Description

Item Details

Awahia is a short-day pungent variety with red skin and good storage life. Matures in 150-160 days.

History of the Plant

Bulb onions (Allium cepa L. var. cepa) originated in southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region. Onions have been used as a condiment in the cuisines of ancient China, India, and Egypt for well over 4000 years, Although their main role in cooking is to provide. flavor

Growing Media

SHALLOW ROOTED: Bulb onion is a shallow-rooted, biennial plant that is grown as an annual. It has long, hollow leaves with widening, overlapping bases.

ROOTS: Roots arise from the bottom of the growing bulb. Leaf initiation stops when the plant begins to bulb. The base of each leaf becomes one of the “scales” of the onion bulb

PLANTING: Bulb onions are divided into groups depending on how they respond to day length. There are short-day, medium-day, and long-day types. Long-day varieties do not do well in Hawai’i. Itis best to plant only short and medium-day varieties.

Care

WATER: Requires moderate levels of water: approximately 1″ per week. Keep soil evenly moist but not saggy. This is particularly important in the early stages of growth as overwatering the seeds can cause damage and decrease your germination rates.

NUTRIENTS: In the garden, onion plants should be spaced 4 to 6 inches apart in the row, with rows 1 to 2 feet apart. Plant each one about 1/2 inch deep in a small hole. After planting, trim the tops to about 4 inches. Onions need about 1 inch of water per week, so if the weather is dry, you’ll need to water.

HEAT: Onions are sensitive to light and temperature. In order to grow large onion bulbs, they need to get enough hours of daylight. Onions need full sun and at least 13 to 16 hours of light daily during bulb formation

TRIM: You should trim your onion starts (or leeks or shallots) whenever their greens become long and start to tangle (or even better, just before they start to tie themselves up!). Around five or six inches is the right length to start trimming your onion seedlings.

Nutrients

NUTRITIONAL: Onions require a high source of nitrogen. A nitrogen-based fertilizer (ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate) should be applied at the rate of one cup per twenty feet of a row. The first application should be about three weeks after planting and then continue with applications every 2 to 3 weeks.

BENEFITS: The bulb (rounded underground part) of the onion is used to make medicine. Onion is most commonly used for scarring. It is also used for other skin conditions and to prevent cancer and heart disease, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these other uses.