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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 20, 2012 10:00:09 GMT -5
Templeton: In my garden the difference in flowering times between the earliest and the latest garlic can be as much as two months...
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 23, 2012 15:07:42 GMT -5
PI 540319 that I planted in a pot in front of the basement window has already sprouted after only 7 days. Temperature is about 65 F.
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Post by raymondo on Nov 26, 2012 4:33:23 GMT -5
Only one variety has a good number of flowers per head. The other two varieties have only single flowers. One had very small bulbils and lots of them while the other had larger bulbils but only 3 or 4 of them.
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Post by bunkie on Nov 29, 2012 12:01:40 GMT -5
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 29, 2012 13:12:18 GMT -5
Good find Bunkie. Looks like their garden is in southern Quebec midway between Ottawa and Montreal. Weather there tends towards cooler daytime summer highs than mine by about 15F. That's great for garlic seed formation, since lower temperatures favor the formation of flowers rather than bulbils. And flowers abort if the temperature gets too high. |
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Post by steev on Nov 29, 2012 20:58:21 GMT -5
That doesn't sound good for garlic seed on my farm. Oh, well, what can one do when one's "neighbors" are miles away.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Nov 30, 2012 10:27:27 GMT -5
You can give them a "push". Put a low tunnel over them for some time in the late winter/early spring to give them some extra GDDs early so they scape out before it gets hot.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 30, 2012 10:37:46 GMT -5
Long day-length seems to be the trigger for garlic scape elongation... [After they have about 7 to 9 leaves.] So I have planted a bed of garlic within reach of an electrical outlet. My intention this spring is to zap them with 16 hours of light per day for one week. Zapping to occur about 2 months earlier than they would normally get that much light.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Nov 30, 2012 13:58:21 GMT -5
It may be mostly daylength dependent but I still think you can push them anyway. Last year I planted a lot of garlic in January in one of the hoophouses in some empty space. That garlic was about two weeks earlier to scape out than the same variety in the field planted at normal garlic planting dates. It was in the hoophouse from January to the end of March. I beat everyone to market with scapes whoopididooh! Variety was Music.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 30, 2012 14:59:03 GMT -5
OxbowFarm: Thanks. Two weeks ahead so that the seeds mature in cooler temperatures might make a big difference in my climate.
I'm thinking that another way to push garlic to flower earlier would be to plant them sooner in the fall... Let them go into winter with many leaves already. Then by the time spring arrives, they may be eager to bolt.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 9, 2012 0:05:50 GMT -5
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Post by canadamike on Dec 9, 2012 5:56:00 GMT -5
Up here in Canada, in Ottawa, I grew all the accessions that were supposed to give true seeds. Total failure. ALL gave plantlets. SSE had a great article in its members ''magazine'' ( dunno how to call it'' but I think the environment has a lot to do with this. It was already complicated for them, I do not remember the article much, really, aprt from the fact I did something similar to what gave the m success...
Do not ask me what, I do not recall, it was an uneasy period of my gardening life, but I vividly remember saying to myself ''I did just that''. But plantlets came out. I am sure photoperiod has something to do with it...
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Post by 12540dumont on Dec 9, 2012 13:12:09 GMT -5
I'm getting really excited about this!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 9, 2012 14:36:26 GMT -5
Yup exciting.
Steev: Many of the published articles that successfully grew true garlic seeds list the garden location where the seeds were spawned as "Central Valley California". So there is plenty of hope for you.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 9, 2012 14:58:22 GMT -5
I have more germplasm to share... These are "Brown Tempest", which are known to produce true seeds. Also, these are cloves, so they may flower next year. So if you'd like to be involved in the True Garlic Seed Project, send me your mailing address in a personal message, and I'll send you a few cloves. I hope that at some future time you will share your results, or photos, or germplasm with others.
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