Red Coach F1

Red coach F1 is a very super quality bulb onion with the following characteristics:

• Early maturing variety; 80-90 days from transplanting
• It’s a mid-short day hybrid red bulb onion variety
• It’s flattened globe shape bulb onion
• Produces medium to large dark red bulbs
• Very vigorous plant with strong root system which makes it ideal for hot growing conditions
• Has firm bulbs with good storage ability of up to 3 months
• It’s a pink rot resistant variety which makes it ideal for most Kenyan soils
• It produces 25-30 tons of uniformly mature deep red bulbs.

Nursery preparations:

• Make raised beds in rainy seasons and sunken beds in dry seasons of 1 m width and of any desired length
• Apply well decomposed manure at the rate of 5kgs per square meter-mix and apply D.A.P at 0.5 kg per square meter
• Make shallow furrows of 15 cm apart and 1-2 cm deep
• Plant the seeds and cover lightly with the soil and apply mulch
• After sowing, irrigate the nursery bed literally two times a day for 10 days and then continue watering regularly; every evening or morning, depending on the prevailing weather conditions.
• Germination takes about 7 days, remove mulch and erect the shade above the tender seedlings

Transplanting:

• Transplant of seedlings takes 6-8 weeks after sowing when they have attained pencil thickness and 15 cm of height
• Transplant when seedlings have 3-5 well-formed leaves
• Two weeks before transplanting, reduce the shade to improve seedling survival rate in the field
• Onions are spaced at 30 cm by 7-10 cm

Onion fertilizer application

Apply 3-5 tons of well-decomposed farmyard manure in an acre at the time of final land preparation

Apply 100 kg of N.P.K 17:17:17 when planting/transplanting, 60 kg of CAN as top dress (30 days after transplanting)-5 cm below the seedling and 2 cm to the sides gives the plant efficient use of fertilizer

Red coach F1 takes 3 months to full physiological maturity

Harvesting and storage.

Onions are ready to harvest when they form a shiny membranous cover around the bulbs or when the foliage withers. Harvest when rains are little or during dry season, Harvesting is done by pulling the bulbs carefully from the soil then chopping off the leaves or by bunching the onions together and hanging them up in an airy space for about a week until all the outer leaves are nicely dried then bulbs can be easily pulled from the bunches.

Don’t store freshly harvested bulbs on the floor, the floor increases humidity hence high rate of rotting. Put onions in loose bags/nets and store them in a well-constructed storage facility.

Available sizes 100gms,250gms,500gms,1kg