What happens if you plant 'supermarket' shallots?

[Seahorse]

Probably a really dim question but if you plant shallots from (say) Tesco, do you get a crop? Or do you really need proper shallot sets from a garden supplier?

Claire

[veg4681]

Good question since I've just planted one. I had this old shallot with shoots so I planted it in the hole vacated by an unsuccessful onion that sort of rotted. Will see.

[Snadger]

I planted Tesco's normal shallots last year and got a crop!

I'm not so sure about the eschallots (the long ones) but it's certainly worth giving it a go!
Last year was a strange year for alliums and a lot of people suffered from early bolting, especially with overwintered onions!

By all means try some, but get some 'proppa' ones from the Garden Centre or Wilco's as well, just in case!

I shouldn't need to buy shallot sets this year becuase I planted self saved shallots, Tesco's own and proppa ones last year, so I've kept back a mixture to plant in the spring. Just out of daftness I may even plant a few this weekend to see what happens!

[MissGreen]

Your english people are insane, planting shallots in november! lol. Oh how I envy your weather. I intend on planting the long shallots in the spring, in theory they should do fine. According to my books, shallots have a very low tendency to bolting. But i don't know if the shallots read the same books as I do

[rustylady]

Good question since I've just planted one. I had this old shallot with shoots so I planted it in the hole vacated by an unsuccessful onion that sort of rotted. Will see.

Oops, not really a good idea to plant a related crop where you've had disease or rot problems. Apart from that I can't see a problem with planting supermarket shallots. Many gardeners save some of their own shallots for planting the next year.

[Seahorse]

Thanks folks! I shall definitely give it a go then.

Claire

[pigletwillie]

I tried the long Echalion from Tesco in an attempt to get seed, as unlike traditional shallots, they have to be grown from seed. If you plant the bulb it doesnt split, just runs straight to seed. Anyway, the upshot was that it was pretty obvious that they had been treated with an inhibitor to prevent them from growing.

The ones I bought from the grower in France grew brilliantly and gave me my seed for this year and next.

Just as a pointer Echalion and Shallots are "split" because,

Shallots give you lots more shallots
Echalion run to seed and dont split

[Seahorse]

Thanks for that - I'll stick with the 'normal' ones then.

[Alice]

I'd go for it Seahorse. I got a perfectly good crop from supermarket shallots this year. The special ones I grew from seed were disastrous. Good job I'm not short of space .

[TonyF]

And eschallots here in France aren't the long ones. That's the generic name for all shallots, the long ones are called 'longue', plus I can but about 10 other varieties in the gardening stores - gris (grey, longer) ronde (ordinary) etc etc.

And as far as Denmark is north, I'm down south and we do plant them out, with onions, garlic and poireau for the winter, just cover them with tunnels and that seems to work - planted 200 onions, 100 garlics and 200 shallots this week in the chateau potager where I garden for chums.

We're probably four/six weeks ahead down here tho our winters are much shorter, dryer and intensely colder.

[snake the squadie]

i have no idea about shallots but i had a very sucsesfull crop from some left over asda garlic last year. i buy my onion and shallot sets from a cheap shop like wilcos and tend to be cheaper than supermarket veg and i have just as good sussces rate as the more expensive sets you get from the garden centre

[Flummery]

Rats - I planted some eschalion from Tesco! I hope shallot seeds are as good to eat as onion seeds!

[vegnut]

Thanks for all those tips guy's. I never even thought about the store bought ones, iv'e always just gone and bought the expensive shallots from garden centres and catalogues.

[SueA]

In the past I've grown shallots from ones saved from the crop I've grown so I suppose unless the supermarket ones have been treated as Piglet says they should grow O.K. I'm not sure if all varieties will grow if planted now though as some are sold specifically for autumn planting the same as onion sets. Last year I bought some autumn planting shallot sets 'Jermor' but wasn't very happy with the crop & might stick to sowing something like 'Red Sun' in the early spring as I have done in the past.

[keepitgreen]

Very old thread but I am going to comment anyway!

I went to Aldi today and purchased 4 bags of shallots. I might eat some but the main reason was that I could grow them!! (they were 25p each!! OH YEAH!!!!

Hopfully they will grow well!!

I wonder what results seahorse got?