Announcing Debut of Palomina: A White Short-Day Onion

Following the semi-retirement of one of our most enduringly popular short-day white onion varieties, Marfil.
Our unique short-day hybrid white onion, Marfil, has been the star of its category for 8 years running.

It is our pleasure to announce a new hybrid, Palomina, will take its place as our new flagship short-day white variety.

Marfil is remarkable for its early maturity, strong disease resistance, and consistently large, very round white bulbs. Palomina is groomed to deliver all this and even more.

That’s not to say Marfil seed will now or soon be unavailable. Because of its enduring popularity and superior characteristics, growers and breeders will still be able to buy Marfil seed if they desire, and we will continue to produce it to meet commercial demands.

However, requests for improvements on Marfil have grown in recent years. We have been more than happy to build out and develop an entirely new line of short-day white onions to please these new interests from our customers and partners.

The result: the all-new Palomina onion.

Lovers and fans of Marfil will be just as excited to try out Palomina. Buyers looking for something a little fresh and new will be more than pleased to try this variety, too, and compare it to our Marfil seed.

Appraising Palomina’s genetics, this onion is every bit as good as Marfil—but with a few new tricks up its sleeve.

We’ve bred Palomina to be a fully comparable replacement for Marfil in every way. As a bonus, we’ve made some upgrades:
– Improved uniformity for a more reliable crop
– Cleaner, whiter bulbs with a brighter appearance
– Better-than-ever large average size
– Reinforced disease resistance
– The same early mature date for a leading edge in the competition
– Same short-day characteristics ideal for southern latitudes

Palomina remains an excellent choice for open field cultivation over greenhouse culture. It also has the same fantastic disease resistance as Marfil, only in this new genetic line, resistance against pink root rot is much higher.

In similar fashion, we’re making updates to our other crown jewel white onion breeds White Star and Calibre 50.

These two will be supplanted by brand-new similar hybrids, Bianca, Piedra Blanca, and Mulege.

About Westar

Westar Seeds International, Inc. has proudly been in the seed business and industry since 1992. Our innovative onion breeding program has been our unique pride and joy, satisfying agriculturists, breeders, customers, and partners for over two decades.

Established at the company’s inception, its robust success and cutting-edge breeds have helped Westar become one of the leading—and few— companies still producing all-new, top-performing onion varieties for today’s growers.

Though an established veteran seed company with a long track record, we’re highly dedicated to expanding while remaining adaptable to every new need of the modern grower.

The best and most seasoned seed breeders know that you can’t teach an old seed new tricks. At Westar, we’ve mastered the next best thing: producing fresh new breeds for today and tomorrow’s growers.

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