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Post by kazedwards on Aug 26, 2017 1:47:34 GMT -5
Of the chesnok red I still have in the ground the scapes don't look good. Will be looking more closely come next week when I plan on finally digging this unattended bed. The other the bed seemed to have made it just fine. Now I'm just waiting for ground to dry out a bit
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 21, 2017 0:22:53 GMT -5
Also hopefully once the garlic I sent you toomanyirons gets to being full bulbs you will have better luck of getting seed. I also plan on sharing the garlic I have growing from true seed once I have more. So far I only have two new strains that have not been selected in any way. I will say they seem to be different from chesnok red in color and time of maturity but that might only be because they are relatively young in comparison. Increasing them to a shareable quantity is long process. From what I have read each generation from seed has an easier time producing seed and that seed has better germination. That might be what is key to your goal. As in a new variety from seed that easily produces seed every year without a problem regardless of conditions. As opposed to an old variety that will always have a hard time producing seed even when the conditions are right.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 21, 2017 0:00:59 GMT -5
I would say that at the point that I cut them it didn't make much difference on production of seed. I only cut them out of convenience. That's when I had time to dig the garlic to harvest it and didn't want to waste the opportunity to get seed. Flowers had already opened, been pollinated and had started to swell. I took them straight in to the garage so they had little chance of being pollinated any farther. The seed only finished developing after I cut them. As far as number of seeds per plant I couldn't tell you. I would have to look in my notes which are packed in the back of garage that is crammed full of a house worth of stuff(can't wait to move). I also didn't get a chance to sow them unfortunately. It's really a waste I'm not happy about but I plan on it this fall. I wanted to mail them out to some of you guys but didn't get around to it. I guess time got away from me. I probability will not cut them any earlier than I did last year if I ever do again. Mainly because what I'm doing works. At least it has the last several years for the chesnok red that I grow. They produce readily as long as I pick out the bulbils. Even this year I have some flowers that seem to be producing without the bulbils being plucked. I'm just lucky that the garlic I have produces seed so well. The only advantage that I can see to cutting the scapes for me would be better nutrition during the seed development rather than during pollination. And that I get better bulbs of course. I don't really know about other varieties though. I've only just begun growing others besides chesnok red. Those others I might need to try different methods. Time will only tell. For now I just plan on plucking bulbils out after the scapes open and letting them pollinate swell and dry down on the plant. If need to get them dig up I'll cut the scapes I finish them in the garage like last year. I'll keep better track next year and post here so I can give better dates on when I do what and what I look for. I can also start a new thread if you guys want. I think the variety has a big impact on what is best and that there will never be a right time to cut or debulbil across the board. toomanyirons it seems that a lot of your questions are unanswered because no one really knows answers but that is what makes this so much fun. We might be the ones to figure it out which is pretty cool if you ask me. I'm just grateful that we are able to communicate a share ideas and methods. It will definitely help in finding the answers.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 20, 2017 10:21:11 GMT -5
Happy late birthday steev
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 17, 2017 1:40:25 GMT -5
I didn't realize ted's book recommended to cut scapes that early. I would be worried about pollination if the were cut that early. When I cut mine they were well past that and swelling. I plan on three sets of garlic. One for use one for TGS and one for TGS grow outs. I plan on leaving scapes on the plants. I also don't cut open the scapes to open remove the bulbils as soon as possible. I wait until they open and fluff out a bit in their own.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 14, 2017 21:56:37 GMT -5
I did the cut scape method last year. The only difference I noticed is that I had better quality bulbs. In years before this I left them in the ground and the bulbs I got looked horrible. Still useable but I'm sure storage past planting time would have been a failure.
Cut scapes last longer than you might think. You just need to change the water often and maybe trim the bottom a few times. They will brown but I think that's because the plant puts all of its energy into seed production. I also think that the last bit is curing. I also cut the scapes off when the ovaries start to swell. That way they are only in water for about a month. I might have waited longer than others have the one time I tried it. I will probably use the cut scape method in the future only because I get better bulbs and my TGS crop is the same as my garlic crop.
Leaving them in the ground has about the same chance of success from what I can tell but you sacrifice bulb quality. The bulbs will look like crap. All of the outer wrappers will be gone and the bulb will look like a skeleton. You will see each clove attached by the basal plate and holes in between with very little covering the whole thing. Although they will still keep until you replant them in the fall. I don't know about your timing up there but here if the scapes are left on to open and produce bulbils/flowers the plant stays green longer. It starts to really die down as the ovaries start to swell. After that it will seem like the plant is dormant but the stem will still be green. Over the next month it will go from green to brown to greyish brown. It will definitely seem like the plant is struggling or dormant but I think it's just focusing on the seeds and using stored energy from the bulb to produce them. The very last thing to die down and turn brown is the umbel. That's when I cut them to dry farther in a paper bag and dig the skeleton garlic.
