Re: Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow?

**Turan** 5/23/2015, 10:42 pm

Just in case there is confusion, definitions are sometime good. Garlic chives are Allium tuberosum, garlic is Allium sativum, elephant garlic is Allium ampeloprasum (actually a leek), and onions are Allium cepa. They are all closely related but different species. There are lots of others as well, many called wild garlic or onion but all different species. They all taste good but some do not make very big bulbs and mostly the greens are eaten.

Just rooting around in Wikipedia Laughing

littlejo 5/27/2015, 11:48 am

This garlic (only 2 plants) has made a 2nd set of cloves above the lower set. Does anyone know about this? Why? It's grocery store garlic. The rest of the plants look normal.

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 Joanns14

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 Joanns14

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 Joanns15

Windmere 5/27/2015, 11:59 am

Littlejo, how unusual. I've never seen such a thing! I'll be interested to find out what theories folks might have about this.

**sanderson** 5/27/2015, 2:21 pm

Littlejo, How did you get to my garlic?? I just harvested the gifted large garlic I planted in December and they that look that way!! The cloves split apart from each other and there are little babies clinging to the roots.

**donnainzone5** 5/27/2015, 3:16 pm

I had one like this last summer.

greatgranny 5/27/2015, 3:48 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:gg, I planted some garlic about a month ago around my fruit trees and they are up and running.

Why not try it?
CC

Been gone so didn't reply. I think I'm just going to let it go this year. Wonder if I have some moles or voles doing a number on them after I plant them. How does one keep them away?

littlejo 5/27/2015, 6:33 pm

I really like my new phone's camera.

Did I wait too long to dig this? It still had green stems, but I wanted to use the bed for other things. This is only 1 that looks like this. The rest are bulbs. This a stem for each clove? I know I only planted 1 clove per spot.
Jo

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 All_mi10

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 All_mi10

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 All_mi11

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 All_mi12

**sanderson** 5/27/2015, 8:46 pm

Littlejo, That's what I'm wondering.

**Turan** 5/28/2015, 12:37 am

When garlic is not pulled early enough it will spread the cloves like that. Also sometimes a heavy watering after drought. Most of my crop was like that last year because I procrastinated about digging them and did not get the bed dry enough before harvesting. The cloves kept almost as well as usual.

My understanding is that you can get cloves in the stems if there was an unusual cold snap at some particular moment. I guess it is related to the need for a cold snap to stimulate clove versus bulb formation?

**sanderson** 5/28/2015, 12:44 am

Thanks, Turan.

littlejo 5/28/2015, 8:56 am

Thanks Turan for your answer!
I searched the net and found no answer to why!
Jo

**Turan** 5/28/2015, 10:54 am

I have been trying to think this through more clearly. Shocked

The time to harvest garlic is when about half the leaves have died, not all of them. Each leaf is a wrapper on the whole bulb, if they all have died back the bulb will open and spread. My suspicion with the multi stems is that the way your winter cycled caused the silly thing to think it had gone through 2 weird seasons. Cold stimulates garlic to split its bulbs into cloves. If the second cold snap happened when the plant had already built a big enough bulb it could start the process over again. Or so goes my theory.

**sanderson** 5/28/2015, 2:40 pm

Sounds good to me!

Windmere 6/3/2015, 1:11 pm

Well, I decided I had to harvest my garlic. We've had rain every day for many days and the chance of rain is predicted every day... for many days.

I ended up with 40 bulbs with sizes ranging from teeny to about 3 - 4 inches. I'm not sure of what to think about the size variations because in one box I planted all large cloves. Despite that, there was a big disparity in sizes, even from that one box. I'm not complaining though. This year's crop is better than last year's!

Here's today's haul, photo taken just a few seconds after harvest:

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 Garlic10

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 Garlic10

**donnainzone5** 6/3/2015, 2:12 pm

I'm concerned about my garlic (and onions), since they mostly have small-diameter stalks and are already forming scapes.

I planted them in a different bed last fall, added compost to the MM, and followed my usual laissez-faire procedures. Some of the garlic cloves were the largest of the previous year's crop; others were newly purchased.

Thoughts?

yolos 6/3/2015, 3:54 pm

Windmere wrote:Well, I decided I had to harvest my garlic. We've had rain every day for many days and the chance of rain is predicted every day... for many days.

