Shallot is a variety similar to onions, but forming a lot of “onions” from onions. In another way it is also called “shrubbery”, “shrew”, “family onion”. The plant is perennial, but quickly loses its yield, because it is advised to transplant it annually, and once every 3 years to grow again from seeds. The shallots have more useful properties than ordinary onions. It is widely used in cooking, especially in French cuisine.
Shallot in the photo and in reality is very similar to ordinary onion or leek, although in fact it differs a lot from them. The difference is that its turnip consists of several cloves, like onion-batun or garlic. Bulb mass is small, 15-30 g.When planting, not the bulbs themselves increase, but their number. The total weight of the “children” can reach half a kilogram or more, in one hole there are from 4 to 40 pieces.
The shallot feather is juicy, aromatic, with a sweetish taste and not as hot as that of onion Luke. Greens are ripe, almost never becomes stiff. You can cut the pen completely several times a season. Small bulbs quickly grow new leaves, especially when they are replanted in the summer. Northern onion varieties are white with a spicy taste. The southern ones are red, peninsular or sweet.
The useful properties of shallots are hard to overestimate. It contains many more vitamins than regular onions. Here are the approximate composition of shallots:
- vitamins B1, B2, PP, carotene;
- ascorbic acid – in leaflets 54.9-70.8 mg, in bulbs 5.7 -8.3 mg per 100 g;
- essential mala – in bulbs 28.0-34.0 per 100 g
- dry matter – in leaves 8.5-10.7 %, in bulbs 14.2-22.0%
- sugar – in leaves 2.8-4.0%, in bulbs 8.1-13.6%
- proteins – in leaflets 2.0-2.8%, in onions 2.9%
When frying in butter, shallots give a special aroma, for which it is appreciated by cooks. It is used for cooking dishes of both European and Asian cuisine. Under the influence of temperature, it is better caramelized than usual, as it contains more sugar.The most popular is the échalote grise variety with white oblong onions.
Advantages of the onion
We have already described the composition of the bulbs of the shrub species and their greens. Now a few words about the advantages that culture differs:
- Growing and caring for onions is simple, it is an unpretentious culture.
- Yields are always high, because several dozen small turnips are formed in one nest ..
- The plant is frost-resistant, withstands temperatures of 2-4 ° C, matures well at 18-20 ° C. Even if the root crops freeze, this will not affect the harvest.
- The greens are soft, tender and juicy throughout the growing season until the moment of harvesting from the field.
- The species has excellent keeping quality, the heads do not dry and they do not rot, because they can be stored almost until a new crop.
- The species matures very quickly, it can be removed from the field in the second half of July, and it will be given a feather in April during early planting.
- It grows well even at home on the windowsill, all winter you can get healthy, fragrant and juicy greens for the salad.
- When slicing, it does not gnaw and does not cause t of tears, unlike onion, which makes it easier to cook.
- Industrial cultivation is very profitable, since the greens ripen early, the species is highly productive.
Shallot increases immunity and body tone, it is recommended in the treatment of vitamin deficiency.It also contains many minerals, it helps in the treatment of anemia, accelerates the healing of fractures, prevents osteoporosis. Dishes with its addition have a special piquant taste and aroma. Shallot is contraindicated in case of ulcers and gastritis, kidney and liver diseases. The essential oils that make up the onion can cause bronchospasms.
Selecting a bed
Shallot is an unpretentious culture, care for it is no different. On the right soil, it gives the best crop. The soil should be slightly acidic or neutral. The plant does not like excess moisture, if groundwater comes close, it is better to make additional drainage from a large sand or small pebbles on a bed. The place should be well lit. It is best to plant a shrub on a hill. If this is not possible, a bed is made with a height of 15-20 cm.
Well plant shallots after crops such as zucchini, pumpkin, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, and legumes. You should not grow it in the garden, where a year before this was planted carrots, garlic, beets, sunflowers or corn. Nearby you can plant radishes, strawberries, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, dill, calendula. These plants help each other fight pests and diseases.
It is better to prepare a bed for seedlings of shallots better in autumn. They dig up the earth well and make 4-6 kg of humus for each square meter.In spring, the soil should be fertilized with mineral top dressing of the following composition:
- superphosphate – 25 g;
- nitrate with ammonia – 15-20 g;
- potassium chloride – 15 d.
After fertilizing, the soil is well dug up, weeds are removed and beds are formed.
Planting bulbs
To grow onions- shallots on a green feather, need to plant bulbs. They grow and develop perfectly both in the garden and at home. The culture grows well in greenhouses and greenhouses. Healthy heads weighing 7-9 g are selected. Previously, they can be soaked for 30-40 minutes in potassium permanganate to destroy fungi and bacteria. Shallots can be treated with a concentrated salt solution from onion flies.
