Garlic Rounds

[steev]

Not misunderstanding, just misreading; I think I'm a tad dyslexic.

I'm not understanding why golfball-sized rounds are not good; granted, one wants cloved bulbs generally, but rounds that big strike me as potentially useful in entirely different ways; roasted bacon-wrapped garlic might be great.

[richardw]

For me i dont seem to be able to grow rounds and i dont know why. When i sow bulbils i space them out to about 20cm apart and these will always grow straight into bulbs within the one season. Ive got one section in the garden thats got a whole heap of bulbils thickly sown which i dont normally do, will be interesting to see if rounds come out of this area.

[meganp]

IMG_6683 by meganp08, on Flickr
IMG_6686 by meganp08, on Flickr


Here's an assortment of 2nd and third year rounds harvested at the beginning of the year (SH). The symetrical white and purple skinned ones are turbans but there are a couple of other as yet unidentified groups amongst the smaller rounds. They are definitely garlic and not elephant garlic. When replanted, they will often stubbornly produce ever larger rounds when planted together in the same bed beside other rounds which will divide into normal bulbs (albeit really large bulbs relative to normal cloves). I've grown most of my garlic from bulbils and have shared exactly the same stock with Richard who never ever manages to produce rounds. Small cloves often revert to rounds but there's absolutely no rhyme nor reason as to what is causing this:)

[meganp]

Here are some rounds and bulbs from the 2013 harvest
2013-12-14 by meganp08, on Flickr

[meganp]

Nov 11, 2016 20:50:25 GMT -5 toomanyirons said:

meganp that is a pretty assortment of rounds.

Thanks TMI, the first two photos were taken about a month after harvesting and the outer layer of the bulb skin rubbed off pretty easily. The bulbs and rounds in that photo was taken immediately after harvesting and I'd peeled them all with the intention of eating them! Were so pretty, I had to take a photo

[richardw]

I'm determined that i'm guna grow some rounds this summer, mainly because they would be great in the roasting pan.

How big is that coin in the middle toomanyirons

[meganp]

Richard, let me know if you want me to send you some (having said that now I won't harvest any rounds this season)!

[richardw]

Thanks Megan, I'd have to extend my garden if i took on anymore

[paquebot]

I think that Megan is the only one mentioning the variety. I think that there have been threads about bulbils and what happens when planted back. Rocamboles almost always produce a divided bulb in one growing season. On the other extreme, porcelains usually take 4. First year is pea-size, second is marble-size, third is golf ball-size, and fourth is a mature bulb. In between, purple stripes usually take two.

I have gotten rounds from Martin's bulbils but only when the smallest were planted. I think that I had 5 out of 200+ last year but none this year. When planted back, they produced the biggest bulbs.

Martin

[paquebot]

Chance of those Martin's bulbils becoming rounds are virtually nil. All were big enough to assure proper bulbing. Before questioning that, I've experimented with that, too. Planted a long double row of them at WeGrowGarlic. There were about 200 large, 200 medium, and 200 small. Only the very end of the small section produced only rounds. In mid-May, garden area beside it was worked with a disk-digger-drag combination. Outboard drag section had to be raised to keep it off the garlic. Hydraulic didn't hold and the drag was on the ground for last 20-30 feet. Garlic was just coming up and was sheared off. In late July, after the garlic field had been harvested, that was disked right away to control weeds. Disk brought up 1" rounds where the sheared-off plants had been. They had produced those rounds in probably a month's time. Those not cut off were all about 1½" divided bulbs. The medium and large both produced about 1½" to 2" bulbs.

Martin

[meganp]

Nov 12, 2016 16:01:13 GMT -5 paquebot said:

Rocamboles almost always produce a divided bulb in one growing season. On the other extreme, porcelains usually take 4. First year is pea-size, second is marble-size, third is golf ball-size, and fourth is a mature bulb. In between, purple stripes usually take two.

Martin

Thanks Martin, that's really helpful information. Am still trying to identify the varietal groups of the garlic that I'm growing so from what you're saying, I may have some porcelains and purple stripes. Have you noticed whether their rounds are slightly tear drop shaped? This year I'm going to photograph the plants as they grow and put a tag around the stem and scape so that i can record the structure of the plant. Every year I've been thwarted by birds dislodging the labels and or cloves so my planting records get all messed up. Have planted entire umbels beside cloves from the parent bulb so can record photograph them together at harvest.

[paquebot]

Megan, if you are growing porcelains, their bulbils are often smaller than a wheat grain. Purple stripes are somewhere between that and pea-size. Many varieties are virtually identical until their bulbils are compared. One year I asked to leave the scapes on 3 of about 100 varieties for two reasons. One was to prove that bulb size is not affected with or without. Second was to document the bulbil size. That later confirmed that every rocambole bulbil produced a divided bulb in one season and most purple stripes produced a round.

Martin

[meganp]

Thanks Martin & Tom. Have been photographing the various garlic types that I've been growing for a couple of years in an attempt to identify them but still not totally confident that I've got the varietal groups nailed down. This season I will photograph the plants as the scapes emerge and tag them so that I can match up the photos of the growing plant with the mature umbels and cured bulbs & bulbils. Apart from selecting for the best tasting garlic, I am also interested in trying to grow true seed, hence the importance of determining the varietal group!

IMG_6584 by meganp08, on Flickr

IMG_6634 by meganp08, on Flickr

[olddutch]

Hi Martin,

Is We Grow Garlic gone for good or are they coming back?

When I finally got ready to order from them them seemed to have disappeared, although the website is still up and quite informative about the different varieties.

[paquebot]

I won't go into detail as to why WeGrowGarlic folded other than to say that priorities were wrong. Both fields were nicely mowed just like a lawn when I went by 2 days ago. I was the one who told Karen to set up the site to sell garlic for $1 each plus shipping. Told her that I'd let the gardening world know and that was the beginning of a few really fun years. I was given a chance to take it over but then it would not have been fun. I do like that the site is staying up just for the information on varieties. There are some of mine that I'd like to have back but we spread them around the country quite well. Besides, too much demand for my Martin's so I have to devote my garlic area to just that one.

I am keeping one unclassified one going and I don't know it's name. It may be a purple stripe and may be a turban. Stood out in the field row for topping at only around 2'. I know exactly where it was growing in the upper field but can't remember the name. Bulbs barely make 2" and clove skins are a pinkish-brown. Real spicy taste that some of my friends like. I've got 26 of them planted back this year. That was 3 bulb's worth of cloves.

Martin