Garlic Confusion?

[dan3008]

Hi

I've over wintered my first "winter" garlic this year (October onwards), and the stem now seems to be splitting? 3 individual stems, which were held together by a papery leaf, which fell off over night...

I've never seen anything like it before... Its almost like the bulb is splitting rather than making cloves... Anyone else ever seen this before?

I'll post a photo later... didnt take my camera out earlyer...

[Westi]

Hi Dan Numbers!

You wouldn't have planted 3 wee cloves tightly knitted into one skin? Not described well but you know when you get a clove & go to cut it & it is actually a couple or more inside, the wee ones with a very fine skin but the whole is in the thicker papery skin.

Just a thought but if it is you've got a couple of free garlic plants.

Westi

[Pawty]

Hi Dan, I agree with westi - sounds like a few cloves which were stuck together. If so, they'll probably be on the small side but very tasty and worth keeping. But - will wait for the photo. did it happen to more than one?

I've been tempted to chuck a whole one in the ground just to see what happens! Maybe next year if I can get an end of year bargain!

Pawty

[dan3008]

Its only happened to this one (3) plant(s)... But thinking about it, its also the only one i transplanted into a 'raised bed' although, I wouldn't have thourgt that'd be the issue, I cut the small pot away, and put the plant in soil and all.

Westi, I think you may be right. I just have to resist the temptation to dig it up and have a look...

Photo's here

WP_20160509_21_10_44_Pro.jpg (481.28 KiB) Viewed 7332 times

[Primrose]

i have two or three of my garlic cloves going like this too. The thought of mini cloves within a clove hadn't occurred to me. The plants just look as if the shoots have had a very bad perm and gone all curly.
What's the solution if any? Just leave them and harvest what is worth saving when the time comes?
I must check again when the rain stops and see if the stalks are actually splitting from the bulb, or further up the stalk.

[dan3008]

Prim
Mine had been really really curly too... now its straightned out a bit...

I've just noticed... My spring onion and raddish pot is just behind the garlic in this photo... sorry for the bad pic

[Pawty]

Hi dan, useful to see the photo - like the up- cycling of unused kitchen pots!

Yes, that looks like a few cloves growing together (probably the inner cloves of the main garlic head). Ideally you just plant the large outer ones to avoid this, but no harm if you have the space. You'll probably get a clump of small garlics, they may even form single large garlic cloves? I doubt they'll turn into any completion winners but this has happened to me, and I've kept them, and then put them in whole with the roast chicken or potatoes. I've found that trying to dig them up and divide doesn't work well - they have a strop and stay small.

Pawty

[dan3008]

Thanks pawty,
I was convinced it was only 1 clove when I planted it :/ ah well, garlic is garlic

Hi dan, useful to see the photo - like the up- cycling of unused kitchen pots!

Thanks, the pan came free with an induction hob, and when it stopped working, we got a new hob under warranty, and a new pan... So I use the old one as a planter

[dan3008]

The saying to add insult to injury springs to mind

The injury, a cat/fox has been digging up my garden. Luckily, the damage is limited, some damaged onions and my garlic was completely dug up...

Now the insult. My garlic has split into 9-12 mini bulblets ... Each with there own stem
Again a photo to follow. Posting from my phone, and the photo is on my desktop

This is seriously strange. I guess all I can really do I re plant it and hope for the best. Specially since it only has one root set for the whole thing...

I've never seen garlic do this before. Its always seemed that the clove just swells and then splits inside

[dan3008]

And here are the photos as promised (one from each side of the garlic)

garlic2.jpg (379.68 KiB) Viewed 7263 times

garlic1.jpg (303.45 KiB) Viewed 7263 times

to prempt the following questions
-yes that my hand,
-Yes, I bite my nails
-yes, Its a bad habit
-No, that small cut on the side of my thumb doesnt hurt, I caught it on a blackberry thorn
-yes my skin looks soft and delicate, but in reality its really strong, working in a kitchen does that to your skin

[Westi]

I'd replant it as an experiment. It seems like it has forgotten to grow it's papery skin, but it has a good root growth. I wonder if it may have been planted a bit deep looking at the soil line on the stems but that could be Mr Fox!

Westi

[dan3008]

I planted I as per a google search... But that isn't necessarily the bed advice lol. Well, its back in the ground now, just over 1/2 way up the cloves. So lets see what happens. I've also planted a few new cloves too, they wont grow as big but I do like small young garlic

[Primrose]

Just dug up an elephant garlic which has gone to seed. There are several little bulbils around the base. If I detach them and plant them in a pot will they continue to grow in size or do they need to continue to be attached to the parent in the ground? I'm a garlic novice and this Is my first attempt at growing Elephant garlic. As the bulbs weren't cheap I'm reluctant to waste them if they will develop further with a little patience. .

[Pawty]

Hi Dan - just in case you haven't dug the rest of the elephant garlics up - I would snap the flower heads off the rest as they appear (and fry then in some butter for a salad - yum) and continue to let them grow in the ground. The one in the photo doesn't look like its divided fully yet. Leave them in the ground until the first few leave go brown / orange.

The small baby garlics will grow next year in the ground but no where near as big and if I remember correctly they just form one round clove and don't divide. I tend to take them all up otherwise you get them popping up all over the place. But, equally, put them in a pot and forget about them for a while and see what happens - always like to hear about experiments.

Pawty

[dan3008]

Pawty, that was prim with the elephant garlic, not me lol

That said, I have just dug up this odd garlic. The tops had completely died off. But the mini cloves/bulbils were lovely. So sweet and strong