Growing Garlic and Elephant Garlic from bulbils and cloves

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:

Steve Farmer wrote:Then see if i can ID it as an elephant garlic.

Elephant garlic often has corms, which are small bulbs that grow outside the main bulb. They are typically covered in a hardish brown shell. Also, the flavor and smell of elephant garlic are significantly different than common garlic. Elephant garlic does not have bulbils in the flower. I haven't seen a common garlic flower that didn't contain bulbils.

So, what does elephant garlic do? Does it produce true seeds, or is it generally sterile?

I've been interested in true elephant garlic seed if it exists.

Tatyana Piven wrote:Anyone grows Garlic from bulbils? I receved some really nice bulbils from ebay and planted them in December. I expected the bulbils to grow into a larger ine-clove head, but instead they shot scapes and yielded small heads, divided into 3-5 cloves. I guess my question is - what now? Do I divide them and plant separately, or do I plant the 2-ng year bulbil head whole?

I've planted bulbils before, and cloves. Where you plant them seems to make a difference. The cloves and bulbils in quick-drying, sunny soil fared about the same (they grew, but not much). The next year, the ones I had planted in a place with soil that takes longer to dry and that had more shade did very well by comparison—the clove became a head (which I had left where it was, and it became several plants). The bulbils, which I also let overwinter, each became a nice plant (just one, but bigger than the first year). I initially planted them kind of late. The bulbils and cloves were ones I saved from our garlic. Neither of the soils had much organic matter.

For sunny locations with quick-drying soil, I much prefer to grow garlic chives. They don't seem to mind the conditions.

Regular garlic is very hardy and can live just about anywhere (but that doesn't mean it prospers there).

Tory Ruszkowski wrote:So, what does elephant garlic do? Does it produce true seeds, or is it generally sterile?

I've been interested in true elephant garlic seed if it exists.

Elephant garlic is fertile, and very seedy. It crosses readily with leeks. I'l love to see people growing new varieties of elephant garlic.

I didn't do anything with that elephant garlic in the pic above from last june. Nearly a year later, here is what i have...

One of Joseph's colaborators had a lot of Chesnok Red bulbils left over, after removing them from the umbels to let the flowers develop and make seeds. He hated to throw them out, and offered them for postage. He sent me some and they arrived in the fall. I planted them way too crowded and all in a short row, so they could establish. They were so small, I was afraid to try to store them over winter. Some were comparable to wheat seeds.

In the spring, I had garlic flavored grass, all crowded in a short row. I thinned a little, and scattered it around. I got little round bulbs (Not divided into cloves) that first year. Pea to marble sized. The next few years, I pulled a few and used them, but mostly ignored the patch because they weren't getting big. A good one was about the diameter of a quarter.



When I got tired of waiting for something to happen, I transplanted some from that hard clay to nice soft Mel's Mix and compost in another part of my garden. I don't remember if I did that by cloves, or whole young plants. Turns out soil is important. (At least if you don't till.) The stems grew fat. If I felt around in the soil, the bulbs weren't big, but bigger than I'd grown before. Then the scapes grew. I thought I'd read about removing them, so I googled. Sure enough. So I pulled the scapes out of that bed. (The ones in hard clay got to keep their scapes.) That fall, I harvested nice garlic. Nothing to brag about, but big enough to match the ones in the produce department.



In the clay bed, I payed more attention to the scapes. I picked the bulbils out of a few, as soon as the papery skin on them split. They flowered. I kinda forgot them, but managed to spot a few at the right time. I got two seeds. I froze them to plant later. The next year I was more diligent. I also removed the scapes before the seeds were fully mature and suspended them upside down in a closed paper bag. I got a bunch of seed. I WinterSowed them. Quite a few have made it. I just transplanted them to a sort of wicking pot in my aquaponics.





I hope that's not too long. I think it answers a few questions about growing from bulbils pro & con, and about what to do with them. By the way, does anyone WANT some bulbils? I expect to have them available soon.

