don't know if anyone's seen this article yet, I remember someone was after seed for banana shallots
www.bananashallot.com, looks like a space between banana and shallot but not sure ;D
apparently they can't be grown like an ordinary shallot, only from seed !
thank you manicscousers, I was one of the people looking for them - was lucky enough to find a swop and the first trayfull are on their way up! :D
do you have them in a heated propagator? Also can't find where it says they can only grown by seed?
Hi rutters, according to the person who gave them to me, they will grow one shallot per seed in the first year, then that shallot will split as a normal shallot set next year! Although they can be allowed to grow and seed to get one shallot per seed instead. The mind boggles, first time I've grown shallot from seed!
I'm waiting for a heated propagator for chillis, aubergines etc. but put one seed in per unheated module :)
it's in the article I found the website in, in kitchen garden magazine for march this year
"banana shallots cannot be grown by division like ordinary shallots, if the mature bulbs are planted, they go to seed like onions , rather than multiplying"
it's by a market gardener called John Rowswell
thank you scousers, will see what happens to the Year II ones - better plan for both, then! ::)
I spoke to the folks from Thomas Etty yesterday at the Hampshire potato day. I was after some of their "cuisse de poulet du poitou" shallot seed. Sadly they didn't bring any, but I had a chat with the guys there about them. They said that banana shallots / echalions / cuisse de poulet have to be grown from seed ie you can't plant the bulbs next year and expect them to divide like normal shallots. Therefore they're not strictly a shallot... They said you get the bigger ones in the supermarket because they are grown in the south of France.
Their catalogue describes them as:
"Cuisse de Poulet du Poitou. (Torpedo Shallot?). A shallot/onion (our supplier has them as “Echalionsâ€) easily grown from seed."
However, I bought a string of shallots described at Cuisse de Poulet du Poitou last year while at the West Dean gardens chilli fiesta. They came direct from France. And they were only half the size of the Echallions you can buy in the supermarket.
Rather confusing... so my plan this year is 4 fold:
- grow some of the banana shallot seed (thank you SS :-*)
- get and grow some cuisse de poulet seed
- plant some supermarket echalion, if they divide, great, if not save seed
- plant some french cuisse de poulet bulbs, if they divide, great, if not save seed
Think that's all bases covered and should solve the banana shallot mystery.... ;D
Looks like a plan CC!
It must have been good talking to Thomas Etty. Is 'Echalion' a sort of cross-over term for something between onion and shallot?
It will be great to hear what your trials come up with!
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/supersprout/smilies/watson.gif)
I guess it could be.... The guy I spoke to said it wasn't a shallot, because it didn't divide if you planted it. And it wasn't an onion.... for some reason I forgot :-[ So they were kinda something inbetween :-\
(Sorry, that's probably not very helpful...)
i wonder if there is some seed in the french seed catalogue?
not had mine yet to check though :-\
still waiting for mine too cams :)
I wondered if those long red onions from Florence sold by Franchi are an 'in between' as well?
Ah, interesting...
The online Baumaux catalogue makes the distinction between shallots, onions and echalions.
And the only listing for echalions is <drum role>.... chicken leg of poitou (which is a translation of Thomas Etty's cuisse de poulet.
So maybe they are the same thing ??? And maybe I'll end up with 4 lots of the same thing! Good job I really like them then ;D
On a side note, in the Baumaux catalogue the long red florence is listed under red onions. And they have a yellow onion of a simillar shape (wonder if that's a bit like the Owa (http://www.fothergills.co.uk/en/onion-owa-1639.aspx) onion you can get over here?)
I planted some banana shallots from Waitrose. Some are starting to show green shoots. Looks like I'll just let them flower, then collect seed for next year :D.
Last night I came across the site www.organiccatalogue.com which lists Long red Florance seed under onions, and sells a long shaped multiplier shallot set called Longor. So it seems likely that what we know as a banana shallot is really an onion, which would explain why it does not multiply.