Shallots are planted in early spring. Under the film, it can be placed at the beginning of March. Growing a house on a balcony or windowsill can be year-round. If you plant sowing on a bed in the spring, then after a month you can collect succulent greens.
The bed is prepared as described above. The distance between the rows for planting is about 20 cm. Between the two heads should be at least 7-8 cm. The heads are deepened into the ground by 5 cm. After cutting the greenery, the bulbs can be dug, divided and planted again in the ground. After a month, you can get new greens. If you do not dig them out, the yield drops sharply.
Propagation by seeds
Propagation by seeds of shallots is one of the most popular methods.Sow culture both in the spring and in the fall. Seeds perfectly survive winter frosts. Growing from seeds allows you to get both juicy greens and numerous medium-sized turnips. The method is also good because the price of seeds is lower than the heads. Next year you can easily get your own sevoc.
Spring planting with seeds
How are shallots grown from seeds? There are no particular difficulties in this. The beds for planting shallots are prepared in the fall. To do this, they are dug and applied to the soil with the following fertilizers:
- humus – 6 kg / m²;
- superphosphate – 60 g / m²;
- wood ash – 1 cup / m²;
- nitrate – 30 g / m² (applied in spring).
Before planting, seeds are washed, placed on a wet cloth and covered with a film on top. You can lower the seed into a container with water and close it with a plastic cover with holes (for air intake). Hold for 2-3 days at a temperature of 21-24 ° C. Every 7 hours, the seeds must be washed and changed again.
Immediately before planting shallots, its seeds are dried. The distance between the grooves on the bed is 25 cm. You need to sow onions not too thick, as it will grow poorly. After the emergence of seedlings, the bed is thinned out so that between the two plants ultimately it is 6-7 cm. Sunflower seeds are deepened by 2-3 cm, sprinkled on top with earth, peat or humus. Be sure to water the beds before sowing or after it.
Autumn planting by seeds
Planting shallots for the winter has its advantages and disadvantages. In early spring, you can get a green feather from it, but the yield in the middle lane after the winter is quite low, in the region of 55-65%. More often, such a bow shoots arrows – in 70-75% of cases (with spring planting – 15-20%). It’s good to sow onions for the winter, if the goal is to get new seeds next year.
A few days before sowing, the bed is fertilized with compost or humus (5-6 kg / m²). The distance between the two rows should be 20-25 cm. Seeds of preliminary preparation before planting do not require, they are simply sown to a depth of 3-4 cm. Sprinkle the crops with earth and peat, on top of the bed cover the film. When spring comes, the crops will begin to develop rapidly, fresh greens can be harvested already in April.
Onion Care
How to grow shallots correctly? A shrew is an unpretentious plant, but good care allows you to increase productivity. Regular watering is important for onions, at least 2-3 times a week, if the yard is dry. On 1 m of the bed, 15-20 liters of water are needed. A month before harvesting, watering is stopped.
3 or 4 times during the growing season, loosen the soil and weed. They can completely drown out the shallot, therefore regular weeding is vital for the plant. Twice a season, shallots need to be fed.As the first fertilizer, they use mullein (bird droppings), diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10, or slurry in a dilution of 1: 5. Fertilizer consumption – a bucket per meter of a bed.
Instead of mullein or manure, you can add mineral fertilizing of the following composition:
- ammonium nitrate – 10 g / m²;
- superphosphate – 10-15 g / m².
The first feeding is carried out 2 weeks after the green feather began to appear in large quantities. The second time fertilizers are applied 10-15 days after the first feeding, when the onions begin to form. Their composition may be as follows:
- potassium chloride – 10-15 g / m²;
- superphosphate – 15-20 g / m².
Kuschevka is quite resistant to various diseases and pests, therefore it is not difficult to grow it. If a problem arose, then dealing with it is not so difficult. To destroy onion flies and other pests, it is best to treat the plant with a concentrated solution of kitchen salt. Flies that are visible on the leaves can be removed mechanically. To get rid of fungi (powdery mildew, gray rot, etc.), shallots are treated with fungicides.
Harvesting and storing onions
As you can see, agronomics onions- CATI – it is a snap Growing it possible even for beginners Sorokozubka mature faster onions, because cleaning it held in the second half of July or early August… The signal that the plant should be dug up is the yellow color of the pen. It is advisable to harvest in dry weather, so that the bulbs are easier to dry.
