August 2024 Idaho Onion Reveal for SW Idaho, Eastern Oregon and the Great Basin Washington We need to start with recognizing the abundant onion seed crop that Crookham Company, and our partner growers, had this season. A big thank you goes out to the employees who stepped up and for the forward-thinking individuals who created the systems that performed optimally. This is a great way to wrap up the long day growing season and look forward to a promising season in 2025. We are proud of how well our established hybrids are performing for growers. Defender and Trident continue to hit or break yield expectations. For 2025, we are looking forward to introducing six new hybrids that may fill a production slot for growers in the coming years. Here’s three that stand out.
OLRS14-1265 (Commercial Release is Tantrum):
This is a new long day red that matures in 110-112 days. This variety has had a pilot production that was finished in August of 2024. 1265 is at the level in our pre-flight system to be trialed in growers’ fields across the US. This variety has proven to be flexible in planting dates and consistent across the major long day production areas of the US. By placing it in bigger volume across many different soil types, and input usages, we can prove what we were seeing on a small sale in previous years. It has also kept well in our storage trials, and we are looking to further prove this on a larger scale. If you are a grower interested in adding this trial to your long day program, Crookham would like to hear from you.
OLYX12-990:
This is an early (105 day) long day storage yellow variety that has shown great results for growers in the Mid-West, North-East and in the North-West. It performs well under overhead irrigation and can get a large size profile under drip in the NW. The top structure is upright and vigorous with the root system to match. It finishes early and has the storage capability to provide flexibility to the grower. This variety has also had a pilot production and was trialed in large blocks in 2024. We are looking to do a similar block trial pattern in 2025.
OLYX12-721:
721 is a main season (115 day) long day yellow variety. It has a very long-term storage life and wraps a complete scale upon maturity. The scales on 721 are the correct thickness and are multiple to allow it to always be protected without causing a black mold issue. It also presents a high percentage of single centers, allowing this onion to be available for ringing. We had block trials in 2024 that were successful and are looking to have a similar number of trials in the 2025 growing season.
For any interested growers, Crookham Company will be displaying bulbs of these varieties at this season’s PNVA in November and at the Great Lakes expo in Grand Rapids this December.
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