Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Talking to your Ardening at eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. And I'm always excited to have
this young man on our show because he knows more
about onions than anybody I know when it comes to
growing onions. They're from Dixondale Farms. You hear me talk
about them all the time. To go to their website
Dixondale Farms dot com for great information, get one of
their catalogs, sign up for the Onion their their their
(00:58):
web their uh what is it? The onion Patch, their newsletter,
all kinds of great recipes and information on there as well.
I'm telling you, if you've had trouble growing on yours
or want to be better at it, these folks will
walk you through it. And joining us this morning is
the man that makes it all happen, at least, he
says that, when it's actually his wife, Jeanie, that makes
it all happen. But anyway, Bruce Frasier from Dixondale Farms,
(01:20):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
How are you sir?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Doing great? Good to a warmer than y'all are?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, a little bit. How's the weather been out in
Texas so far? This warner?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Well, the other day we're the higher the nation at
ninety three degrees.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Geez.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I think the low was in Montana like minus twenty five.
So there was like one hundred and eighteen degree variants.
And you know we're right down on the Mexican border.
So wintertime, yeah, we really we go from summer to
we have a few weeks of spring and be back
(01:56):
to summer.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So ninety degrees is spring weather.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's spring weather.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Oh my gosh. Wow, that's crazy. But it's great weather
and great soil for growing onions.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, that's the reason.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I guess we've been around now one hundred and twelve
years here in Parisa Springs, Texas, and it's the ideal
location for growing onion transplants onions also. But the tea
is our weather is so predictable that we can plants
seed at a certain date and September till December and
(02:36):
it'll be ready exactly within the week that we expect
those certain plants to be ready for shipment.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Wow, that's crazy. Talking with Bruce Fraser from Dixondale Farms again,
you hear we talk about them all the time their
website Dixondale Farms dot com. So folks, understand what we're
talking about here as far as growing onions. Obviously you
grow mature onions as well, but we're talking about the
onion plants that we as gardeners would be buying to
plant in our gardens in the springtime. That's what you
(03:07):
grow and supply folks all around the United States with
their plants via mail order, obviously, but that's your How
many how many the onion plants do you do? You
guess that you grow every year?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I grow about nine hundred million.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Nine hundred million, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, we harvest anywhere from five to six million plants today.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
How do you sow this sea? I mean, that seed
is so small and I'm looking, you know, you look
at pictures of your farm and it's just you know,
these roads go on forever. How I mean, obviously you
have equipment that does that. They can sort out that
small seed and get those plants. Yeah, it's crazy, you.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Know, I think about onion. See they're about one hundred
thousand onion seeds and a pound, and we plant about
thirty pounds of seed to the acre. And compare that
to what you plant if you were direct seating to
make the bulbs themselves. It's only about a pound to
(04:14):
a pound and a half taker. So we're planting almost
thirty times the I guess intensity compared to what you
plant to grow bubl of onions.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Wow. And so you plant those obviously to harvest, package up,
and then mail out the folks depending on where they live,
and you guys do all that homework for everybody depending
on where you live. You ship those out just in
time for their particular planting season, right and you.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Know there's some people that may grow them in hoop
houses or greenhouses. So what we have is a zip
code chart with the first three digits ure zip code,
and it will give you the date that we recommend
the week that we recommend you plant onions.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Now, the way I formulated.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That is that week is actually six weeks prior to
your last average frost state. You know, onions are pretty tough.
They can handle down to almost single digits. Uh so
they that gives them a chance for that first six
weeks before you're over your frost date to establish the
(05:24):
root system and then be ready to take off once
it warms up.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So so tell me, and we're talking with Bruce Bruce
Frasier from Dixondale Farms. Again, it's Dixondale Farms dot Com.
So when I'm when I when I go to the
to the garden center and I look, and of course
they do have packs of onion seeds that are on
the racks, but then they have onion sets. They have
onion bulbs that have no growth coming out of them,
(05:49):
and then they have onion plants that have that they
obviously will be coming from like you, that have already
started to grow. What's the difference between the ones that
are just the bulbs and the ones that are already growing.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Okay, so seed, first of all are the problem with
seeds is that the soil needs to be warm enough
to germinate. And basically by the time you can plant seeds,
you can plant transplants and the onions grow the tops
and then based on day length hours and heat units
(06:25):
that's acquired, then it transfers the carbohydrates and the leaves
down to the bulb of the onion. So the transplants
are going to give you like a four leaf head start.