Dig up the heads as usual, try not to damage the roots and scales, then carefully separate the “kids” and put the onions to dry. You can do this right on the street, under the sun, spreading turnips on the litter. The second option is in the courtyard under a canopy or on the balcony.For faster drying, onions can be placed in the oven at a temperature of 40-50 ° C for 2-3 days.
When harvesting shallots, there are always very small heads in the batch. They barely survive the winter, can completely dry. These “kids” are best pickled, and then added to salads, meat and vegetable dishes. The rest of the onions are stored in paper bags on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or in a cool pantry.
Varieties of shallots
As already mentioned, people have been growing shreds for several millennia. In Europe, this species is known for 800 years. During this time, many varieties with different tastes, color, shape, and frost resistance were bred. They are early ripe, mid-ripening and late ripening. Often summer residents conditionally divide varieties into ancient and shrubs. The ancient bow is large, the color of the heads is yellow with red, the husk is brown. Shrubs are ripe, with yellowish small bulbs, give a lot of “children” and are well stored.
Here are the main varieties of modern shallots, their description and characteristics:
- Ayrat. Medium-sharp variety with bulbs weighing 15-20 g, in one nest there are 5-6 “children”.
- Kuban yellow. Quite a large variety, the mass of heads is 25-30 g, in one turnip there are 4-5 of them. It is well stored, resistant to drought.
- Banana. The sweetest of all varieties, the onion looks like a banana, hence the name.
- Sir-7.A high-yielding variety, a bulb weighs 30-40 g, in one nest there are up to 7 pieces. The taste is sharp, it ripens early.
- Vonsky. Large variety with late ripening, increased resistance to various plant diseases and pests. The mass of the heads is 30-70 g, the number in the nest is 3-4 things.
- Asterisk. A drought tolerant variety with medium fruits and early ripening.
- Kunak. Mid-season variety with vegetation of 90-100 days and high productivity. Onion flakes are yellow with brown, with 1 m of beds it is possible to collect up to 3 kg of leaves and up to 2.5 kg of bulbs.
- Belozerets-94. An early variety that ripens in 85 days. The shallots are oval, light lilac in color. The weight of one nest is 100-120 g, 2-2.5 kg of fruits are harvested from 1 m of beds.
- Knyazhich. Quite a large variety with medium ripening. Heads weigh up to 250 g, contain 7-8 turnips. The color of the bulbs is light purple, they are covered with yellow-brown scales. The pulp is soft to the taste, onions are stored for up to 10 months.
- Snowball and the White Queen. White shallots with a delicate juicy taste. The heads weigh 25-30 g, in one nest there are 7-8 pieces.
- Primalis. The variety can grow in one place for 2-3 years, forms turnips weighing 10-40 g, they are covered with golden skin, the flesh is white with a light purple tint. The variety gives abundant greens.
- Delicacy. A common variety with oblong turnips, tender and sweet flesh of purple hue, golden brown husk.
- Golden gourmet. Large variety, its main difference is high productivity. The head can grow up to 500 g, contains 30-40 bulbs of different sizes. The shape is oblong and round, the skin is golden, the greens are plentiful.
- Andrei. Mid-season variety with pink flesh, oblong turnips, semi-sharp taste. The mass of the head is 25 g, the yield is 1.8 kg per 1 m of beds.
- Albik. A variety of medium ripening, semi-acute taste, onions are covered with greenish scales. There are 7-8 pieces in the nest.
- Bonnilla F1. Medium-early variety with a mass of bulbs 35-40 g. Well stored, gives a juicy feather.
- Emerald. An early variety with small heads, up to 20 g, in the nest there are up to 4 pieces. It is best to grow it in a two-year culture.
- Cascade. An early variety with pink oval bulbs, weighing 30-35 g, in the nest there are 5-6 pieces. It is very well stored in the winter.
- Shallot family. An early variety with onions 18-20 g each, gives 3-4 pieces in a nest. The scales are yellow-violet, the flesh is white. It is stored up to 10 months, resistant to disease.
- Red San. It is characterized by high productivity, the heads weigh 30-40 g, the total weight under one bush is up to 0.5 kg. The shape is round, red, juicy greens.
- Berezovsky aristocrat. Medium-yielding high-yielding variety. With 1 m of beds you can get up to 3-3.5 kg of bulbs.
As you can see, picking shallots for cultivation is easy.Its varieties are so diverse that they can satisfy every taste. Each of them can be examined in more detail in the photo.
Care of the shrubbery is simple, and the yield is high. Its use in cooking gives a special refined taste and aroma to dishes, because many gardeners prefer to plant this particular variety instead of onions.
