Veg4Show

Most of my shallots have now been thinned, 4 per plant. You will know when they are ready when they have naturally split away and when pulled sideways come away very easy.
Don't force them out, wait a few more days as you will damage and rock the main root plate. Always thin bearing in mind space, you want evenly spaced bulbs and I always remove the center bulb which creates that natural gap for extra room. Pot any thinnings up that still have some root into 3 inch pots using a low nutrient compost such as old USED carrot/parsnip mix or john innes no.1 water and leave them to it. These will make great pickling shallots for showing so keep an eye on them size wise, measure every day twice when you think they are nearlly ready, size depending on show schedule.