So the perfect onion has thirteen rings, which means thirteen leaves,
so you have a better chance of making bigger onions
(06:46):
for transplants sets or last year's onions, they're harvested. Growing
areas for sets is pretty much in Indiana. That's one
of the largest areas. And they're because they storm all
winter long. They're all long day varieties and there's not
that many parieties available in sets. But you can't you
(07:09):
can't plant sets down in the South because we never
reached the day length dollars for a long day onion
to bowl. So you can make green onions out of them,
they won't so, but sets, you know, because there's such
large bulbs you'll have you'll have a good germination ring
with it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And and when I plant onion sets, which is the
ball that we're talking about, don't you find most people
probably grow those just for a green onion.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
That's right?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, So and the ball that I see on there
actually kind of disappears, doesn't it, And then then kind
of the green onion kind of reforms, and then that's
when we harvest that.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Okay, talking with Bruce Fraser. And again I don't know
if you caught that or not, but how many how
many leaves do you want on top of your the
perfect onion.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Thirteen thirteen one, please send a picture to us thirteen.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, that's that's the perfect onion. And I think about it.
If you're an onion grower, you know, sometimes you're harvesting
those green onions and they've got like three leaves on the top.
Think about thirteen leaves on the top, and each leaf
represents a ring of the onion.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
That's exactly right. So I meant they shoot a leaf
about every ten.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Days to two weeks. So you think about it.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
If you've got nine times two weeks, that's eighteen weeks.
And by then you're into different dailing dollars. So all
onions will bulb in the United States by jun start
the bowling process by Junior twenty first, which is, you know,
the longest day of the year. After that point, right
(08:50):
daylan's going to decrease.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Talking with the Bruce Frasier. And again if you've never
grown onions before, there are short day, intermediate day, long
day varieties depending on where you live. Long day varieties
are usually what about the Midwest and North, and then
of course you got the intermediate, which is across the Midwest,
and the short day would be all the South. And
(09:12):
they are there any varieties that actually growing, all three
of them that we all can grow besides just green onions.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
No, No, if you've grant a long day onion in
the South, you'll just fill the top and top and
never bowlt verstly, if you plan a short day onion
in the North, by the time you plan them and
within maybe six weeks, it's going to reach the Dailians requirement.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So it's going to start.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
The bowling process and you're going to get a ping
pong ball or maybe uh, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Golf ball something.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
The size is not going to be there, but you know,
I mean, they're if I guess, really the one variety
or the varieties that are most flexible or the intermediate days.
So we have variety called Candy, we have Great Candy,
and we have Superstar.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Those are three intermediate day.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Varieties and there are I guess the most adaptable to
twelve regions of the country.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Well, Bruce Fraser, I know you've tasted probably every onion
that's out there that's available. If Bruce Fraser could pick
one onion that is absolutely the sweetest, best tasting, peeling
and eat like an apple onion, which one would you pick?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Oll I'd say, I say maybe that I'm sort of
prejudiced by the ten fifteen lie, which is the Texas
super sweet in that's variety we grow down in South Texas. Uh.
But you know the yellow granex, which is the Ydelia onion.
I can't knock my Videlia Farmers because a lot of
(10:50):
people don't know that.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
A lot of the.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Bidelia onions start on my form. We send the transplants
to Idea. But you know the candy, we're a little
too far south to grow it. But gosh, our customers
it's writing about how sweet it is.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I was gonna say, you hear a lot about that
one as well. Talking with Bruce Fraser again, he's he's
one that makes everything happen at Dixondale Farms. Their website
is Dixondale Farms dot com. Be sure and check it out,
sign up for their website or their newsletter. It's absolutely outstanding.
Matter of fact, I just will take a break. I
got more questions for you. I want you to know.
We posted your baked onion dip recipe on our website
last week. Got a ton of hits on that. Everybody
(11:30):
liked that one. Getting ready for Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Absolutely, eat more onions, Eat more onions.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You got it. We'll take a quick break. We come
back more with Bruce Fraser from Dixondale Farms. Here in
the garden with Ron Wilson.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
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Speaker 1 (13:35):
Welcome back, You're in the garden with Ron Wilson. Bruce
Fraser with us this morning. Always have fun having mister
Fraser on from Dixondale Farms. They grow onions. They grow
lots of other things as well, trust me, but they
grow lots of onions and can supply you with your
onion sets, your onion plants for spring planting, and of
course all the great information. Go to their website, sign
(13:56):
up for the near newsletter, get their catalog the catalogs
this absolutely wonderful to read through all kinds of great information.