I ended up with 40 bulbs with sizes ranging from teeny to about 3 - 4 inches. I'm not sure of what to think about the size variations because in one box I planted all large cloves. Despite that, there was a big disparity in sizes, even from that one box. I'm not complaining though. This year's crop is better than last year's!

Here's today's haul, photo taken just a few seconds after harvest:

Congrats windmere. I don't know why some are large and some are small but maybe someone else will be able to help you.

Goosegirl 6/4/2015, 9:41 pm

Windmere - small or large, they all look GREAT to me!

Windmere 6/4/2015, 10:25 pm

donnainzone10: If it were me, I think I would dig up some "testers" to see how things are going. This has only been my second year with garlic, so I can't offer more thoughts than that. Hopefully some more experienced might have some better input.

yolos and GG: Thanks so much for the congrats. You know, I was looking at our haul drying in our kitchen, and I noticed that some vegetation was half yellow on some and some was still pretty green on others. The smaller bulbs were the greener ones. Of course, I understand that they were not as mature as the others... however, the mystery remains for me because they were all planted at the same time. No matter... I see a beautiful garlicky future in our household.

Smile

**llama momma** 6/4/2015, 10:50 pm

Windmere wrote:I ended up with 40 bulbs with sizes ranging from teeny to about 3 - 4 inches. I'm not sure of what to think about the size variations because in one box I planted all large cloves. Despite that, there was a big disparity in sizes, even from that one box.

If you had all large cloves then I wonder if there was a difference in the depth of the planted cloves. I'm thinking the deeper planted ones would ultimately have leaves that took longer to emerge and collect energy for bulb growth. Maybe?

**Turan** 6/5/2015, 1:13 pm

I don't know why I get various sized bulbs either. I assume there are a lot more variables than I comprehend and let it go at that. Garlicky is good Laughing

Donna, could it be variety? Or somehow a more stressed growing spot that is pushing them to scape early? I am reading that garlic is very daylight sensative and when the days length shortens it will stop growing and start bulbing and that can be stimulated artificially by shade of a building or tree. Also the soil temperature raising too much will stop them, like a TT might do. http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Summer2013/Garlic/tabid/2617/Default.aspx

**donnainzone5** 6/5/2015, 2:59 pm

Turan, thanks for your thoughts.

I did plant the garlic and onions in a bed closer to the house, which just might be causing them to get a bit less sunlight in the late afternoon.

I don't think the soil warmed up suddenly, unless it was just be a few degrees. It will be getting hot here over the next few days, though.

Could it be too much water? We've had above-average rainfall in the last month or so, and the drip system was on part of that time.

CapeCoddess 6/5/2015, 3:27 pm

Turan wrote: I am reading that garlic is very daylight sensative and when the days length shortens it will stop growing and start bulbing and that can be stimulated artificially by shade of a building or tree. Also the soil temperature raising too much will stop them, like a TT might do. http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Summer2013/Garlic/tabid/2617/Default.aspx

Hm...very interesting. Which would mean that in my area, a full sun bed would start to bulb up around June 22nd. Which is probably why I usually harvest mid July or so.
What a Face

That's if the wind doesn't knock them all down first. Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow? - Page 24 02011

CC

boffer 6/5/2015, 3:50 pm

Turan wrote:...Also the soil temperature raising too much will stop them, like a TT might do....

In October, I planted one square of garlic in each of 14 boxes. The leaves are developing at different rates in different boxes; noticeable, but not dramatic differences.

What is dramatically different, is the slower growth in boxes that got a bit of extra heat early in the year: two boxes in my greenhouse, and a couple of TT's with heated MM. I'm real curious to see how well they bulb up, usually in late June/early July for me.

Windmere 6/9/2015, 10:48 pm

So far we have enjoyed our garlic in an Asian dish and we made a couple batches of roasted garlic. Here's the thing... some are beginning to get sort of a rust color inside. When I notice that, I just immediately roast it. It has been ridiculously wet here in our area and I'm sure those conditions had something to do with this. I'm wondering, should I cut off the tops? The tops seem to be sort of damp and mushy. I have no experience with this... anyone have some ideas? Thanks for your help.

yolos 6/10/2015, 9:23 am

Windmere - I don't know enough about garlic to answer your question but I am having a heck of a time drying my garlic. They are on the back screened-in porch with two ceiling fans running but the humidity is so bad I am not sure they will ever dry. The garlicy smell is much less now so if they do not dry in the next week I may bring them inside and put a dehumidifier next to them. What about putting them in the dehydrator (whole) for a bit??

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Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow?