Leek hair

[raymondo]

One of my leeks produced both flowers, which look to have set seed, and a mass of leek hair, leeklets I suppose. I pulled a few off and put them into some moist potting mix. They had roots almost 1 cm long the next morning and had pushed themselves up out of the mix.
I think the cultivar is Oerprei, but I'm not sure.

[galina]

This happens when there is a lot of rain about during flowering and pollination is not so good. Exhibition growers 'make it happen' deliberately by shaving flowers to create leek babies that are clones of prize winning leeks.

Comparing conditions with a garden friend from dry Colorado USA and here, Central Britain, predictably it happens a lot more here than there.

Just one of the amazing ways that leeks reproduce:
via seeds, via leek grass (bulbil equivalent), via bulblets from the ground after main bulb has flowered.

I have potted up and grown leek grass, it is just a little quicker than growing leek from seeds, but eventually these clones can pick up virus and therefore it is necessary to also grow from the sexually reproduced seeds now and then to maintain healthy stock.

[ottawagardener]

This happened this year to some of my leeks. They were from a LISP/blue solaise group. We had a drought this year so it was not from rain but I presume it was from some sort of damage to some of the flowering heads: possibly leek moth. I did not remove them but let them dry up and they produced bulbils similar to those found on garlic. I planted this up because in storage they started to grow. I also got offsets.

[ottawagardener]

veggiepatchreimagined.blogspot.ca/2012/12/finally-threshing-leek-seeds.html

[raymondo]

It was effectively drought here too, with no rain to speak of from July to November, and only sporadically since. Perhaps they do it when stressed, whatever that stress might be. Anyway, I'll plant a few on just to see how they develop.

[ottawagardener]

I have mine in a little tray on the windowsill now.