Kitchen Garden Forum

Thought I would sort out VIGAMOR small shallots for pickling, Some 90% have neck-rot . Fresh stock from a well known seeds-man.

Hi, I don't suppose you have a photo? I only ask as I lost all mine this year - I assumed it was onion rot but I'm not entirely sure and no one on the allotment knew either?? It started with the leaves dying, then the bulbs. When I dug them up it looked like some rot at the base and the roots appeared restricted even though they were in a well drained raised bed.

I'm a bit nervous about growing them next year as I to spent quite a bit on sets from a well known supplier, as I wanted ones which have great flavour which you can't get in the shops.

Thanks

Pawty

Pawty. Sorry a photo is too advance for me. Mine are just rotting from the neck. Re seeds-man T&* supplied mine.

Hi Pawty

You should grow shallots again. On lottie, someone has got some of those pine fruit crates, lined with stapled black plastic & growing some fine looking shallots in them. Over the fence chat they said their whole plot has onion white rot & it even seemed to infiltrate the raised beds they built. (I suspect they didn't put any barrier between the allotment soil and the new soil, but that thought came after the chat)!

They've made it look really nice, painted them up in pastel colours & dotted them around, the ones that took my eye were on shelf brackets attached to the shed. OK girlie pretty, but I only got about 6 or less from each of my shallots & they seemed to have way more than this & much bigger but they said was Jerome like mine! Just a thought?

Westi

Thanks Westi, I'll give it some more thought. Especially as I have both pink and blue paint left from the shed repair! The allotment neighbours are still recovering from the shock of that one .......

My shallots were in a raised bed this year, away from the area which was impacted last year. It doesn't have a barrier at the base but is around 5 inches tall. I thought that onion rot was transferred on soil rather than spread through soil so thought I would be OK (but am probably completely wrong). I think I need to start a photo gallery of the different diseases etc... For future comparison. Probably a bit late now, but maybe I'll start a new thread if there isn't one already.

Shallots are one of my favourite things to grow because of the different varieties out there, so any solutions appreciated and I really like the crate idea.

Pawty

Hi Pawty!

I believe you can transfer the spores on your shoes & tools, so maybe it crept into your new bed that way? Experiment, build a new little raised bed with a barrier between the new & old soil & keep some wee tools just for that bed & go with the wee boxes - shame to waste the paint! Sounds pretty!

Westi
PS: Good idea with the photos of the diseases. That would be a helpful thread. I do the old google search when I have something I'm not happy about & find the pictures misleading sometimes. The blight pictures of just one leaf is not helpful for a start! I was pretty confused that my tomatoes actually collapsed with the blight this year as I've usually caught it with plant still standing!

If you don't want them for pickling (as they come a bit big) I find clumps of them from seed are much less likely to rot.