Does the size of shallot/garlic/onion sets impact the final crop?

[noisycrows]

I grew shallots for the first time last year and harvested them this summer. I have quite a lot left and am planning on sowing some of these for next year's crop. Obviously I'd like to eat the bigger ones and plant the small ones. Will it make any difference to next year's crop? Are big sets better than small?

I've grown garlic for a few years and sowed my own cloves last year, but they were all about the same size so I can't really tell from that.

[ameno]

In my limited experience, shallot size does make a difference to the final crop (bigger is better), but onion set size doesn't (the sets I used last year were tiny, but they still produced medium to large onions).

[noisycrows]

Ok thanks for that ameno, now might be a good time to carry out an experiment then. I'll try mainly large shallots and a few small ones and see what happens!

[Snadger]

I have always believed that small shallots make a single or small number of large shallots and large shallots usually make a large number of smaller shallots?
The same I believe is true of onion sets. I always try to pick smaller sets if I can as often the larger sets split giving two small onions.
I have no idea how it works with garlic but I usually utilise the outer 'cloves' which are bigger. I should really experiment to see the difference between small and large garlic cloves, but to be honest, I can't be bothered.

[rary]

I have always thought that smaller onion sets gave better results, which would tie in with what Snadger has said, as for garlic I always try to plant medium sized cloves, I don't often grow shallots to give an answer for them

[ameno]

One thing I forgot to mention for onion sets is that the larger they are, the greater the likelihood of bolting.
This doesn't much affect brown onions, as they don't tend to bolt much anyway, but it's a significant factor for red onions, which are prone to bolting.

[noisycrows]

Interesting info here, thanks everyone. I decided that instead of trying to get away with using small shallots and possibly being disappointed next year, I went mad and splashed out £9 on 3 bags of sets from a garden centre (the last one of 6 places I tried!). I might as well try a few small homegrown ones as a test (I'll no doubt forget where I planted them next year).