By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor
Although some Winter Garden vegetable farmers weren’t as fortunate, Dimmit County onion grower Brian King said it appears his crop escaped damage from the recent freezing temperatures.
As the production manager at Dixondale Farms, King oversees the farm’s seasonal crops. Every winter, Dixondale Farms grows onion transplants for sale to wholesalers, onion farmers and home gardeners across the U.S. The company currently grows 26 varieties of onions, as well as leeks and shallots.
“We take them from seed and grow them to about three to four true leaves, and then we’re able to ship those to all 50 states. Anyone from a backyard gardener, up to a full-size farmer that’s going to grow hundreds of acres of onions,” King said. “What we do is we basically give everyone a head start, especially up in the northern part of the country, when they’re going to be frozen until the latter parts of April. They don’t have time to start an onion from seed up there, because it’s too cold for too long.”
When the weather forecasters began predicting an Arctic blast, King said he and his crews started watering everything thoroughly. Plants that are well-watered are better able to withstand a freeze.
The Friday before the cold spell arrived, Dimmitt County also received a welcome half-inch of rainfall, giving the plants even more moisture.
In another stroke of luck, the storm system dropped an inch of snow on top of the plants, insulating them from the freezing temperature and helping keep the ground warmer underneath.
“We got down to 13 degrees with a wind chill of zero. Thankfully, we had an inch of snow to insulate the plants,” King said. “Soil temperatures stayed about 40 degrees under the snow, so that helped us a lot. We haven’t experienced any weather like this since the late 1980s.”
The onion plants are most likely fine in the Winter Garden, but he won’t know the full extent of the damage for several more days. Although King and his wife, who also manages the farm, are thankful, they know other growers weren’t as fortunate.
“We’re praying for everyone. Just to the north of us in Zavala County, there’s a lot of spinach and cabbage and a little bit of broccoli. Just a lot of green vegetables grown up there and a lot of onions, too, ” he said. “I think a lot of people are going to be hurting from this in our area.”
Read more about the winter storm’s impact on the Rio Grande Valley and a Panhandle dairy.