A neighbour gave me a paper bag of Hungarian Garlic Bulbils. ( little mini garlic cloves from the seed head. ) There are thousands in the bag. I took the time to sift through and pick out the largest ones. The plan, after doing some reading, is to plant them in 8 inch deep pots, and then plant the pots in the garden for overwintering. I'll pile leaves on top. Then...so the plan goes....I'll pull the pots in the spring and maintain them until garlic harvest time. Next fall, I'll plant the one season old bulbils ( now supposed to be small cloves) and hope for garlic heads the following year. ( phew..) Has anyone grown garlic from Bulbils before?
Sound like a good plan @Melody Mc. I've grown them from bulbils. In my climate, I can just plant them about a half inch deep in rows, and let them overwinter there. They grow to the size of a garlic clove. Then plant those for the next season, and they grow to a garlic bulb. It might not be a giant size bulb but should be respectable. If I was your neighbor, I'd give you a couple of full sized garlic bulbs to grow too. That would give you a crop next year before the baby ones are ready. I read somewhere that growing from bulbils, they are less likely to carry diseases from the parents, compared to growing from cloves. And therefore might grow better. I don't know if that is true.
@Daniel W - come on over neighbour! I'd happily take some whole cloves hahaha Another neighbour sells garlic and did give me some. I don't know what kind but they are small white bulbs with about 6 cloves per bulb. When my kids came to visit I made a spot for them. and they planted a row of garlic. They miss playing in the dirt. They're going to plan on coming to visit in time to harvest. I'd love to try some of the really big garlic, like you have shown photos of. I'm a complete newbie at garlic, so we shall see how it goes. I don't have a spot prepared for the unexpected wealth of bulbils...hence the pots. I'm hoping this will be my only Bulbil growing experience to be honest. I'd much rather do cloves for a crop the following year.
I planted some bulbils last year, had a look at them the other day, a few have survived the drought (didn't water them ) I'll take a pic tomorrow
I'm glad you have some full size garlic cloves that you've planted Melody. I'm guessing you're growing the bulblets just for the experience of it? The challenge?
Bulbils from last year... And for comparison, a full garlic blub that got left in the ground and sprouted...
@Zigs - thank you That helped a lot. @Cayuga Morning - honestly....a sweet neighbour that is fairly new to the area and stuggling with gardens, was very excited to have garlic grow. She tries so hard, but is used to zone 8 - not 2b or 3a ( depending on the year). She gave me bulbils last year and I did not plant them. This year she was so proud of her "garlic seed" that she gave me some more and has followed up a few times to ensure that I plant them. I share a lot of veggies with her, and it meant a lot to her to share in return. So - I planted them And now I can keep her updated to the progress and commend her on her growing achievement. Win win.
You've got a good memory Mr Mechanic, that was many years ago What Mr Mechanic is refering to is that I used to grow garlic to sell to the local shops and pubs. I started off with 3 bulbs, grew them on, replanted for several years until I had enough to sell and grow on. I think I was approaching 20,000 bulbs when I got Onion white rot, a fungal disease of the onion family which wipes out garlic and makes it impossible to grow for at least 7 years
Too bad you did not know me then. I have a thing for biologically aggressive fungi. A real hatred. I went to my vet with two pets. He had a routine personal surgery turn into a nightmare of infection. The spores must be controlled or they will eat us.
Shush woman. I had him at 50k bulbs so he is obviously trying to reform his stories. A nice dinner for him would be more helpful. Of course I might have had enough beer to turn a 20 into a 50. Just sayin.
