Question about shallots and botrytis rot (martin)

[Cliff]

I bought potato onion sets last year and they had what I am pretty sure was botrytis rot. Complained to the company and instead of refunding my money they sent me more diseased sets! Anyway, instead of wasting them I stuck them out to see what happened. I have tons of garden space so wasn't that worried about infecting the soil, I don't "have" to grow anything in that place for years if I don't want to. They grew but it's obvious that they are diseased.

My question is that I've read of a method of soaking peeled cloves of shallots and garlic in a sodium bicarb solution for a certain amount of time then in rubbing alcohol or vodka for a couple minutes before planting to minimize disease. Does anybody know anything about this and how effective it is in eliminating disease? I'd like to salvage the potato onions and replant them if there's a chance for them. Not that many places sell them in the first place and one of the biggest places that does is the one that sent me the diseased ones last year.

Also, one of the plants is setting seed. Will the seed be free of disease?

[silverseeds]

I dont know about most of your post, but on the last question about seeds... That should definitely be fine. Id dry the seeds thoroughly, then soak then for a few minutes in a light bleach mix (like 1 part to ten parts water ) and redry them. Seeds will break disease cycles in many types of plants. they actually might not even need the bleach treatment at all, but it cant hurt.

[Paquebot]

Vodka would work, about a 5-minute soak. Isopropyl alcohol would also take care of any pathogens such as botrytis. Use whichever is cheaper or handier. Until we found isopropyl by the case at Sam's Club, we used vodka on the garlic. Either way, make certain that they are totally submerged during the soak period.

Martin

[Cliff]

Thank you both.