Walla Walla Sweet Onions Pt 1
I’m Bob Larson. Washington’s favorite vegetable is currently about half to three-quarters of the way through harvest which leaves Walla Walla Sweet Onion lovers drooling.Michael J. Locati, grower and Chair of the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee says despite the new regulations enacted when the COVID-19 pandemic came along, they’ve secured enough labor and the weather has been pretty cooperative …
LOCATI … “Oh, challenging at times for sure with, like I said, flooding, but it didn’t really get super-hot. You know, it got a little dry. Didn’t really get the rains that we normally got so we did, you know, have to hand water quite a bit more. We used mostly, well, probably half and half hand line irrigation and drips, but it was a
little battle there for a while.”
Other than that, Locati says the weather hasn’t been too
hot ...
LOCATI … “But, fortunately, most of the summer hasn’t been too hot except for this week actually.”
And, Locati says the size and taste appear to be very good so far …
LOCATI … “Oh yeah, yeah, very happy. It’s always a moving target with Walla Walla’s you know, there’s plenty of different sizes. There not always a uniform crop, but this year I think we trended more on the larger size than the mediums, which is good when you want Jumbos, but it’s bad when you want mediums. But, you can’t always win.”
The newest Walla Walla Sweet Onion variety, the Rose, is also coming along nicely this year with expanded acreage.
Listen tomorrow for more on the Sweet Onions coming out of the ground in Walla Walla as we speak.