Rotten shallots

[curly_kate]

This is the first time I've grown shallots, and when I pulled them, I noticed a few clusters that were totally rotten right next to others that were completely fine. Anyone know what the problem might have been?

 

[hoodat]

This is the first time I've grown shallots, and when I pulled them, I noticed a few clusters that were totally rotten right next to others that were completely fine. Anyone know what the problem might have been?

Check the rotten ones carefully and see if there is evidence of borers. There is a type of soil maggot that sometimes bores into them and that will give decay bacteria a place to enter.

 

[digitS']

Oh, no!

I've been thinking for the last few days about a post that is titled, "Everybody Should Grow Shallots!"

I'm sorry, Kate, that you had problems! Hoodat has my best idea. There's something I figger is an onion maggot that shows up in my onions -- not my shallots! The story on them is that they can kill onions altho' they just wreck about 3% or 4% of mine.

Pests seldom act alone. But, it is just my best guess.

Shallots present 2 problems in my garden. Like any onion, they have to be kept weeded and put up little resistance to the weeds on their own. And #2, they aren't very productive. If you are loosing some of them, that is intolerable.

Steve
who just harvested most of his French Gray and still has the Prisma shallots growing.

 

[hoodat]

Steve do you notice your shallots pushing up out of the ground as they grow? My shallots have pushed up so high only the roots are still in the ground. They still seem to be growing well though.

 

[digitS']

There are only the larger-type Prisma still growing in my garden, Hoodat. Also, the tiny Picador that were planted from seed this year. They seem so late that I'm wondering if they will have adequate vitality to make it thru the winter :/.

The French Gray had become just some odd-looking lumps sitting on the soil surface. It is remarkable how some plants are spring-growers and that's it!

I am fond of shallots. I used to claim that they were a milder-flavored onion probably, just because that made them sound more refined and appealing, somehow. No, they are quite pungent. "Savory" seems to be the culinary term. Well, they appeal to me .

I'm curious about the variety you have there in San Diego. Some gardeners blame difficulties with shallots on their southern latitudes.



Steve

 

[hoodat]

I'm not having difficulty per se. In fact they pretty much seem to be taking care of themselves. I have no idea what kind they are. I just bought some in a grocery store and plunked them in the ground. They are quite large for shallots and are giving me back about 4 to 1. Right now they are flowering, to the delight of my mason bees. I also notice several bulbils on the top like you would find on walking onions but just a couple. The rest looks to be about to make seed.

 

[curly_kate]

Mine pushed way out of the ground, too, and did give me about 4 bulbs for each one I planted. Some of them just rotted. I went back and looked at the rotten ones, but it's hard to tell at this point if something burrowed in.

 

[digitS']

I grow quite a few onions - sets, seeds, plants; sweets, storage, bunching, chives, shallots. There are even some top-sets out there again after an absence of about 20 years.

The French shallots I've had for about 25 years never, ever flower. It is these new hybrids that are grown from seed that flower. Or at least, about 10% of the plants make flowers. I don't know what to do with them!!

They are hybrids! I honestly wonder if they somehow "forced" a shallot to flower so that it could be hybridized with some other onion species or sub-species. I'm not sure what I'd get if I saved seed and planted those! The sets from these shallots work fine from season to season but, as I say, about 10% bolt to seed.

The bulbs are large and seem in all ways to be shallots, whether they are mixed with something else or not.

Funny little story: Since we keep the bulbs indoors thru the winter rather than replanting some like garlic in the Fall, we have to be careful to save good quality sets for the garden and not use them all. Years ago, we had Dutch Yellow along with our French Gray shallots. You guessed it, we must have eaten all those one winter !

Like a starving colony eating its seedcorn trying to survive . . . Good thing we didn't own a milk cow and don't enjoy the taste of shoe leather!

Steve

 

[hoodat]

I grow quite a few onions - sets, seeds, plants; sweets, storage, bunching, chives, shallots. There are even some top-sets out there again after an absence of about 20 years.

The French shallots I've had for about 25 years never, ever flower. It is these new hybrids that are grown from seed that flower. Or at least, about 10% of the plants make flowers. I don't know what to do with them!!

They are hybrids! I honestly wonder if they somehow "forced" a shallot to flower so that it could be hybridized with some other onion species or sub-species. I'm not sure what I'd get if I saved seed and planted those! The sets from these shallots work fine from season to season but, as I say, about 10% bolt to seed.

The bulbs are large and seem in all ways to be shallots, whether they are mixed with something else or not.

Funny little story: Since we keep the bulbs indoors thru the winter rather than replanting some like garlic in the Fall, we have to be careful to save good quality sets for the garden and not use them all. Years ago, we had Dutch Yellow along with our French Gray shallots. You guessed it, we must have eaten all those one winter !

Like a starving colony eating its seedcorn trying to survive . . . Good thing we didn't own a milk cow and don't enjoy the taste of shoe leather!

Steve

I'm pretty sure these are going to set a lot of seeds. I'll let you know what I get when I grow some next Spring.