Let's talk shallots...

[erins327]

...or lack thereof.

Situation: Last October here in Central Texas, I planted my garlic and shallots. All in raised bed mixed with compost and gardening soil. Raised bed watered all the same, and fertilized occasionally alternating with high nitrogen fish fertilizer and a high phos fertilizer.
Come this month, leaves start to die back on shallots and garlic (plus I think it has rained everyday this month and some of the garlic was showing signs of mildew and rot) so I harvested. Garlic turned out great, huge bulbs waiting for me at the bottom. On the other hand, shallots didnt really form a bulb at all.

Can anyone tell me what difference there is in growing garlic and shallots? I assumed they would take the same 'treatment' throughout the winter?

I attached a picture of the shallots, just so you could see how they didnt develop.

[erins327]

Sorry, I should also point out, if it matters, that I grew onions as well in the bed next to it. Same soil mix, same treatment. Got wonderful Red Creole and Texas 1015 onions this year.

[pepperhead212]

How cold did it get there? I don't know if any shallots "need" a deep freeze, but I have had some garlic varieties do this after a mild winter.

[erins327]

Hey pepperhead,

Not too cold, at least something you would prolly be used to. I honestly don't even remember a hard freeze this winter. And I did think of that, but my garlic did well? But the garlic was soft-neck, which I believe are the ones that do better in not as cold climates.

[pepperhead212]

The garlics that did that to me were rocamboles, Spanish Rioja being the worst. Never had it happen to any shallots, and all the rest of the garlics (mostly porcelains and purple stripes) have had no problems with mild winters.

I actually had some garlic killed by that severe winter we had this year! Only three or four of my metechi came up, while almost all the others - music and Estonian red - popped up. First time this has happened to me.

[CharlieBear]

it does not matter that they were in the same bed. I do it always. It is safer to plant shallot is the very early spring whenever that is for you rather than over wintering them. They act more like onion sets then garlic sets. They can be planted in Nov. where winters are very mild. It also matters which variety of shallots you planted. Some take much longer to form heads than garlic. Here, I dig garlic a full month before the shallots are ready. They are not ready until the top become fairly brown, so if you haven't pulled them up leave them a while longer. Also shallots don't need quite that much fertilizer and generally you could probably use a little less for the garlic as well. I grow 4 different shallot varieties and they mature at differing rates. I have never had them not bulb out, but they were smaller than the should have been one drought year when I didn't water them enough for the weather conditions.