Friday, January 14, 2011 - Percha Dam State Park, Arrey NM

Skyline Produce, Hatch NM:This high-tech facility typically unloads 35-50 trucks per day, all in the evening after the weather cools down. Their state-of-the-art dryer can hold up to 120,000 pounds of onions. Nearly 16,000 fifty-pound-bag equivalents flow through the facility each day. The sorting equipment can process 1,500 to 2,000 bags per hour. The onions are all harvested mechanically. [source link]

Southern states grow short-day onions. As the northern latitude increases, the day length requirement for bulbing increases. During the summer months, northern latitudes will have longer day-lengths than southern latitudes. Need to prevent bulbing in order to get large plant otherwise small plant, small bulb. Long-day cultivars at northern latitudes grow longer before bulbing than short-day cultivars. Conversely, Long-day cultivars grow in southern latitudes never reach critical day-length for bulbing so grows a large plant with out bulbing. [source link]