22-Week Onion Crop Management Calendar

• • Build raised beds (1m wide) and mix in well-rotted manure (15 kg/m²).
  • Make shallow furrows 15cm apart; dust seeds with Ridomil Gold® and sow thinly.
  • Cover with dry grass mulch and water heavily.

• • Scout daily for sprouts (takes 5–7 days).
  • Crucial: Remove the grass mulch immediately when seedlings emerge to prevent leggy growth.
  • Water gently every morning.

• • Inspect for “damping-off” (seedlings rotting at the soil line).
  • Apply a preventative copper-based fungicide spray to protect fragile stems.
  • Weed the nursery bed gently by hand.

• • Check for tiny, translucent Thrips inside the leaf folds.
  • If silvery streaks or crawling dots are seen, spray Actara® or Alonze®.
  • Maintain a strict morning watering routine.

• • Apply a high-nitrogen foliar feed (e.g., Easy Gro Vegetative®) to build leaf strength.
  • Keep the nursery beds completely weed-free.

• • Reduce watering frequency to once every 2–3 days. This “hardens” the seedlings for field survival.
  • Prepare the main field: plow, make raised beds, and broadcast manure.

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• • Water the nursery bed well a few hours before pulling seedlings.
  • Select “pencil-thick” seedlings and transplant at a 30cm x 10cm spacing.
  • Fertilizer: Incorporate DAP into the planting holes (100–150 kg/acre).

• • Walk the rows and replace any seedlings that died after transplanting (gapping).
  • Keep soil consistently moist to reduce transplant shock.

• • Clean any early weed flushes. If using chemicals, apply a selective post-emergence onion herbicide like Catapult®.
  • Inspect the outer leaf tips for uniform yellowing (early signs of starvation).

• • Fertilizer: Apply CAN (30 kg/ha) along the rows.
  • Water immediately after applying fertilizer to incorporate nutrients into the soil.

• • Warm weather accelerates thrips. Spray Alonze® 50EC into leaf bases.
  • Look for purple blotch or downy mildew; spray Milraz® or a protective fungicide if spotted.

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• • Lightly hoe between the rows to destroy emerging weeds.
  • Aerating the topsoil helps onion roots breathe and take up nutrients.

• • Apply a preventative systemic fungicide spray.
  • Ensure drip lines or irrigation channels are clear and watering uniformly.

• • Onions should have a robust, green canopy by now.
  • Check for severe thrips infestations; alternate your insecticide active ingredient to prevent pest resistance.

• • Clear any weeds close to the onion necks.
  • Watch for the base of the plant beginning to swell.

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• • Fertilizer: Apply NPK 17:17:17 to deliver Potassium.
  • Critical Warning: Stop all pure Nitrogen (CAN/Urea) applications now. Excess nitrogen creates rot-prone “thick necks.”

• • Maintain highly consistent moisture. Alternating between bone-dry and drowning soil causes bulbs to split or double.

• • Thrips hiding in the bulb necks can stunt bulb expansion. Apply a final targeted insecticide sweep.

• • Check bulb skin development. The Red Creole onions should begin showing a distinct purplish-red color.

• • Begin lightly scaling back water amounts as bulbs reach full target market size.

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• • Look for the leaves naturally collapsing and bending over at the soil line.
  • The Trigger: Once 50% of the crop tops have fallen over, stop all irrigation completely.

• • Carefully pull the onions out of the ground on a dry, sunny day.
  • Windrowing: Lay the harvested onions in rows so that the green leaves of one row shade the exposed bulbs of the next row to prevent sunscald.
  • Allow to cure in the field for 3–5 days until the outer skins turn papery and dry before storage or transport.

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