I would love some bulbils, if you have any to spare. <3 I know it's been a year, but I figure it's about that time again.  

Auntie Bee wrote:I would love some bulbils, if you have any to spare. <3 I know it's been a year, but I figure it's about that time again.  

I don't have any bulbils at the moment, but I expect to produce some later. You'll be welcome to some. Do remind me. (I usually set a reminder to do things on my calendar app, but since I don't know when the bulbils will come, I don't know when to set the reminder for.) I expect to have them in late summer or fall.

A variation on this subject... Last year when I harvested my garlic, I found I still had some shrivelled bulbs from the previous year in the veg rack.  Some had shrivelled away to nothing but some had green shoots.  So I thought I may as well give them a chance and planted them out.  They grew, but spindly, and have stayed spindly through the winter and this spring.  At the weekend I noticed they were starting to fall over and look like they had done growing, although the shop-bought plants planted in autumn are not ready yet.  (I had such a poor crop last year I ate them all and bought fresh stock.)  So I pulled these little spindly things up before they got lost.  Each one has formed a single round bulb about the same mass as a decent clove. Only one has made a single side-clove. So I'm ten cloves ahead for my autumn planting!

Auntie Bee wrote:I would love some bulbils, if you have any to spare. <3 I know it's been a year, but I figure it's about that time again.  

I removed my bulbils today. I usually just let them fall on the ground, and some of them root and come back up. I totally forgot about saving some until I was about half way done with the last scape. The picture is what I have left. The rest fell into the mint or the mulch. If you're still interested, moosage me your address and they're yours.

I've been growing elephants for 10 years and growing them
From seed for 9 years all kinds different elephants
Some grow like leeks others like small rounds others like very large rounds other are vargated with striped
And have bubils growing in the flowers and the seedlings grow faster more cold Hardy I have about
10000 in the seed bed right now but still looking
For the right one

Most of the ele garlic seedling turn in to bulbing leek
Which are very Hardy plants with stock about .5 to1 in thick slight pungh less than Onion they would be good
For rengen farming you can cut the tops off and they will grow back every time and the seeds in there scape will produce more seed or sell the flowers to a florists
The flowers will be white

I've been trying to garlic from seed for about 5years now I've listened to all the experts with no suscess
But this year I have about 150 garlic seed growing
But last years garlic came up in clumps because forgot
To pull them  up all of those where softneck but most
Only 3 to 10 flowers per bulb I had no time to pull each
Bubils one at a time  so I man handle each scape
Some flowers fell of other got damaged I caught the bubils in a bucket I grew them like nature would have
And nature would treat the scape very roughly
And this year garlic seed  Finley growing
But my hard neck I grew in rows 6 in spacing and pulled all the bubils one by one took for ever out of 500
Only 5 seeds soft neck 400 seed about 150 to 180 made it

Roberto pokachinni wrote:
Two seasons is what it should take to produce proper heads.  
...
Then when the grass like garlic comes up from the bulbils, I cut out the two or three weakest ones, and allow the strongest single one to live.  I nurture the ground surface of my raised beds with compost and manure and mulch with hay, and water it well in the spring and early summer, but allow it to dry in the later summer, particularly on the final year.  

One of the benefits of growing from bulbils is that the garlic stays in the ground for two years, thus developing a very strong associated community in the no till raised bed, when compared with an annual crop done with fall planted cloves harvested the next late summer.    

Wait, so you don't lift and replant? You let them stay in the ground?

@Constancia, i take liberty to reply to your above post. My bulbils are small. They grow on top of the plant when left flowering. Many. These i have planted out in the past in rows. First they become a small round bulb. Then a full sized small bulb. My garlics producing bulbils stay smaller. Energy needs to come from somewhere i guess. Then i still have left these small bulbs in the ground, for two years sometimes. They become massive clumbs of smaller sized bulbs. Interesting for fermenting. And no work at all.