First of all, we would like to say thank you to all of our customers, friends, and fellow growers that have reached out with support over the past couple of weeks. Texas experienced some wild weather in mid-February this year. Extremely low temperatures down into the teens, snow, and ice hit most of state of Texas including south Texas, which has not witnessed winter weather of that sort since the 1980s.

Our farm crew worked round the clock in the days leading up to the freeze making sure every field was watered in well to do all we could to prepare. Luckily, the farm received 1-3 inches of snow, depending on the field, which provided insulation for the plants around the bulb. This is what more than likely saved the crop! We are so grateful for the snow fall that fell that night.

Snow covered onion plants

Following the snow fall, some melted off the following day with more low temperatures that upcoming night. Without all that insulation around the plant, the tops did suffer some frost damage. We waited several days to determine the status of the crop while many distribution systems in our state began to crumble including power, USPS and other carrier services, grocery, etc. We had no mail service for the rest of the week and were unable to ship out plants for the entire week of February 22nd.

While many fellow farmers near us lost their entire crops, we cannot be more thankful to have only suffered minor damage. Several of the outermost leaves on some varieties were damaged by the frost. Not to worry though, the bulbs are strong and healthy on all varieties. All fields are recovering nicely and showing more green each day.

Onion plants to ship out in April as of February 28.

Here’s what we want our customers to know:

  1. The crop survived! Our planting density along with the snow provided insulation and kept the soil temperature around 40 degrees the entire time.
  2. The outermost leaves will not have an impact on your onion crop. As always once we ship you plants and you transplant them, they shoot new roots and tops (or leaves).
  3. They are not at any higher of a risk of bolting. Why so? Typically bolting occurs around or near the 7th leaf. The plants that we ship usually have around 3 to 4.
  4. As always, we have a 30 day guarantee that the plants we ship you will transplant successfully. Contact us right away with any plant problems once you receive yours.

What to Expect?

This is what the plants look like just out of the field to put your mind at ease! We pulled this bunch today (February 28) so you have the most up to date status of the plants that are currently shipping out.

Red Candy Apple onion plants

We appreciate your business and feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.