Topic: when to sow banana shallots

[dandelion]

I planted some Waitrose banana shallots last season and saved the seed. When
can this be sown? Can I treat it like leeks ans sow early under cover?

[Suzanne]

I will be sowing Zebrune indoors in early Feb and this is supposed to be like a banana shallot. Well done for getting seed though I will have to give it a go.

[Old bird]

Hi - can you plant banana shallots as normal sets?  I know a farmer in Taunton was charging something like £5 for 10 seeds or something ridiculous like that!

I love the look of them and they are really useful in the kitchen - shapewise!

If you don't plant them as sets which seed should you get - or is it monstrously expensive?

Old Bird

[dandelion]

Hi - can you plant banana shallots as normal sets?  I know a farmer in Taunton was charging something like £5 for 10 seeds or something ridiculous like that!

Old Bird

You can plant the bulbs, but they won't divide like other shallots. They will flower and you can collect seed to grow next season. Try Waitrose.

As for seed, the French Baumaux catalogue sells 4 g for 3.10 Euros, but postage to the UK is 12 Euros for a seed order.
http://www.graines-baumaux.fr/catalogue.php?cat=1&sscat=86/

They call it 'cuisse de poulet du Poitou' or 'zebrune' as Suzanne mentions.

[SteveJ]

Hi
I bought 'Zebrune' seeds from my local GC last week.  I didn't realise they were the same as banana shallots.

I think the supplier was Suttons, and i paid £1.05 for a pack (~200 seeds)

[Old bird]

Thanks Steve

I will hurtle down the GC and buy some!!

Old Bird

[Old bird]

Well thanks to Steve I bought the seeds so will see how they do.  Certainly better value than the local Taunton farmer and his rip off prices!

I suppose some idiots have bought them!

Old Bird ;D

[OllieC]

Dandelion - I did the same thing but with some from the farmers market. One divided then bolted, the other just bolted. So I saved seeds from the one that divided first...

Sowed them a few weeks ago - they're a couple of inches tall now, outside but under a propagator lid. I'm not sure when to plant them out though...

[adrianhumph]

 Hi all,
             Now dandelion you have got me all confused  ??? (not difficult i know) I bought in France some eschalotes longues (long shallots roughly translated?)
 I thought that I could plant these soon, & they would behave like normal shallots, ie divide. Are you are telling me that this will not happen? Please advise.

                                                       Adrian.

[Old bird]

Hi Adrian - Looks like no one is replying to you!  I think that that is what they are saying - but if you want seed for next year put a few in so that they flower and seed and then eat the rest!

I have bought the seed which I will be putting in soon now!

Best wishes

Old Bird

 ;D

[markfield rover]

Just to confuse, last year I planted banana shallots  so could get seed and they only went and divided  and looked too good to not eat.
so this year I will try again for seed.

[tim]

Confused! What's all this new stuff about Banana Shallots?

What's different from Red Florence, Jermor etc that have been with us for yonks?

Big thing about long shallots is Chef's convenience?

[markfield rover]

Probably just the spelling!

[Old bird]

Hi Tim

They are really handily shaped for use in the kitchen whereas the usual ones are sometimes very small and difficult to peel etc.  They are also a pretty colour!

Probably taste the same though - not really noticed!

Old Bird ;D

[Deb P]

Confused! What's all this new stuff about Banana Shallots?

What's different from Red Florence, Jermor etc that have been with us for yonks?

Big thing about long shallots is Chef's convenience?

They are just bigger versions of the 'long' shallots like Jermor Tim; about 4 or 5 times the size if you are lucky! Chef's convenience; definitely! Just use one per recipe, saved fiddly peeling and delicious too. After growing them from seed last year I am a big fan and plan a bigger bed this year, the biggest of my harvest was the size of my hand. I tried sowing at three different times as was unsure when was the optimum time; the later sowing in late Feb did the best, so I'm going to do the same this year.

Here was last years, on the left 'Jermor' clumping up nicely in May 2007, on the right, the banana shallots, which stay as single bulbs so just get bigger!

[OllieC]

Yup, chef's convenience but still with a clearly Shallot taste (fairly mild though)... Also, being seeds, there's the avoidance of introducing disease which you agreed looked potentially like I had done last year on my bought sets... Would you like a few seeds Tim, for a trial? I have a few saved for next year.

[tim]

Deb - one seed for one Shallot? No wonder they are bigger! I tend to go for smaller bulbs of anything so that there's nothing left over. And one seldom gets a call for more than a couple of Shallots. Except when one wants a dozen smallones for a stew?

Ollie - thanks so much, but we can't do alliums because of white rot.

Chef's convenience? Yes - peeling is one thing, but slicing is another.

[Froglegs]

Got some Red Banana and they look as if they divide. ???

[OllieC]

If you leave them in for year 2, they divide then bolt. The seeds put you back to year one, if that makes sense...

Tim - I remember your White Rot misery, thought/hoped you'd maybe found a non infected patch. How distressing for you.  :(

[Froglegs]

So the ones i got are two year old and will bolt....is that right  ???