[tangojulie]

Hello all, another basic question from me....

I know a lot of you save shallots, how do you decide which ones are best for replanting?

I have a very mixed crop this year. Some are lovely and fat, some are teeny tiny and don't look as if they've done anything after they split. Not sure why as they were all grown in the same patch, and I have some teeny and some huge from each variety.

Anyway what I'm wondering is, as the tiny ones are too small to be worth eating, is it worth saving them to plant next season, or will I just be reproducing a not-very-good line?

[compostqueen]

I think the folks who save them don't actually eat them 

I eat all mine 

[Nobbie]

I've been in the same position before and replanted the small ones and got a great crop the following year. However you do need to be carefull and keep them well weeeded early on as they haven't got the reserves to battle the weeds like bigger bulbs.

[Gardener and Rabbit]

Mrs G&R puts the small ones in the garlic press, and they get used up that way.

[Robster]

Last year I replanted mostly small shallots I had saved. The crop came through fine- Some nice and big some a bit smaller.  I think the shallots grown in this way are clones of the original and not the result of sexual reproduction.  So they are genetically the same as the big ones.  Assuming they came from the same head of shallots that were originally split

The differences in size reflecting minor differences in growing conditions.  So you should be fine to replant the smaller ones as I did

[tangojulie]

Thanks all, that makes a lot of sense, I'll give it a go.