As a matter of fact, they'll help walk you through
being successful in growing onions. And if you still have
questions you can you can email them. You go to
Dixondale Farms and they can help you out as well.
I got a quick question away from the onions, real
quick of course, you're a former world champion bull rider,
(14:18):
what do you think of the PBR Team series.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
There?
Speaker 3 (14:23):
They are a lot better shape than we were. You know,
I'm actually sitting here. I had my hip replace about
three weeks go, my second hip replace, and one doctor says,
you know, the problem is you rode too many bulls,
And I said, no, the problem was I got bucked off.
I mean, that's bull riding with something of it. H
(14:45):
The good news was I was a good dancer, so
he after the rodeo, It's always a dance, and that's
how I've met my life, and that's how I ended
up the Dixondale Forms.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I was gonna say, yeah, that you rode those bulls
until one time, until once this beautiful cowgirl came along
and the rest is history, and then you went to
get riding bulls. Well, I was just curious what you
thought about the team series, having team members and coaches
and all that kind of stuff. I mean, watching it's
a little bit different too when you I love watching
it on TV, you know, because of the teams and
(15:14):
all that. But pretty interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I think one thing I noticed is that the bulls
aren't as mean as they used to be. I mean
when they buck off the rider, they immediately stop and
go back in. Whether you don't have to worry about
getting hooked or stopped.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
On right, But as much as we did, you know what,
you're right, it seems like, yeah, many years ago, was
like Tho's bulls came after you. Once they got off,
I broke my.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Collar bones, you know, scars all over my face and stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
So I got the scars to prove it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Was there that one bull out there through all your
writing experience that you just couldn't handle.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah. Yeah, it's several of them.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I probably should have just turned them out and not
gone on them because they were mean. They were gonna
cook you, they're gonna throw you down whatever, and uh uh,
a lot of them will I remember.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
It was a tough little of ra school.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
What was what was the name?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Wu W? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I love it talking with Bruce Frasier, And that's why
it's so much fun talking with him. He's a he's
a president of Dixondale Farms. They grow onions and lots
of other things as well. And of course if you're
interested in growing onions in your garden, your raised bed containers.
They all work in all those different areas. They've got
all the great information and the onion plants for you
as well. Go to the website as Dixondale Farms dot com.
(16:43):
So as we you know, if somebody's listening today and
they say, okay, give me a few key pointers when
it comes to be successful, being successful growing these onions
in my garden. Uh, give me a few key pointers.
And let me ask you one thing before you get started.
Is it better having a designated area for growing your
onions rather than just kind of growing them in a
(17:03):
garden in general? Is it better to actually set up
up an area aside and treat that a little differently?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Well, the location is important because you want to have
as much sun as possible and you want to have
good drainage onions, I say, they don't like to keep
their feet wet, so the only reason they want to
take up water is.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
To take up nutrients.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
So you water them heavily and let them take up
the nutrients, and then they take those nutrients, transfer them
to carbohydrates, send them up to the leaf, and then
they want to go back and get another drink and
go through the process again. If you keep them wet
all the time, those solid the carbohydrates are going up
(17:48):
to leaf can create solid.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Fiber and so the plant can be stunted and weak.
So drainage is important.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
You don't want to you want to be able to
if you get a bunch of rain for the water
to run out.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Of your field.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So you know, So, is there an important time at
the beginning or the end that's most important for sufficient
moisture in the ground or is that pretty much consistent
from the beginning to the end.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Well, actually it's about Initially it takes probably two to
three inches of the water to get them rooted in,
and then it stays about that rate. But once the
onion starts bulbing and you'll see it coming up above
the ground, that's when the water contents it's most important
because it's going to fill up that celf structure. You know.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
It's so a sweet onion.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
What makes an onion sweet is how much water is
in it. It makes an onion rod, it's how much
water is in it.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So you can't really have it both ways.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
So if you're growing sweet onions, you want to increase
the water when the boating process. If you're going to
grow storage onions for later use. You don't want to
water them as much as what's your water to your
sleep varieties?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Got it, and it makes a lot of sense. Talking
with Bruce Frasier Dixondale Farms their website again Dixondale Farms
dot com. One last question for you, because we're running
out of time. I always have so many questions for you.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Sometimes it's a little confusing to folks, especially the first
time you're growing onions. How do I know when it's
time to harvest my onions?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Well, the onions send the carbohydrates, you know, the leaves,
and then when the transfer of the carbohydrates down to
the bulb starts, that top will be once it transfers
all the top is so much weight the neck can
no longer support the top, so the top falls over
(19:43):
and that's when you can harvest. And so when you
see it makes yeah, you want to look at You
got to remove it from the soil because it's long
since connected to water. It won't be properly cured. You
wanted to get that outside layer of skin crackle and dried.
