Kitchen Garden Forum

i am growing shallots from seed can i start them off in plug trays soon and plant them out in late Feb early march.will they be happy in plug trays in the poly tunnel
regards
nemo

Hi Nemo,
The short answer is yes. Like all onions they are very good when grown in modules and planted out when the season improves.
My first onions are always sown on Boxing Day morning and this year sowed many more than normal as these were the greater success of 2009 and the later sowings didn't exactly fail but were certainly below par and were not good enough for storing.
JB.

Last year I grew Shallots from seed for the first time. I sowed Picador and Prisma in small pots - those flimsy ones about 2" square that you can get 15 of in a standard seed tray - 5 seeds to a pot on 12th February. Got them to just showing in the propagator then moved them to heated 45F greenhouse on 17th February. Moved them to cold greenhouse on 1st March and grew them on until I planted them out on 7th April. I planted each pot full as it was about 8" apart, tray of 15 to a 10' row, 1' between the rows. They gave an excellent heavy crop without the soft ones in the middle of the clump that I tend to get from sets in a wet summer. I was a bit disappointed with the pickled flavour initially but they have become OK, I think they are just so much harder that the vinegar takes a long time to penetrate. There were enough that we have used some for cooking and they are excellent, still hard now. I am growing them again this year.

thanks Geoff and Johnboy

I planted my shallots from seed indoors in a propagator and they now each resemble a piece of thin grass about 1-2 inches tall. What do I do with them now? They seem too delicate to pot on but they don’t appear to be doing much.

Depends what they are in. If you read my post above you will see I sow in small flimsy pots and grow them on in those until I plant them out, which I did today.

Hi Geoff, same here. I usually grow them from sets but tried some seeds this year too, which have reached the stage of about 2-3" high. I planted mine out in the allotment this morning and am now crossing my fingers.

Not to in any way diminish anyone's endeavours with this, but I have never seen the point in growing shallots from seed. It's so simple to bung in a few shallot sets as soon as the soil's workable that I cannot see much purpose in nurturing transplants, taking up valuable greenhouse space. I've always been happy with the results growing them the old fashioned way. Or have I missed something? I'm sure I will be disabused of this opinion!

With our 60" of rainfall I find the middle ones of a clump from sets don't ripen/dry properly but I don't seem to get much trouble from seed. They are already planted out so don't occupy the cold greenhouse when anything much else could.

There are several advantages for growing shallots from seed.
The first Dutch hybrid shallot seed was released as recently as 1992 and has revolutionised the commercial growing of Shallots, and will do the same for amateur growers. It allows the growing of shallots free from imported viral, fungal and bacterial infections. They are also unlikely to go to seed before harvesting time, the bane of growing from sets. They are more likely to only produce 1 bulb without splitting, especially if they are sown very close together, thus improving the keeping quality of the shallots.

Hi Realfood,
It is interesting that what you say about seed grown Shallots that they are unlikely to split so would only go to seed if replanted the following year like normal Shallot sets. I grew some when they first became available and found that only one in 18 was a double so it is a complete departure of the old sets. I cannot remember the variety but they had good taste and pickled well and kept well.
I used to grow a variety that had been in my family since the 1860's but in the winter of 1983 I lost the lot and the strain was lost.
JB

I’m growing them in the 2” square flimsy pots that Geoff describes. My son has planted his seed shallots in the garden and they are also about 2 inches tall. I keep my shallots in a non-heated plastic greenhouse but I do not know what they should look like when they are ready for planting out. Should they look a little bit more like an onion rather than a blade of grass?

Mine were sown on 14th February, went into cold greenhouse on 10th March and were more like Onions than Grass when I planted them out on 8th April. Settled in nicely today after the rain this morning. There's about 2½" of pencil showing to give you some scale.

Many thanks Geoff. Now I know what I'm supposed to be doing (first time gardener, only ever seen shallots in Tescos!!).

Now that is what this forum should be about. I think that Geoff has helped Peet which is a great success for all.
Credit to you Geoff and topped off with the super photographs means the icing on the cake!
Best of luck Peet in you endeavour.
JB.