What caused my garlic bulbs to 'burst'??

Curious to know if anyone has seen this before. About 10-20% of my harvest from past July 2025 had garlic bulbs that were 'burst' or split open.  The plants appeared to be in good health, the cloves taste fine and the bulbs seem to be storing well.  

This most recent planting were cloves taken from bulbs selected from last year's harvest (2024), which in turn had been from stock purchased and planted in 2023. I don't recall this happening with the previous harvests.

My soil is slightly acidic, well-drained and I rotate my planting areas yearly. We have been having pretty extreme droughts these last 2-3 years. Wondering if inconsistent watering might have something to do with it?

Something to do with water after it bolts...so I'm told by a local garlic grower.  Haven't done any tests to see if it's true.

Did you notice any secondary sprouts growing in spring this year? It could be triggered by excess nitrogen after the flower stalks developed. The plant would start sprouting the cloves, growing small leaves and have the witch broom look. As you see some "cloves" are round instead of flat on the sides and packed tightly together,causing them to burst out of the skins.

Maybe they were harvested just a little late--mine do this too if I don't catch them in time, so I keep a close eye as harvest time nears.  It was pretty early for me this year:  the end of May (sometimes it's mid-July).  Apparently they don't store as long in this condition, though I haven't put that to the test.  I usually save those ones for replanting.

My problem this year was white rot;  I lost several bulbs only a month or so after harvest.  To make sure I didn't lose the whole lot, I peeled, minced and froze the rest.  A tedious job at the time, but rather handy to use now it's done.