Shallots take about 90-120 days to mature. Once they have reached the desired size and the foliage begins to wither, harvesting can begin. A warm, dry day is particularly suitable for this.
When the leaves begin to wilt, the shallot is ready to be harvested
The right harvest time
In August, the shallot leaves begin to wither. The green shoots lose their fresh color, turn yellow and dry up. The shallot has now finished ripening and can be taken out of the ground. A sure sign of ripeness is to check the neck of the onion. If the shallot can be squeezed together very easily with your thumb and forefinger, it is ripe.
Stepping over the foliage
A measure that is still often carried out today is the stepping over of the onion greens. This is supposed to speed up the ripening process. However, the opposite is the case. The shallots do not ripen when they are turned over and their shelf life is negatively affected.
The only action required is the removal of buds, which may occasionally develop. The flower bases should be removed, otherwise the plant will put its energy into the flower instead of the bulb.
The harvest
Once the onion leaves have wilted, harvesting can begin. Choose a dry, sunny day and pull the shallots out of the dry soil by the leaves. Although the onions are relatively dry, they need some time to finish drying. To do this, several plants are always tied together and hung up in an airy and dry place.
Even if the weather is cool and damp, the shallots must be removed from the ground, otherwise they will begin to rot. If the bulbs are damp when harvested, as much soil as possible should be shaken off. The final drying then usually takes a little longer.
Warehousing
The freshly harvested shallots are tied together in several plants and hung up to dry in a dry, airy place. After a few days, the onions are so dry that leaves and skins rustle. Now they can be removed and stored.
To do this, the excess soil is shaken off and the dry leaves are cut off up to about 5 cm above the bulb. The neck of the onion, which stays upright, prevents the appearance of head rot during storage, which completely destroys the onion.