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Post by mountaindweller on Mar 5, 2014 19:16:55 GMT -5
OK it was a long wait until these leek seeds seamed to be ready to harvest, but it was worthwhile, I dug out 10kg of potatoes which regrew from a previous planting and I found plenty of leek seedlings and bulbils. Can I replant these little bulbils which look like a glove of garlic? I would not have to raise any leek seedlings this year.
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Post by 12540dumont on Mar 5, 2014 19:31:16 GMT -5
yes, we did a thread on this earlier. I tried it, it works! You may want to start them in trays till they are big enough to pot out. Some of mine were really tiny.
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Post by mountaindweller on Mar 5, 2014 20:06:37 GMT -5
Thanks, mine are quite big and I just ripped the zucchini out to make space. Funny plant is that and now I have the seed too.
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Post by mountaindweller on Mar 5, 2014 22:37:26 GMT -5
I just replanted all of them. But some of the bulbils were as fat as elephant garlic and looked just the same. Is it possible that they crossed? I wouldn't care but just want to know. Or did some animal transplant them? I don't think it is possible because most animals I know don't like garlic.I am not even sure If I could tell them apart when they are growing, the elephant garlic looks like a thin leek.
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Post by raymondo on Mar 6, 2014 4:48:43 GMT -5
Elephant garlic is a leek, so will cross with other leeks. I grow it for use as a leek rather than as a 'garlic'.
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Post by mountaindweller on Mar 9, 2014 20:36:53 GMT -5
I didn't know that. It's a bit of a pity because the leek I grew had a really very thick stem. I will see how it develops. Elephant garlic is such a pretty plant beating every ornamental allium.
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Post by paquebot on Mar 13, 2014 23:07:24 GMT -5
Don't worry about them crossing. Chances of there being another different leek variety nearby are slim.
What you are finding are corms. I believe that all leek varieties form them with elephant garlic corms being the largest. They can be planted back but if conditions are not right, they may wait a year before sprouting. When I plant them, I remove the skin so that they have no excuse for not growing.
Martin
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Post by steev on Mar 13, 2014 23:34:44 GMT -5
While relocating some "strayed" alliums to the official Allium aisle, there were three capsules of "Tibetan Holy Garlic" lying on the surface; it was the week-end that the Dalai Lama was visiting the SF Bay Area; coincidence? I think not! Seems karmacly significant, such that I don't feel worthy to hoard them, so anyone who wants to send a cheque of some appropriately large amount can expect to receive one-to-three, depending on the amount offered; first-come, first-serviced.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Mar 14, 2014 9:24:34 GMT -5
I think I've read that elephant garlic is male-sterile. So its very unlikely that it would pollinate your leek flowers. It might possibly work in the other direction.
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Post by trixtrax on Mar 15, 2014 0:31:29 GMT -5
Interesting about elephant garlic being male-sterile, makes sense though. Elephant garlic is also hexaploid while regular leeks are normally tetraploid. I remember somewhere, maybe Lieven's website or Long Island Seed Project, that was working with a leek grex population that had a bit of introgression from elephant garlic. Elephant garlic and regular leeks crossing is at best rare, I'm sure this male sterility factors in on top of viruses and...? Guess we could get true elephant garlic seed if someone mass-crossed thousands of flowers. It would be good to collect all forms of elephant garlic because they are slipping away. I have 4 types, the common yellow, a slightly more "pointy" yellow clove, Chinese One-Clove (octoploid), and a red streaked clove that is sold commercially in some niche stores here. The last seems to have a germination inhibitor on it and will just rot away.
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Post by templeton on Mar 15, 2014 4:21:01 GMT -5
I visited my rail line population of elephant a few weeks ago, and although most of the capsules were open and empty, there seemed to be a few capsules with seed. Will have to dig around in the back seat of The Beast to see if there any left in the paper bag... which I noticed today had inverted itself on the floor of the back seat...
Interesting that this is a characteristic of most leeks - I thought it was special, and have been collecting and crossing 'Perennial' varieties. Doh!
Have a big pile of F1 seed drying in the hothouse from last season's mass crossing.
And most of the roots of the drying off leeks that just finished flowering seem to have young leeks sprouting.
T
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Post by paquebot on Mar 15, 2014 15:42:18 GMT -5
And most of the roots of the drying off leeks that just finished flowering seem to have young leeks sprouting. T Those are from the same type of corms which elephant garlic has. Only difference is that the leek corms are smaller. Martin |
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