[Totty]

I managed to get some nice Aristocrat shallots this year. They were sowed at the early january and looking really good now. They are starting to split now and the aim is to keep 3 per plant, which (all being well) should give me about 50 odd to store and use next year. When do you start thinning them out?

Totty

[carrotfaggot]

Anytime about now if they're ready.

[Totty]

Wait until the outer skin has totally split?

[carrotfaggot]

If they've started to divide I don't wait. The sooner you get the outer skin off and the clump thinned down the sooner the remaining bulblets can start to grow and swell.

[Salmo]

When you take out the extras do you intend to replant them as individuals?

I tried lifting whole plants, splitting them into individuals each with a bit of root and then planting them out. Certainly produced big shallots but I think I lifted them a bit late and there were a lot of mis-shapes and doubles.

[carrotfaggot]

Replant the thinnings in a shady corner and they'll make decent picklers.

Never tried lifting the whole clump before. They go out of shape when you leave them in the ground too long and secondary growth starts. From early June keep an eye on the growing point. If no new shoots are visible get them up.

[Totty]

Ok, so i can start thinning most of them now. What is the technique used though, i dont want to go pulling about and end up damaging them, or snapping them off so that they rot.

Totty

[Salmo]

Unless you want to show why do you need to thin them out? Leave them alone and you will have a range of sizes which is good for the kitchen and will also give you a few small ones for planting next year.

Even if you do want to show the difficult ones to grow are picklers under 30mm.

[carrotfaggot]

Unless i'm mistaken this is a show thread on the show bench section of the forum....hence why we're talking about growing shallots for show!

You thin them out to 3 or 4 to allow the remaining ones more room to grow bigger and rounder as they're not jostling for space with several neighbours.

It's a fiddly process at first. When they have started to divide and you can see the separate offsets clearly, strip back and discard the outer skin which can be quite mushy. Now decide which ones you want to keep in the clump and gently break off those you don't, by bending them down and away from the clump which you should be holding gently but firmly with your other hand. They should part with a clean snap. I try to leave four offsets in a pleasing 'x' shape as these should have the best chance of swelling nicely for harvesting mid-June. At this point I give a small amount of dried blood as a top dressing to encourage more leaf growth, and will water with a potash feed in late May to assist ripening.

I harvest bulbs separately as they reach a size i'm happy with by using a gauge....say 50mm, but I will get them all up by mid-June as leaving any longer than that you are risking secondary growth and the bulbs will go out of shape as a result.

I started to do mine yesterday and will be finishing them off tonight. I have about 70 clumps to do and hope to be competing at this year's National Championships in late September at Malvern with them.

[Totty]

Really! High hopes then, wish you luck.
Started doing them last night and have the rest to do tommorrow. Which variety do you show?

Totty

[carrotfaggot]

Hative de Niort.

I try to only replant those that are about 1 and a half inch diameter (40mm) as these split naturally into 4 usually. Bigger ones split into 5/6/7 and are more awkward to split.

[Totty]

Have now done them all. It all looks a bit messy now after removing the skins as best as i could, gave them a feed of BFB and hopefully they will do well now. Thanks for all your advice.

Totty

[Squeegy]

I'm really new to all this, but have been bitten by the bug so am hoping you can help me out before I get too confused.

When I am thinning the shallots, it may seem really obvious, but do I need to take the bulbs up to peel the outer skin and split them off??

[Totty]

No, just look at the plant, decide which ones need thinning and thin em

[Totty]

They are really growing nicely now, will be popping up and giving them a feed later but im very happy with them so far. Will get some pics later.

Totty