WALLA WALLA SWEETS

I'm Bob Larson. Yields for onion growers in the Walla Walla valley this summer were, well, SWEET ...

Mike Locati-1 ... 7 sec ... "I mean, I think yields were average to above average in some places. Summer was a little cooler so it made harvest a little more pleasurable."

Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee president Mike Locati says cooler weather this year made for a very pleasant harvest ...

Mike Locati-2 ... 13 sec ... "June seemed to be pretty cool this year overall, so Spring kind of bled into summer if you will, so it made it nice. The year prior, we were looking at 3-digits, at least 110 for 10 days in a row so it was pretty hot."

The weather, however, did present some disease problems not seen for decades ...

Mike Locati-3 ... 16 sec ... "Spring was kind of wet and humid so that brought on some mildew issues we just kind of managed through irrigation and cultural practices and then fungicide sprays as well. One of the old-timers told me it's been like 30 years so it was a pretty big surprise."

But, he says, the Walla Walla valley is still what make their onions so sweet and juicy ...

Mike Locati-5 ... 14 sec ... "All of our soils here are very low in sulfur and that's kinda what drives that sweetness as well as, you know that's an heir loom variety we brought over from Italy that is already characteristic of being high-water content Sweet Onion."

Locati says growers have already seeded for 2017 and are preparing for winter.