Your shallots should have been up within a week. Normally, one plants them, waters once, and they are up. A month ago would have been mid-May which could be considered a bit late for your area but I was planting Pikant shallots later than this time a year ago with nearly 100% survival within a week. Sounds like something dire may have happened either just before or just after planting, possibly onion root maggots or onion root rot.

Check to see if the bulbs are still actually there. Just seeing the tips aren't enough. Lift several to see if the bottoms are still intact. After a month, I'm betting that there's nothing but a rotted empty shell.

Martin

I lifted one and it was still solid, not rotted. I even had some left over (ran out of space) and had them sitting on the kitchen counter. The one that is still left (ate two of them) is still there. I cannot leave onions or garlic sitting that long without them usually starting to grow. It is almost like they were treated not to grow? Before I started eating the left-overs, I called the company to make sure that they were not treated with anything and they confirmed that they were not treated. Has me baffled. rich

Happened to me with some. I had about eight bulbs, and some were doubles. I seperated all, and planted nearby my chives. Only 4 have grown beyond 6 inch greens. One is still stunted at only about two inches tall, and the tips of those greens are turning brown. I think its due to all the wet weather we had in May. Yesterday it was hot and humid here at about 92 degrees. Today its only in the 50's. Great weather now for the peas, but for the rest of the garden, another weak full of cool weather and lots of rain. Planted some shallot seeds (small black ones) in a row in another area. They are whispy grasslike greens now, but only about 25% have sprouted. This may explain why they are so expensive to buy in supermarkets.

Rich
I had a similar problem with some of mine this spring.Have you tried peeking inside the tips?Finally out of curiosity I had to peel open the tops of the dried tips the skin was so thick,9 of 10 had a small greenish white shoot just waiting or trying to get out of that skin.
It may be worth a try gently peeling the tip of 1 to see if theres something there waiting for the skin to get soft or deteriated enough for the stalk to get out and start growing.
Bill

Rich,
Did you perhaps buy these as cooking shallots at a market? If so, they are often treated to prevent sprouting. I had this happen twice befor I figured it out.

Hmmmm! I've never had shallots go much past a week without sprouting. That was from overall at least a half dozen varieties from as many sources. It's now taken some time to think of just what may be stopping growth despite the bulbs still being intact. The problem would have to be at the base of the bulb where the roots are to begin growing. If someone trimmed the original roots too close, new roots may not be so quick to start re-growth. Too much rainfall would not be a factor as shallots can handle that when young. They've thumbed their "noses" at both flood and drought years here with same results.

Now I have questions. What variety is involved and what was the source? That will give us a few possible clues as to what went wrong.

Martin

the shallots were french red shallots from kitchengardenseeds.com.

I got some this spring that were very slow off the mark - in fact one just came up a few weeks ago though they were planted in mid-April. These were a sack of bulbs from a local nursery. They're growing fine now but they sure were slow. It was very chilly and dry which may have been the problem.

can anuone provide a picture of what a shallot looks like on top ? The greens ?

I just contacted Kitchengardenseeds and they told me that they had some bad batches of the spring shallots and that I am not the only one with a problem. They will be sending me some fall shallots to plant this fall. My question now is should I do the fall shallots or stick with spring? I did fall planting of garlic and it worked out great. I am on the line of zone 5 and zone 6. They will go into a raised bed. Suggestions? thanks. rich

Rich, I figured that there had to be some factor other than weather involved here. Shallots are virtually "idiot-proof" under normal conditions so something else was working against you. I must commend your supplier for being honest enough to admit that there was a problem rather than blaming the gardener.

Indeed go with fall planting now. I've seldom lost any shallots in the past here, even when I wasn't doing much winter protection. You should have few or no winter problems in PA. Then being in a raised bed is an added bonus in avoiding overly-wet conditions.

Martin

I planted some Red Holland Shallots from Hirt's Greenhouse about 2 months ago and probably about 90% of them came up and are growing really well. There are about half a dozen that appear to be still sitting there. I dug a few up and they have firm bulbs with roots coming out of the bottoms. I tried peeling back some of the flaky skin on the outside, but I could see no sprouts trying to get out. The fact that they're growing roots but no leaving seems interesting to me. Any ideas on what's going on with them?

Thanks,
Daniel

i there a possibility that you bought them from a grocery store or maybe they were treated with a chemical that wont let them sprout... i grow organic so it's not a problem. randy 503-638-1037