Growing shallot from shop bought

[veg4681]

Is this possible (not counting garden centre ones)? In earlier thread, someone recommended planting garlic and shallot in November and that the supermarket garlic will be okay for growing. Also how do you grow shallot, like garlic?

[SueA]

Hi veg4681, I've not tried growing shallots from shop bought ones but have grown them from shallots saved from my previous crop. The problem is you need specific varieties to grow over winter & as you probably won't know the variety of the ones from a supermarket they might not be suitable. If you buy a specific shallot set from a supplier for autumn sowing then they should be fine. You just need to plant shallots so that the tip is just about ground level & about 6 inches apart.

[Two_Sheds]

I am about to try this ... I got some reduced Echalion (banana) shallots in supermarket yesterday, and for 50p thought I'd give them a try.
They may have been treated to stop them growing, but we shall see

[snohare]

If you think they may have been treated with a sprout suppressant, soak them in a bowl of water, rinse well then dry. That may help. If it doesn't work first time, sometimes it works the second time. Judging by my ware tatties that I tried it with, anyway.

[Beetroot Bob]

I bought some garlic from Dobies and a bulb from the supermarket. So far every single clove fromthe Dobies garlic is up and around 2"+ the supermarket stuff hasn't moved at all. Need I say any more ???

[Two_Sheds]

Bob, I found the opposite. My very expensive Solent Wight garlic bulbs were pathetic, while my 30p supermarket ones did much better. Horses for courses

[Hermit]

I planted 1 from tesco in a pot last year, there are 3 differet leaves coming out of it, i keep going to hacve a closer look to see if 2 or all 3 are something the wind blew on or if theres any shallots in there. I'll look tommorrow and let you know.