How deep do you plant them. ???
I push mine in just enough to stop them falling over. That's probably about half their depth.
I planted mine with just the tips showing, but they will flower for you this year and hopefully give you lots of seeds to grow next year to get your own banana shallots.... ;)
So they don't split too make more shallots.
djbrenton, your allotment site looked a bit bleak from the tram i was driving this morning at 530.
As it has been SO cold this is was I decided to do . I planted mine into plastic pots ,with compost as it comes in the bag almost dry , but just enough to get their roots waking up . Then as the weather improves I will give them a little more water, and as was suggested to me before ,then, I will plant them outside with a big label which says "French Banana shallots for seed do not dig up "
No froglegs they don't split!
I have bought some seed for shallots for this year and will plant a few of last years for next years' seed!
Old Bird
;D
Bugger. :'(
Yes, they can split BUT into small, skinny and useless shallots, which then go to seed. One of our other plotters tried planting Tesco banana shallots last year, and that is what happened.
This year I am growing banana shallots from seed(already sown in modules).
Can anyone tell me where to buy seed from?
I think mine was Suttons!
I got it from my local garden centre!
Old Bird
;D
I got Zebrune (similar but pinkish) from here, they also do banana shallot seed
http://www.gardencentre.co.uk/shop.asp?uid={74B701E9-F594-4F92-8D95-38F512EE0DC7}&action=menu&cat=Vegetable Seeds&subcat=Sag - Spe (http://www.gardencentre.co.uk/shop.asp?uid=%7B74B701E9-F594-4F92-8D95-38F512EE0DC7%7D&action=menu&cat=Vegetable%20Seeds&subcat=Sag%20-%20Spe)
(while I was there I couldn't resist the Aubergine Morro Rodondo African Egg Plant
http://www.gardencentre.co.uk/shop.asp?uid={74B701E9-F594-4F92-8D95-38F512EE0DC7}&action=menu&cat=Vegetable Seeds&subcat=Art - Bro (http://www.gardencentre.co.uk/shop.asp?uid=%7B74B701E9-F594-4F92-8D95-38F512EE0DC7%7D&action=menu&cat=Vegetable%20Seeds&subcat=Art%20-%20Bro) )
Many thanks I will try Wyvale.
I have just planted some out, didn't realise they wouldn't split. They're mixed up with my ordinary, splitting, shallots. I hope they'll be easy to tell apart.
I think I will just eat mine and get some seed ;D
Why are people talking about them not splitting? I've grown them for years and they always split. I carry them over for 3 years before buying new.
I started mine off in the greenhouse in modules last year, approx. 5 seeds in each section, and planted each module out when they were big enough. They grew well and formed clumps of five large, long shallots, just as if they had been sets. I couldn't find any seeds called banana shallots this year, so bought long red florence onions, which I think I read somewhere were the same, can anyone out there confirm this? :-\
Quote from: Anisemary on February 22, 2010, 23:58:52
I started mine off in the greenhouse in modules last year, approx. 5 seeds in each section, and planted each module out when they were big enough. They grew well and formed clumps of five large, long shallots, just as if they had been sets. I couldn't find any seeds called banana shallots this year, so bought long red florence onions, which I think I read somewhere were the same, can anyone out there confirm this? :-\
They're onions not shallots, but they grow in such an odd fashion for an onion that they might as well be a shallot.... don't taste like them though.... I love them though and have alrready started off 40 modules with another 80 to go in as soon as the current batch of things come out of the propagators. I normally run 5-8 seeds per module, potted on into 3"(ish) pots once the majority have got going...
Shallots split for the same reason that garlic does, it's aresponse to cold weather.....
chrisc
Quote from: Froglegs on February 05, 2009, 14:07:11
So they don't split too make more shallots.
djbrenton, your allotment site looked a bit bleak from the tram i was driving this morning at 530.
At 5.30 in the morning, the whole world looks bleak :P
Thanks, Chrisc, don't suppose it matters what name you give them, as long as they taste good and do what it says on the tin!!
I admit that I too am confused: they resemble the "Chicken Drumstick" shallots we have in france. I grow them and yes they split, I plant them with about 5cm of soil over them, I get about 6 or 7 shallots for each one planted!! Are they not the same type? They look just like them ???
I found something similar in the market recently. I'm just waiting to see whether they split, go to seed or what.
I have two nets of them bought from Lidl and was hoping to plant them with the intention that they would multiply. I am not sure what to do with them now. :-\
Perhaps I should eat one lot and try planting the others. Do you think if I plant them with just the tops showing that there would be more chance of them splitting?
I only just push them in enough that they can root.
I plant anything like these well down so the roots can't push them back up! They'll do what they want to do, and we'll just have to be patient!
Just an update on the Lidl banana shallots that I planted this year. Only one of them went to seed and the remainder produced 3 or 4 new ones.
Not very prolific then but better than nothing. :D
All mine failed to grow.
Quote from: realfood on September 25, 2010, 18:35:16
All mine failed to grow.
Sorry to hear that. I had the same on my first attempt. Someone suggested that they might have been sprayed to prevent sprouting. I then washed the next batch very carefully several times and got them to sprout. Now they produce seed and multiply into 2 to 4 new onions.
The best size I get from seeds, but only one bulb per seed obviously. It would be nice to get them to split into more bulbs and larger bulbs, but I understand they are commercially grown from seed.