|
Click to listen to this article
|
Story and photos by Dave Alexander, Publisher
Crookham Summer Onion Reveal
Following up on the success of Caldwell and Caliber introduced in 2019 and Trident last year, Crookham Company has released two new onion seed varieties that will be available to growers for the 2022 season.
Always innovating, the Idaho onion breeder gave a sneak peek of these two cultivars as numbered lines at the Crookham Summer Onion Reveal last year. The newly named Epic (14-733) and Defender (11-250) returned to this year’s event as the latest additions to Crookham’s long-day yellow lineup.
Epic
Epic is a new 115- to 118-day yellow onion. The timing of this onion is perfect for the growing areas in Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon. Casey Crookham, sales representative for Gowan Seed Company, called it the “Goldilocks variety” – not too early, not too late, but “just right.”
Epic has a rich bronze-colored scale that is ideal for retail use, but it can also be used for processing. Epic can be watered with overhead irrigation and produces highly single-centered bulbs. Epic’s secret sauce is a very trim neck with upright foliage that stands up well to overhead irrigation.
Lyndon Johnson, Crookham sales representative, said Epic will be ideal not only for the Columbia Basin where overhead pivots are commonly used, but also in wet areas like Michigan and New York.
“This will be the latest maturing variety in New York,” Johnson said.
The varietal boasts a strong root system that is resistant to both pink root and Fusarium and can be stored up to eight months. Epic will be available exclusively through Gowan Seed Company.
Defender
New yellow, long-day Defender matures in 118 to 120 days and produces bulbs ranging in size from jumbo to super colossal. Defender has impressive resistance to pink root, Fusarium and bolting. It features long-term storability up to eight months, rich bronze-colored scales, a very high single-center percentage and vigorous roots.
Those roots help the variety “stand up to the heat and conditions in the Treasure Valley and Columbia Basin under drip irrigation,” Johnson said.
Defender is a versatile onion for use in any end market and will yield well.
As in previous years, the Crookham Summer Onion Reveal in late August also featured some varieties that might make it to the commercial market after all testing is done.
An early maturing, yellow long-day that tolerates overhead irrigation would be a nice complement to Epic, and if all goes well, growers will see that in 2023.
