One big concern with the impending cold weather in the area is for things you can't bring inside.
Onion farmers across the region have about 12,000 acres of their crop just planted, and they're certainly watching the thermometer on Wednesday night.
The cold weather we see over the next few days poses the biggest threat to the sweet onion crop. Cliff Riner grows onions at the UGA Experiment Station.
He knows it takes extremely cold weather to hurt the young plants that are still dormant from transplant.
“We're borderline at the danger zone now,” Riner said. “Historically, the problems we've had have been below 20 degrees.”
He said some farmers will till up the soil between rows to throw a little extra insulation on their onions.
“This kind of cold won't kill the plants, but it could provide some seed stem problems, like it has in the past,” Riner said.
Farmers saw some impact last year from the winter ice storm. Growers lost a fifth of the crop. Riner said a freeze this early in the season wouldn't be as costly. The good side is that seed companies have evolved their varieties to make these onions more resilient to cold.
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/