And then third and most porton is right there at
the neck. You want to strim the tops of the onions.
(20:05):
When when you run your thumb and forefinger at the
base of the neck, you don't kill any moisture that
will give you a good sealed off neck and keep
the onions from sprouting or maybe decaying because air is
getting down into the bold.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Good good info. Now what happens when I have an
onion ball that sends up a flower stock, Well.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
If they initially show up and they're real small, you
can just pinch them off because once that onion shoots
a seed stem, then it's not gonna shoot anymore leaves.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And that's usually about the eighth or ninth leaves that
it happens.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Soon you'll limit your damage by turning that off.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So when I pinched the flower off or pinch out
the whole hole leaf, just pinch the flour off. Just
pinch the flour off. Bruce Frasier, It's always fun, always
a pleasure talking with you about onions again. Go to
their website Dixondale Farms dot com. Sign up for get
their catalog, sign up for the newsletter Great Rests. He
cooks them all, he does them all, so you know
they've got to be good. Mister Fraser, good luck whill
(21:05):
you recovery on that hip replacement and we will talk
to you soon.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
All right, take care, Bruce Fraser again. Dixondale Farms, Dixondale
Farms dot com. What do you say, nine hundred million
onion plants take so every year. Holy sh moldies, quick break,
we come back. Phone lines. We're open for you at
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five. Here
in the garden with Ron Wilson.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Landscaping mad easier with your personal yard boy. He's in
the garden and he's Ron Wilson.
Talking to your Ardening at eight hundred eight two three
eight two five five. And I'm always excited to have
this young man on our show because he knows more
about onions than anybody I know when it comes to
growing onions. They're from Dixondale Farms. You hear me talk
about them all the time. To go to their website
Dixondale Farms dot com for great information, get one of
their catalogs, sign up for the Onion their their their
(00:58):
web their uh what is it? The onion Patch, their newsletter,
all kinds of great recipes and information on there as well.
I'm telling you, if you've had trouble growing on yours
or want to be better at it, these folks will
walk you through it. And joining us this morning is
the man that makes it all happen, at least, he
says that, when it's actually his wife, Jeanie, that makes
it all happen. But anyway, Bruce Frasier from Dixondale Farms,
(01:20):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
How are you sir?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Doing great? Good to a warmer than y'all are?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, a little bit. How's the weather been out in
Texas so far? This warner?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Well, the other day we're the higher the nation at
ninety three degrees.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Geez.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I think the low was in Montana like minus twenty five.
So there was like one hundred and eighteen degree variants.
And you know we're right down on the Mexican border.
