3-14 FB Culls

 The Department of Agriculture reminds the onion industry of the cull onion disposal rules for the control of onion maggot.  Onion growers you have to dispose of all cull onions in ADA,  Canyon, Gem, Payette, and Washington counties according to Idaho State Department of Agriculture rules. That means there must be no onions deemed waste or not usable for human consumption on hand at any packing sheds, in fields or animal feed facilities.  Idaho Department of Agriculture spokesperson Michael Cooper tells us why:   “If those culls are allowed to sit and pile up they can sprout and when they sprout they serve as a breeding ground for what’s called the onion maggot. And that gives  the onion may get a breeding ground to start on cultivated onions and those things are pretty rough on seedling onions that are coming up out in the field and can cause quite a bit of loss for onion growers.” There are several options for proper disposal under the rule including pit burial, feeding, composting, spreading, chopping and shredding. You could almost think of onion culls at this point, as hazardous material.