Shallots

[annageckos]

This is my first year growing shallots. The bulbs are now almost laying on top of the soil and are pretty large too. But the tops are still nice and green. When should I harvest them? Now? Or should I wait until the tops start to die back? Right now they look to be a good size to use, any reason I can't pull some to use now? If I pull them before the tops start to die back will they not store as well? Please, any advise would be great.

Thanks,

Anna

 

[baymule]

Of course you can pull some to use now. They will be so yummy because YOU grew them! I wait for the tops on mine to turn brown before I pull them. But it is ok to pull when they have some green on them. I have done both but I don't know about how that affects long term storage--we always EAT ours before any storage issues would be a problem.

 

[annageckos]

Great thanks. I checked again, looking closely at them. Some are pretty large, others still are smallish. So I am going to pull the large ones now and let the rest grow more.

 

[digitS']

July is the time for my shallot harvest, also. They begin to go down soon. I can re-use that bed for fall greens .

Shallots keep so well, it may not make too much difference to pull some early but I haven't had much of a reason to do that. I can't replant the bed to greens for awhile yet, altho' green beans could go in now.

You can use very young shallots as scallions but, by July, they have gone past that stage. Also , I realized that the shallots are a little too valuable to harvest as little green scallions rather than allowing them to reach maturity.

Shallots have excellent keeping qualities! Do grow enuf that you have some for winter storage.

Steve

 

[hoodat]

Shallots will push up out of the ground as they get close to harvest. If you have hot sun it may be a good idea to cover them with a light mulch like straw to keep them from getting sunburned. Shallots can be pulled for immediate use at any time in their growth cycle. Once the tops fall over you can take your choice of harvesting them then and drying in a shady spot or waiting till the tops are entirely brown. It doesn't seem to affect the storage time which method you use. You might consider their close relatives the potato onions which have the longest storage time of any onion.

 

[annageckos]

Thanks all, for the info.