TX1015 HISTORY

Sweet onion seeds arrive in Texas from Bermuda and planted near Cotulla.

The harvested sweet onions were shipped to Milwaukee, WI.  They were so popular a larger acreage was planted

By 1904, approximately 500 acres of Bermuda onions were planted in South Texas.

In spring, 1907, 1,011 carloads of onions were shipped from South and Southwest Texas; in 1908, production had more than doubled, and in 1909, 12 counties shipped 2,920 carloads. Shipments reached 6,735 carloads in 1917.

Texas outproduces the Bermuda Islands and eliminate them as a major grower.

To develop varieties better adapted to South Texas, the Winter Garden station of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station inaugurated an onion-breeding program in 1933. The program was expanded considerably in 1939 with the establishment of a cooperative breeding program by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.

Efforts from these breeding programs resulted in the Mother “Grano 502”, the parent plant of all Super Sweet onions such as Granex (Vidalia, Maui Maui and NoonDay) and the Texas A&M;1015Y.

Ernest Mortensen, horticulturist extraordinaire, with Jerry Parsons, Texas Agricultural Extension Service Horticulturist, spoke extensively about these events for the October 28, 1979, San Antonio Light Newspaper.

The Grano 502 onion, grown in Texas, is the mother of all sweet onions.  Many other sweet onions grown in the US, and around the world, originate from this original hybrid.

Breeds originating from the Grano 502 are generally called “Granex”.

At this point, the original Early Grano 502 is the most productive onion grown in Texas.  Work continues to ensure the Grano 502 can resist common diseases.

The Early Grano 502 remains the most prolific onion and was first to harvest, but the sweetness that we love also means it doesn’t store well.

Dr. Leonard Pike and Paul Leeper start a program to create hybrids of the Texas Early Grano 502 varieties to help lengthen time to maturity and storage capabilities.  This effort created the Texas Grano 1015Y, Texas Grano 1020Y, Texas Grano 1025Y, Texas Grano 1030Y, Texas Grano 1105Y.