How to plant shallots
 

So about a month ago I planted some shallot bulbs that I had picked up at a Lowes type place. I planted them and now have stalks one foot high. I also bought some that were already stalks and ready to plant I guess(they look sort of light stick onions) and assume I am to plant these. Should I pull the first set and separate and plant them. When are shallots harvested. I am in the midwest. I have no idea what to do with these and would appreciate any input.

I have planted shallots in early spring and harvest them in fall. Also I planted in fall at the same time as garlic and harvest during summer. They are easy to grow.

[QUOTE=Farmette;169911]. Should I pull the first set and separate and plant them. When are shallots harvested. [/QUOTE]
Ideally, shallots are planted by single bulbs about 6 inches apart, planted 'late' in the year to winter over and grow next year to be harvested in late July early August.
Dried, out of the sun, the best and biggest go for next year, no more buying sets or seed.
My grandmother used to say, plant on the shortest day, harvest on the longest.

Well, I planted mine, but maybe I didn't water them enought. The tops dried up and there is no bulb underneath the soil. :cry:

sorry to hear that, try again now for next year harvest. I bought some organic shallots at my local whole foods, and planted a week ago with my garlic (i was too late to order seed online at this point). I also found some plants this summer that i missed from last year, the bulbs were tiny, but i planted them again who knows maybe it will produce some bulbs next summer.

I may try your idea of planting some now...will have to look around for some.

Farmette,

Do you remember when the tops dried, and also when you dug them up?

Yes, it would have been late May. Some were bulbs from a store similar to Home depot. Then, someone gave me some that they had grown in their garden and had started to sprout tops. None grew.

[QUOTE=Farmette;185541]Yes, it would have been late May. None grew.[/QUOTE]
Definitely not enough time. They stop growing in July. So your's wouldn't have had time to put down roots.
I would suggest you try again, planting about now.

Will do. Thanks for all the advice.

Is there a good online source for shallots?

Territorial Seeds carries 8 varieties, which is more than most other companies.
(Five varieties of cloves and 3 of seeds.)

Johnny's has 4 or 5 (seed only)

If you would prefer a larger shallot, ideal for general cooking, then try 'Ambition'.
My DW complained about the fiddle when using purple shallots for cooking, said it took forever to get any substance because of the small size. So, I grew 'Ambition' from seed and they produce regular onion sized bulbs.
Those little ones are ideal for pickled onions, done in Malt vinegar and a little pickling spice, much better than pearl onions as they stay crisp. Yummmmmm.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange offers French Red Shallot bulbs.

I ended up buying the shallots from Territorial but forgot to come in here and thank you for the leads.

My shallots seem to be doing pretty well. Some have little bulbs forming at the top of the leaves, should I be cutting those off?

bulbs on the top of the leaves like a flower bud? I never seen mine flower, I am watching 2 plants that overwinter to see if I get seeds to start them like onions in February indoors.

Lowly,

Of the two dozen or so that I planted last fall, three currently show growth at the top that look like they may want to be flowers some day. Since this is my first time planting these, I can't really answer your question as to whether to cut them off or not. However, I do have these potential flowers appearing on my plants.

Then again, I could be looking at onions, which I planted along with the shallots. I've got to start writing things down!

If you planted shallot seed from Territorial they are all F1 hybrids and wont produce "true to type" seed, so you might as well break off the spathe (flower) and let the plant put as much energy as possible into the bulbs. I planted both ambition and bonilla last fall and they are getting close to harvest size now. Ambition is a great variety, large and tasty. I want to try the camelot this fall as well, looks like a good one. I think it is possible to propagate from bulbs, so once your plants are mature you can harvest them and hold some for fall planting. Good luck!

Are there long and short day shallots? The guide from U of A says to plant short day onions and long day shallots. I've not seen any shallots that specify.

I'm in a long-day area, so I don't really know for sure, but I dion't think there are any true short-day shallots. The originals were from Europe, so mid-length days.

I think they'll grow in the south, but generally be dissapointing. Most shallots are dissapointing in my area too: high sulfur soils make for lots of allicin, obscuring the subtle flavors of better varieties. I do grow potato onions (a coarse cousin of the shallot) every year...flavor is no different than other onions but they are so very easy and low-demand. They also keep remarkably well; never a problem storing them for up to a year.

I tested an idea and planted both big fat bulbs and narrow bulbs and as I suspected the fat bulbs produced many narrow bulbs while the narrow bulbs prodcued 3-4 fat bulbs.

I am looking for French Shallot sets or indeed any type at this point(bulbs) for planting now in Canada and am not having any success, I can get seeds but want bulbs, there are several suppliers in the US but they won't send bulbs to Canada..help

XX Jeannine

Jeannine Anne, maybe try these guys
[URL]http://www.augustsharvest.com/index.html[/URL]

I get mine at the grocery store. I cut the tops for use, and plant the bulbs. You may not be able to eat you cake and have it too, but you can eat your shallots and have them too.

Full Moon, thank you, I did look and was unsure of what variety they were selling so have mailed them.

I have found and ordered some of the named vareties I was looking fior at Richters Herbs but very expensive, but still on the hun t for others.

Thank you also to Keith.. I have tried that too but realkly want to re-establish my named ones.

There seems to be many available in the US just not here.,

I appreciate the answers.

If you plant your shallot bulbs now when are they going to be ready to harvest?

This is my first year growing in Canada and from what I'm seing in my community garden alliums are THE thing to grow here. :)

Which ones do you recommend?

I've planted 3 different types of onions are they are doing very well. I want to plant garlic in the fall. I'm investigating wich ones works good.

fullmoon,
heard good things about music garlic. I have crysallis purple, it's ok but the bulbs are getting smaller after 3 years. Also have another hardneck from a farmer's and no name but produces well and good size too.

Wendy from what I'm reading "music" seems to be one of the most popular.

Some shallots are Spring planted and some are fall planted.

Ones I am looking for are Longor,Longe de Bretagne,GriseFell,Griselle,Pikant,red Sun.Mikor, Pesandor, Banana.

There are lots in the UK a goof few in the US but very few in Canada.

XX Jeannine

Good luck with your search, Jeannine. I have only been growing the various F1 varieties available in the various catalogues. They are OK, well, even better than OK, but would really prefer to grow OP varieties and save seed.

Full Moon, I like to plant a great variety of garlic, just to try them and see what does best in my area/garden. So far, Fish Lake and Czeck do very well (I like large cloves) and they store as well as any of the others.