Either way bulb quality will not be there. The cloves are still usable either way and will last until replanting. I just replant then dry the rest into powder. I don't think either way affects the garlics ability to produce gorgeous bulbs in a different year. As far as your climate and timing. You might just need to keep looking for earlier varieties if the flowers just wither away in the heat. Also make sure to remove the bulbils. They also cause the flower to dry and abort. Hope this helps.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 14, 2017 21:10:06 GMT -5
I copied the italicized part from an earlier post of mine where I talked about an onion I got as a set in the fall of 2015. Onions are apparently somewhat independent minded and just do what ever they feel like. I have one I posted about before but not sure where that I planted as a set in fall of 2015. I think it was @paquebotthat identified it, if I remember right, as Red Wethersfield. It didn't get eaten as intended as a green onion in 2015 and bloomed last year like any other onion. It still didn't get eaten and it divided into two small and one larger bulb which I kept in storage and replanted last fall. They stayed green and grew slowly all winter, it is blooming again right now but not like a normal onion, it is making a combination of blooms and small top sets. I clipped one of its flower heads and rubbed in on some walking onion flowers and vise versa, will see what happens.
Here is that one onion now. The blooms it made this year acted like my old walking onions and did not make any seeds, instead it made bulbils. That one little bulb toward the bottom right that I peeled into smelled so good that I ate it raw. It was fine. I'm gonna replant most of these bulbs and bulbils both pretty soon and see what they do next year. Maybe? Hopefully? Some will act as they did in 2016 and make some seeds. reed isn't this similar to what you were talking about on the TPOS tread. I guess this isn't store bought onion but traditionally a bulbing onion a long the same lines as a store bought one. It's really interesting that it's growing towards being a topsetting onion. I wonder if they will start to spread as readily as topsetting onions too. Keep us posted.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 13, 2017 2:08:43 GMT -5
Bag balm works great. I hate the smell but it's better than cracked hands. In the winter my hands will get horrible. I alway say falls over when my hand start to bleed and spring starts when they stop lol. One year (before I used bag balm) I had quarter inch deep cracks in my knuckles from November until May just from them being so dry. Just moving my fingers hurt like hell. Washing my hands was miserable. Hand sanitizer is like a slow painful death not that I like the crap anyway. I still won't touch it now. They don't get anywhere near as bad now but it needs to be used daily. Once they start cracking they take a while too heal no matter what you use.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 13, 2017 1:55:33 GMT -5
They look great toomanyirons
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 13, 2017 1:53:38 GMT -5
I just throw them in a paper bag until thanksgiving
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 13, 2017 1:45:20 GMT -5
I think all onions divide like that eventually. Bulbing onions are biannual so I think they bulb up the first year and divide when they set seed in the second year. Potato onion divide and bulb up ever year which makes different. At least I think that is the difference
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 4, 2017 23:10:30 GMT -5
Lol about the livestock. One neighbor has a couple of goats. Maybe I can borrow them a week or two out of every month
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 3, 2017 23:08:45 GMT -5
Ok so now that we are seeing the finish line I've been thinking it's time for me to start looking at getting a riding mower for the new place. The new place is 3 1/2 acres and has a gentle slope. I don't want to spend more than 3k and would rather be closer to 2. I also want to buy new because I'm not good with mechanical stuff and the people who are tend to cost a lot. It wouldn't need many attachments but I would like it to be able to have a plow in the winter. Also be able to pull a cart. Also about a quarter of it will be graded really nice. The rest will be a bit rougher. Any suggestions? Here's a picture of the 3 1/2 acres
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Post by kazedwards on Jul 30, 2017 22:28:48 GMT -5
I checked my neglected garlic today. I noticed that some of the flowers seem as though they took. I haven't done a darn thing. This week I plant on digging it and saving the heads. Plant on just cutting them and keeping each type separate and planting them so this fall.
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Post by kazedwards on Jul 19, 2017 12:12:14 GMT -5
I don't have a garden this year. Just a sorry looking patch of garlic to keep it going until next year. I had a bad habit of just checking the threads I follow. About once a week or two I'll look for what new. I do read a lot on here but don't have much to add a lot of times.
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