So wintertime, yeah, we really we go from summer to
we have a few weeks of spring and be back
(01:56):
to summer.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So ninety degrees is spring weather.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's spring weather.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Oh my gosh. Wow, that's crazy. But it's great weather
and great soil for growing onions.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, that's the reason.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I guess we've been around now one hundred and twelve
years here in Parisa Springs, Texas, and it's the ideal
location for growing onion transplants onions also. But the tea
is our weather is so predictable that we can plants
seed at a certain date and September till December and
(02:36):
it'll be ready exactly within the week that we expect
those certain plants to be ready for shipment.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Wow, that's crazy. Talking with Bruce Fraser from Dixondale Farms again,
you hear we talk about them all the time their
website Dixondale Farms dot com. So folks, understand what we're
talking about here as far as growing onions. Obviously you
grow mature onions as well, but we're talking about the
onion plants that we as gardeners would be buying to
plant in our gardens in the springtime. That's what you
(03:07):
grow and supply folks all around the United States with
their plants via mail order, obviously, but that's your How
many how many the onion plants do you do? You
guess that you grow every year?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I grow about nine hundred million.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Nine hundred million, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, we harvest anywhere from five to six million plants today.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
How do you sow this sea? I mean, that seed
is so small and I'm looking, you know, you look
at pictures of your farm and it's just you know,
these roads go on forever. How I mean, obviously you
have equipment that does that. They can sort out that
small seed and get those plants. Yeah, it's crazy, you.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Know, I think about onion. See they're about one hundred
thousand onion seeds and a pound, and we plant about
thirty pounds of seed to the acre. And compare that
to what you plant if you were direct seating to
make the bulbs themselves. It's only about a pound to
(04:14):
a pound and a half taker. So we're planting almost
thirty times the I guess intensity compared to what you
plant to grow bubl of onions.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Wow. And so you plant those obviously to harvest, package up,
and then mail out the folks depending on where they live,
and you guys do all that homework for everybody depending
on where you live. You ship those out just in
time for their particular planting season, right and you.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Know there's some people that may grow them in hoop
houses or greenhouses. So what we have is a zip
code chart with the first three digits ure zip code,
and it will give you the date that we recommend
the week that we recommend you plant onions.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Now, the way I formulated.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That is that week is actually six weeks prior to
your last average frost state. You know, onions are pretty tough.
They can handle down to almost single digits. Uh so
they that gives them a chance for that first six
weeks before you're over your frost date to establish the
(05:24):
root system and then be ready to take off once
it warms up.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So so tell me, and we're talking with Bruce Bruce
Frasier from Dixondale Farms. Again, it's Dixondale Farms dot Com.
So when I'm when I when I go to the
to the garden center and I look, and of course
they do have packs of onion seeds that are on
the racks, but then they have onion sets. They have
onion bulbs that have no growth coming out of them,
(05:49):
and then they have onion plants that have that they
obviously will be coming from like you, that have already
started to grow. What's the difference between the ones that
are just the bulbs and the ones that are already growing.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Okay, so seed, first of all are the problem with
seeds is that the soil needs to be warm enough
to germinate. And basically by the time you can plant seeds,
you can plant transplants and the onions grow the tops
and then based on day length hours and heat units
(06:25):
that's acquired, then it transfers the carbohydrates and the leaves
down to the bulb of the onion. So the transplants
are going to give you like a four leaf head start.
So the perfect onion has thirteen rings, which means thirteen leaves,
so you have a better chance of making bigger onions
(06:46):
for transplants sets or last year's onions, they're harvested. Growing
areas for sets is pretty much in Indiana. That's one
of the largest areas. And they're because they storm all
winter long. They're all long day varieties and there's not
that many parieties available in sets. But you can't you
(07:09):
can't plant sets down in the South because we never
reached the day length dollars for a long day onion
to bowl. So you can make green onions out of them,
they won't so, but sets, you know, because there's such
large bulbs you'll have you'll have a good germination ring
with it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And and when I plant onion sets, which is the
ball that we're talking about, don't you find most people
probably grow those just for a green onion.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
That's right?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, So and the ball that I see on there
actually kind of disappears, doesn't it, And then then kind
of the green onion kind of reforms, and then that's
when we harvest that.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Okay, talking with Bruce Fraser. And again I don't know
if you caught that or not, but how many how
many leaves do you want on top of your the
perfect onion.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Thirteen thirteen one, please send a picture to us thirteen.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, that's that's the perfect onion. And I think about it.
If you're an onion grower, you know, sometimes you're harvesting
those green onions and they've got like three leaves on the top.
Think about thirteen leaves on the top, and each leaf
represents a ring of the onion.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
That's exactly right. So I meant they shoot a leaf
about every ten.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Days to two weeks. So you think about it.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
If you've got nine times two weeks, that's eighteen weeks.
And by then you're into different dailing dollars. So all
onions will bulb in the United States by jun start
the bowling process by Junior twenty first, which is, you know,
the longest day of the year. After that point, right
(08:50):
daylan's going to decrease.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Talking with the Bruce Frasier. And again if you've never
grown onions before, there are short day, intermediate day, long
day varieties depending on where you live. Long day varieties
are usually what about the Midwest and North, and then
of course you got the intermediate, which is across the Midwest,
and the short day would be all the South. And
(09:12):
they are there any varieties that actually growing, all three
of them that we all can grow besides just green onions.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
No, No, if you've grant a long day onion in
the South, you'll just fill the top and top and
never bowlt verstly, if you plan a short day onion
in the North, by the time you plan them and
within maybe six weeks, it's going to reach the Dailians requirement.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So it's going to start.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
The bowling process and you're going to get a ping
pong ball or maybe uh, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Golf ball something.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
The size is not going to be there, but you know,
I mean, they're if I guess, really the one variety
or the varieties that are most flexible or the intermediate days.
