Rotten shallots!

[hedgewizard]

I grew "longor" shallots from Garden Organic this year, as they are more like the French banana shallots in shape (easier to cut) if not in size. The yield was OK, but after leaving them to dry out nicely and moving them to mesh trays in the garage, about half of them started to rot at the neck and I'm expecting the other half to do the same soon. Another friend who grew them has the same problem.

So - is this a varietal problem, or is it this year's conditions, or am I doing something wrong?

[Stonehead]

It sounds like botrytis (a fungus). It starts with the tissue around the neck of the bulb, which starts to soften.

The infected part is grey to brown in colour, with a definite margin between the infection and the healthy part of the shallot (or onion, garlic). The fungus gradually spreads to the base of the shallot and, if they are kept in a humid place, you'll get grey mold forming (you may have to remove some of the onion skin to see the mold).

One of the most common causes is topping the shallots (or onions, garlic) before they have dried sufficiently in the ground. (Topping is bending the stalks over.)

You need to grow varieties that mature before the cold, damp weather sets in - so earlier maturing the further north you go. You should avoid watering them as harvest approaches - so rain and high humidity in late August through September is not a good thing and one of the reasons why we've had some botrytis too.

You must allow the stalks to mature well and dry before topping and harvesting. When you do top them, use your hands to gently bend the stalks over - mechanical means, including the old barrel rolled over the top, cause bruising which can give botrytis an entry point.

When you lift the onions, again be careful not to bruise them and leave them to dry for at least four weeks. Dry in the sun if possible or under cover if it's wet.

We dry onions, shallots and garlic on old wire bed frames set on concrete blocks with cold frames over the top. This keeps them dry, but lets the sun through when there's no cloud and encourages air flow.

If you're not worried about being organic, there are fungicides you can use just prior to harvest but I don't use them so can't suggest anything.

If you have energy to burn, you can play warm, dry air over the onions for the first few days and this will help speed up maturation. No hotter than about 35C though.

Onions, garlic and shallots store best if hung in a cool dry place with plenty of airflow, so the traditional string is very good. Oh, and once onions have cooled, don't take them somewhere warm (like your kitchen) and store them there - they'll start to sweat and botrytis will take off.

Instead, either bring some of your onion strings into your kitchen as they've finished drying outside and hang them up inside. These won't last as long, but you'll get a good couple of months storage out them plus convenience.

All the rest will need to be stored somewhere cool (but not below 2C) and dry. We string our long-term onions and shallots and hang them in my workshop, while shallots are stored loosely in net bags and hung in the workshop as well (don't overpack the net bags or the ones at the bottom will get bruised).

As for varieties, I've always been told that white onions are the worst for botrytis infection while the brown and red ones are most resistant. Whether it's true or not, I don't know!

We have botrytis in about 20% of our crop, due mainly to weather conditions. However, I always plant more than I need to allow for this and you can salvage many of the slightly spoiled ones.

We use the spoiled ones first (keeping them well separated from the good ones), just slicing off the infected areas. If we have too many infected ones, we dice them up and freeze them.

Now, be aware that if you freeze diced onions, they will change flavour and are only suitable for cooking in strongly flavoured foods (robust pasta sauces, stews, etc). Also, even frozen onions smell so you need to do this carefully.

Dice the onions, lay them out on a biscuit tray or similar, and place them in the freezer until frozen. Make sure there is nothing in the freezer that could take up the onion smell! Once they're frozen, pour them into bags that seal well and then pack several bags into a larger bag that also seals well. Then store in the freezer.

Use the frozen onions before your long-term stored onions - unless of course the latter start to spoil.

Hope this helps - if not this year, maybe next year!

[hedgewizard]

Many thanks Stoney - botrytis sounds right. The shallots decided they were tired and emotional towards the end of August and died back so no turning down was needed. Everything else I did right, but they probably got too much water... still not convinced by the whole shallot deal, but I'll try to get hold of banana shallots for next spring. Anyone know any sources?

[digiveg]

If you roll the shallot / onion neck between your finger and thumb, right at the top of the bulb, you can tell if it's completely dried or not. Any squishy, easy-to-roll feeling and it's not ready to store. Very often it will look completely dry when it's not, deep inside...wait until you can't 'roll' the neck at all.

Shallots tend to be trickier than onions for long-term storage, and red onions more so than yellow.

[hedgewizard]

Did the neck thing before putting them away Digi - this is something that happened afterwards!

I'm not convinced by shallots at all as a grower, since I'm not sure they really repay you the extra trouble of storage and preparation for cooking. Banana shallots though - the huge french ones - might be more like it. I have a theory that the piddly english ones are just an unsuccessful attempt to copy the big french porkers. Opinions?

And does anyone know where you can get the big french ones? I grew "longor" from garden organic this year but the size was still disappointing compared to the ones I see in french markets.

[Stonehead]

And does anyone know where you can get the big french ones? I grew "longor" from garden organic this year but the size was still disappointing compared to the ones I see in french markets.

When did you plant yours? I plant mine (and the garlic) in autumn. My Longor, also garden organic, were mostly of a good size with somebigger than my smaller onions.

[hedgewizard]

In the spring, and of course it's too late now to plant in the autumn. D'oh, I feel like a dunce. OK Stoney, I'll leave off the shallots this year and plant some in the autumn! Thanks for the advice!

[digiveg]

I've not tried planting shallots in the autumn - but if it works, I'd love to give it a go - and will in the coming year. They're difficult to keep whether completely dried or not, but at least if some are growing out in the garden they're more likely to survive.

I always check out the shallots at any organic wholefood shops (garlic too) in case they look particularly good - and just bought some HUGE shallots in hopes I can persuade a couple of them to survive until the spring.

But I just had to plant SOMETHING here to yesterday the garlic went in. Fingers crossed!!! It'll probably just rot.

Stoney - how late do you think I can plant shallots in south Wales?