Kitchen Garden Forum

I think this has been discussed before but my searches have failed to find it.
We are doing the seed order and are wondering about shallots from seed. We only grow them for pickling. Which is best, seed or sets? Which is most economical? I normally grow my onions from seed so treating shallots the same would not be an issue.

I've never grown shallots from seed, but bought some sets in 1993 from Marshalls. I've saved some to plant every year since and they are still producing good healthy plants, so I would say that sets are better value than seeds. The variety is Topper.

GEOFF
Shallots grown from seed will only give you one shallot per seed, shallots grown from sets will give you multiple bulbs from every set you plant

While each seed only produces one shallot, the quality is very good with no danger in importing disease along with sets as happened last year.
In Glasgow, I grew shallots both from seeds and sets and was very impressed with the ones grown from seeds. Most of the very expensive ones you see in the shops are grown from seed.
I grew the variety Ambition.

Hi Realfood,
"Most of the very expensive ones you see in the shops are grown from seed."
Where did you get this information?
The most expensive shallots generally are grown in France and although they do grow some from seed the vast majority are grown using conventional methods.
JB.

Having now grown shallots both from seeds and sets, I noted the difference in the shape of the resulting shallots.
Seed sown shallots have a more regular shape than those grown from sets.
I was refering to the expensive ones in the shops as those for eating. I have read somewhere that the Dutch are producing large quantities of shallots for eating that are grown from seed.

Hi Realfood,
Thank you for the reply.
Some time back on this forum we came to the conclusion that Banana Shallots produced in France were probably grown from seed. I dissected several and found that they simply didn't have sufficient divisions for them to be a commercially viable proposition and that those that do have divisions run to seed too readily. I grew Banana Shallots from seed last year and had some very good results having cocked up the first sowing the second sowing was very late into the ground but still produced good results.
I am wondering if the progeny of F1 varieties now in the catalogues as seed will divide the following year. Have you any experiences with these varieties?
JB.

I have tried prisma from seed Jb, they were good, soundshallots of a very even shape. When I replanted some saved prisma last year, they split, but just like the banana shallots only into two or three individual shallots and the quality was dreadfull.

Some were allowed to run to seed and that seed was sown in January this year. The results were ok but gave very uneven sized shallots of varying shapes. Ok for the table but a better option would have been sets than the saved seed by a country mile.

The banana shallots saved and planted to run to seed do just that, very few split and if they do only into two. Seeds are the only way to go with them, they are however open pollinated and not F1.

I have not tried growing Banana shallots, but I understand that they are usually grown from seed, probably because of the poor splitting quality in the following season.
A friend planted some Tesco banana shallots this year. To my surprise they split into 3 or 4 shallots, but they were very skinny and then went to seed.
It was this year that I first grew shallots from seed. They were better quality than those that I grew from sets, they did not go to seed and they seem to be storing better, so I shall do it again.
I sowed them several seeds to a cell in February in the greenhouse and planted them out later, still in the cells, and let them push apart.

Hi Piglet,
I find that Prisma is an F1 hybrid so this is possibly the reason for the poor results as they obviously do not breed true.
The Banana Shallots have been great from seed and now I have a regular supply but not that many as about 3% went to seed. Knowing my luck I thought right up to the last moment that I was going to have to come round your ears for some more seed but of the 100 I grew 3 weedy specimens headed up right at the last moment. Not really the best for seed I know but I'll give them a try.
I used to have a family Shallot that had been with us from about 1860 but one year it got a viral infection and they all sadly bit the dust. I have yet to find another as good for pickling.
I know that in France they do still grow pickling shallots from saved sets but suspect that for uniformity they are also, as Realfood says, growing from seed direct.
My regards to you and Piglette. I wish you both the very best of Christmases and a wonderful growing year in 2009.
Sincerely,
JB.

Thanks for your replies. It was the processing department that prompted my question. We usually buy a bag or two of basic yellow shallots from the garden centre but the last two wet seasons have made them very difficult to ripen and dry hence a lot of sorting out at the pickling stage. Perhaps I should buy a proper selection.
We have ordered Picador and Prisma seeds to try. I grow onions from seed in clumps, 5/6 seeds to a small pot then planted as is a foot apart, so I intend to do the same but plant the clumps much closer together. My main worry is that they will produce cooking size bulbs rather than ones for pickling.

I found this on the internet.
In 1992, a seed company in the Netherlands specializing in onions and shallots (de Groot en Slot bv., Middenweg A1, P.O. Box 1016, 1703 RA Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands) released the first "true shallot seed". These are grown similarly to onions but at closer spacings of about 30-35 plants per foot of row, with rows 10-15 inches apart.

True-seed varieties for trial: Red: Atlas, Ambition, Matador, Prizma. Yellow: Bonilla, Creation

Note how close that they are suggesting the shallots should be grown.