So we have variety called Candy, we have Great Candy,
and we have Superstar.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Those are three intermediate day.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Varieties and there are I guess the most adaptable to
twelve regions of the country.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Well, Bruce Fraser, I know you've tasted probably every onion
that's out there that's available. If Bruce Fraser could pick
one onion that is absolutely the sweetest, best tasting, peeling
and eat like an apple onion, which one would you pick?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Oll I'd say, I say maybe that I'm sort of
prejudiced by the ten fifteen lie, which is the Texas
super sweet in that's variety we grow down in South Texas. Uh.
But you know the yellow granex, which is the Ydelia onion.
I can't knock my Videlia Farmers because a lot of
(10:50):
people don't know that.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
A lot of the.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Bidelia onions start on my form. We send the transplants
to Idea. But you know the candy, we're a little
too far south to grow it. But gosh, our customers
it's writing about how sweet it is.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I was gonna say, you hear a lot about that
one as well. Talking with Bruce Fraser again, he's he's
one that makes everything happen at Dixondale Farms. Their website
is Dixondale Farms dot com. Be sure and check it out,
sign up for their website or their newsletter. It's absolutely outstanding.
Matter of fact, I just will take a break. I
got more questions for you. I want you to know.
We posted your baked onion dip recipe on our website
last week. Got a ton of hits on that. Everybody
(11:30):
liked that one. Getting ready for Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Absolutely, eat more onions, Eat more onions.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You got it. We'll take a quick break. We come
back more with Bruce Fraser from Dixondale Farms. Here in
the garden with Ron Wilson.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
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(12:07):
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Speaker 1 (13:35):
Welcome back, You're in the garden with Ron Wilson. Bruce
Fraser with us this morning. Always have fun having mister
Fraser on from Dixondale Farms. They grow onions. They grow
lots of other things as well, trust me, but they
grow lots of onions and can supply you with your
onion sets, your onion plants for spring planting, and of
course all the great information. Go to their website, sign
(13:56):
up for the near newsletter, get their catalog the catalogs
this absolutely wonderful to read through all kinds of great information.
As a matter of fact, they'll help walk you through
being successful in growing onions. And if you still have
questions you can you can email them. You go to
Dixondale Farms and they can help you out as well.
I got a quick question away from the onions, real
quick of course, you're a former world champion bull rider,
(14:18):
what do you think of the PBR Team series.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
There?
Speaker 3 (14:23):
They are a lot better shape than we were. You know,
I'm actually sitting here. I had my hip replace about
three weeks go, my second hip replace, and one doctor says,
you know, the problem is you rode too many bulls,
And I said, no, the problem was I got bucked off.
I mean, that's bull riding with something of it. H
(14:45):
The good news was I was a good dancer, so
he after the rodeo, It's always a dance, and that's
how I've met my life, and that's how I ended
up the Dixondale Forms.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I was gonna say, yeah, that you rode those bulls
until one time, until once this beautiful cowgirl came along
and the rest is history, and then you went to
get riding bulls. Well, I was just curious what you
thought about the team series, having team members and coaches
and all that kind of stuff. I mean, watching it's
a little bit different too when you I love watching
it on TV, you know, because of the teams and
(15:14):
all that. But pretty interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I think one thing I noticed is that the bulls
aren't as mean as they used to be. I mean
when they buck off the rider, they immediately stop and
go back in. Whether you don't have to worry about
getting hooked or stopped.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
On right, But as much as we did, you know what,
you're right, it seems like, yeah, many years ago, was
like Tho's bulls came after you. Once they got off,
I broke my.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Collar bones, you know, scars all over my face and stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
So I got the scars to prove it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Was there that one bull out there through all your
writing experience that you just couldn't handle.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah. Yeah, it's several of them.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I probably should have just turned them out and not
gone on them because they were mean. They were gonna
cook you, they're gonna throw you down whatever, and uh uh,
a lot of them will I remember.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
It was a tough little of ra school.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
What was what was the name?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Wu W? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I love it talking with Bruce Frasier, And that's why
it's so much fun talking with him. He's a he's
a president of Dixondale Farms. They grow onions and lots
of other things as well. And of course if you're
interested in growing onions in your garden, your raised bed containers.
