristine
and Quadris that can be used in rotation for
season-long control.
For organic growers, Seacide
is the most effective control. It
works by coating the leaf with an oil to keep
the bacterial spores from attaching to the
leaves. It will need to be sprayed more often
than a chemical fungicide, including right
after a rain.
Incidentally, we don't recommend watering your
onions from
overhead, unless you live in a desert. Doing
so will cause this pathogen (and others) to
get started. However, if you do, be prepared
to reapply your Seacide both right before and
right after an overhead watering.
Even if you end up with beautiful, healthy
looking tops, keep this in mind: the bigger
the top, the more surface area there is for
the Erwinia bacteria to attach to. Be
sure to
keep a close eye on your onions
throughout the maturation and harvesting process!
Happy harvesting,

Bruce "Onionman" Frasier
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Product of the Month
Mesh Storage Bags
Now that you've produced a successful crop,
what are you going to do with all those
onions? Well, you should eat the ones that
have the shortest shelf-life first, and store
all the rest for later use. We offer several
types of mesh bags for your onion storage
needs. They come in 5, 10, and 50 pound
sizes, depending on how you want to handle
and/or market your onions.
Another option is our mesh netting, which is
perfect for storing up to 10 pounds of onions
for future use. Jeanie's grandmother used old
stockings to store her onions -- but we tried
to sell used stockings and no one would buy
them, so we came up with the mesh netting
instead!
Learn More
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From Our Friends
Ben W. from Killeen, Texas sends us this message:
"My wife Beverly and I had one of our best
onion crops ever. We planted approximately
800 1015Y plants and one set of Lancelot
Leeks around the third week in January. Since
we didn't have a lot of extra rain this
spring, it was necessary for us to keep the
plants well watered throughout the growing
season. We applied a light coat of 21-0-0
every four weeks or so and, for the first
time, spread 9-0-0 Corn Gluten and used a hay
mulch to control weeds.
"We pulled many early plants as 'green
onions' and gave numerous onions to neighbors
and relatives, but wound up with
approximately 400 that we tied in groups of
three or four on our back porch on the north
side of our home.
"Attached is a digital image of the hanging
onions. You may not be able to tell from the
picture, but we did have some softball-sized
onions this year. As you are aware, central
Texas has a heavy clay soil. Our garden has
benefited from layers of mulch, dried horse
manure, sawdust, grass clippings and sand
that we have tilled in over the last 28 years."
We love hearing from our customers. Send us
your
favorite "onion photo" and we'll try to
include it in a
future newsletter, our next catalog or our
online Photo Album. Click
here for details on how to
submit your photos.
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Around the Farm
National Attention
Take a look at the May 1 issue of the online
magazine
Multichannel
Merchant, and you'll see a familiar face!
In their
front-page article about how the current
recession has
affected catalog sales, reporters Tim Parry
and Jim
Tierney just happen to feature everyone's
favorite
Onionman. When he chatted with them, Bruce knew
we'd get a mention -- but he didn't know we'd
be on
the
front cover, so to speak!
As a matter of fact, we get the lion's share
of the
attention. The article discusses the way that
gardening catalog sales tend to experience
upward
growth during difficult economic times, as
people
realize it can be cheaper and more satisfying
to grow
their own vegetables. Dixondale Farms serves
as a
case
example: not only have we enjoyed a 16%
increase in
our customer base, our order size has grown
by an
average of 40%.
Hey, we're glad to do our part in helping
people out,
and keeping the economy perking along!
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Cooking With Onions
Hearty Onion-Veggie Sandwich
- 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup of sliced cucumbers, marinated in
French dressing
- 12 crisp lettuce leaves
- 12 tomato slices
- 1-1/2 cups alfalfa sprouts
- 2 three-ounce packages of fat-free cream
cheese
- 6 ounces of thinly sliced cheddar cheese
- 18 slices of multi-grain bread
Spread six slices of bread with a thick layer
of cream cheese, then top them with half of
your onion slices and all of your cucumber
slices. Next, layer on the lettuce and
tomato, and add a second slice of bread,
smeared lightly on both sides with cream
cheese. Stack the cheddar slices, the
sprouts, and the rest of the onion slices on
the second deck, and top it all with another
slice of bread, spread with cream cheese to
taste. Then cut the sandwiches in half, slip
in picks to hold them together, and serve!
Makes 6 servings.
Onions can enhance so many dishes, from simple
salads to complex entrees; and they can also be
consumed raw, fried, sautéed or baked. We
periodically receive sumptuous recipe
suggestions
from our employees and from you, our customers.
We want to share one with you each month, so
that
you can take full advantage of the fruits of
your labor! If
you have one you would like us to print,
please email it
to us at
customerservice@dixondalefarms.com.
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Q&A: Bulbing
Q. How can you tell when onions begin
to bulb? I've seen many sets of instructions
for fertilizing onions, and they all say to
stop when the onions "begin to bulb." How do
you know?
A. If you plant your onions shallow
(1/2 to 1 inch deep), they'll start cracking
the ground around the bulb when they start
shoving the dirt away. If you plant them too
deep you won't be able to realize this --
plus you'll end up with smaller bulbs, since
the soil will restrict the expansion of the bulb.
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Fun Onion Facts
The National Onion Association reports that
onion consumption in the United States has
gone up 50% in the past two decades, to an
average of about 19 pounds per capita. No
complaints here!
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Send Us Your Product Reviews!
In addition to sending us recipes and photos of your
onions, we encourage you to give us
feedback on our products via the Product
Review options on the Web site. You'll find
a "write your own review" link on every
product page. Don't be shy -- we need
your opinions!
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About Dixondale Farms
As the largest and oldest onion plant farm in the US,
Dixondale Farms offers a wide selection of top-quality,
disease-free, ready-to-plant onion plants. To see our
complete product line, request a catalog, or for
growing tips and cultural information, visit our
Web site by clicking
here.
Whether you're planting one bunch or thousands of
acres, we're committed to your success. If you have
either questions or suggestions, we'd love to hear
from you. You can reach us from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Central
Time at 877-367-1015, or
e-mail us any time
at
customerservice@dixondalefarms.com.
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