How should shallots be planted?

[sweetcorn]

This is the first year I've planted shallots. The packet they came in said to plant them an inch deep, but I have since read advice that says their tips should be poking out the soil! Which is right, and is it too late and too deep for mine now? I planted them on 17 Feb.

[Aberdeenplotter]

As long as the root plate is bedded in the soil they will grow just fine. Some folks bury them quite deeply to stop the birds hauling them out. Sometimes they throw themselves out of the ground as the roots develop. Just pop them back in if they do come out for whatever reason.

[Linzy]

We have alot of birds on the lottie so i always put a few onions and shallots in before xmas to get in early and the rest i start of in trays of compost just plonked on the top in an unheated greenhouse and once there is a good root growth i plant them out. I like doing it that way cause i like to see how many are growing well plus every little bit of compost you add to the lottie will improve the soil.

[Bigmallly]

Mine go straight in the soil with the tips showing. I then cover them with a small cage or netting. Like AP said, don't assume it is the birds as they are know to push themselves out as the roots grow.

[snohare]

Mother Nature doesn't grow them at a uniform depth in the wild, they are shifted around by floods, erosion, passing wildlife etc. Personally, I always stick mine in so that they are just not quite showing at the surface. (Assuming that there is no green shoot sticking up.)
Nowadays I always put a wee mesh filing tray over them to keep the birds off, but the best advice I ever came across was not to push them into the soil as this compacts the soil underneath them and makes them rise up as they try to push out roots; instead, use a dibber to make a hole that's a bit too deep, fill it back in to the required depth with loose soil, then gently drop the shallot in, and that way the roots will find speedy anchorage. It does seem to prevent them popping up.
Generally, growing them seems to be as easy as falling off a log, so it doesn't actually matter that much what you do, you're likely to get a crop ! Much easier than onions.

[bearded bloke]

Mine also go in with the aid of a dibber,then I scatter an inch or so of used MPC over the top of the bed (fills the hole & disguises from birds) worked for me last year that way