They all work in all those different areas. They've got
all the great information and the onion plants for you
as well. Go to the website as Dixondale Farms dot com.
(16:43):
So as we you know, if somebody's listening today and
they say, okay, give me a few key pointers when
it comes to be successful, being successful growing these onions
in my garden. Uh, give me a few key pointers.
And let me ask you one thing before you get started.
Is it better having a designated area for growing your
onions rather than just kind of growing them in a
(17:03):
garden in general? Is it better to actually set up
up an area aside and treat that a little differently?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Well, the location is important because you want to have
as much sun as possible and you want to have
good drainage onions, I say, they don't like to keep
their feet wet, so the only reason they want to
take up water is.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
To take up nutrients.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
So you water them heavily and let them take up
the nutrients, and then they take those nutrients, transfer them
to carbohydrates, send them up to the leaf, and then
they want to go back and get another drink and
go through the process again. If you keep them wet
all the time, those solid the carbohydrates are going up
(17:48):
to leaf can create solid.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Fiber and so the plant can be stunted and weak.
So drainage is important.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
You don't want to you want to be able to
if you get a bunch of rain for the water
to run out.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Of your field.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So you know, So, is there an important time at
the beginning or the end that's most important for sufficient
moisture in the ground or is that pretty much consistent
from the beginning to the end.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Well, actually it's about Initially it takes probably two to
three inches of the water to get them rooted in,
and then it stays about that rate. But once the
onion starts bulbing and you'll see it coming up above
the ground, that's when the water contents it's most important
because it's going to fill up that celf structure. You know.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
It's so a sweet onion.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
What makes an onion sweet is how much water is
in it. It makes an onion rod, it's how much
water is in it.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So you can't really have it both ways.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
So if you're growing sweet onions, you want to increase
the water when the boating process. If you're going to
grow storage onions for later use. You don't want to
water them as much as what's your water to your
sleep varieties?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Got it, and it makes a lot of sense. Talking
with Bruce Frasier Dixondale Farms their website again Dixondale Farms
dot com. One last question for you, because we're running
out of time. I always have so many questions for you.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Sometimes it's a little confusing to folks, especially the first
time you're growing onions. How do I know when it's
time to harvest my onions?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Well, the onions send the carbohydrates, you know, the leaves,
and then when the transfer of the carbohydrates down to
the bulb starts, that top will be once it transfers
all the top is so much weight the neck can
no longer support the top, so the top falls over
(19:43):
and that's when you can harvest. And so when you
see it makes yeah, you want to look at You
got to remove it from the soil because it's long
since connected to water. It won't be properly cured. You
wanted to get that outside layer of skin crackle and dried.
And then third and most porton is right there at
the neck. You want to strim the tops of the onions.
(20:05):
When when you run your thumb and forefinger at the
base of the neck, you don't kill any moisture that
will give you a good sealed off neck and keep
the onions from sprouting or maybe decaying because air is
getting down into the bold.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Good good info. Now what happens when I have an
onion ball that sends up a flower stock, Well.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
If they initially show up and they're real small, you
can just pinch them off because once that onion shoots
a seed stem, then it's not gonna shoot anymore leaves.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And that's usually about the eighth or ninth leaves that
it happens.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Soon you'll limit your damage by turning that off.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So when I pinched the flower off or pinch out
the whole hole leaf, just pinch the flour off. Just
pinch the flour off. Bruce Frasier, It's always fun, always
a pleasure talking with you about onions again. Go to
their website Dixondale Farms dot com. Sign up for get
their catalog, sign up for the newsletter Great Rests. He
cooks them all, he does them all, so you know
they've got to be good. Mister Fraser, good luck whill
(21:05):
you recovery on that hip replacement and we will talk
to you soon.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
All right, take care, Bruce Fraser again. Dixondale Farms, Dixondale
Farms dot com. What do you say, nine hundred million
onion plants take so every year. Holy sh moldies, quick break,
we come back. Phone lines. We're open for you at
eight hundred eight two three eight two five five. Here
in the garden with Ron Wilson.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Landscaping mad easier with your personal yard boy. He's in
the garden and he's Ron Wilson.
In The Garden with Ron Wilson News
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