Softneck garlic producing real scapes

[Medbury Gardens]

After posting this i went looking around the internet on information around softneck bulbil growing and it appears that want my friends have done is very rare in deed, all the softneck bulbils ive seen on the net grow from the stem half way up, but what my friends grew was hardneck in type. Its only once every 10-15 years there garlic does this so its not a hardneck type.

[bower]

Richard, that is a fine crop of seed stock from the bulbils.

[Medbury Gardens]

Originally Posted by bower

Richard, that is a fine crop of seed stock from the bulbils.

Thanks bower, it will be interesting to see what the next growing season will do them.

[Medbury Gardens]

Ive sorted the crop out and i'm sure it's a sliverskin soft neck and not a Artichoke as there's no purple colours showing up in it. The lady who grew these bulbils are 'off griders' so water is not as so freely applied like it is my garden, i couldnt see that this line will ever produce a scape here, so i plan to drop some off soon and they'll try again. Will growing from a second generation have a better chance of producing scapes? Bit of fun to play around with and who knows where this could lead.

Below glasses- received bulbils Feb 2017 sowed straight away, from then till winter the bulbils that sprouted where lifted and transferred to another bed
6 - 8 months of growth.

Left of glasses - What sprouted in Spring 4 1/2 months growth.

Above glasses - All the rounds

[svalli]

Good looking harvest Richard! What size were the original bulbs, which produced multi clove bulbs in just one season?

It makes sense that dry conditions would cause the softnecks to produce real scapes. If the garlic grows in a dry location, only method for future survival is to grow the bulbils on a tall stem, from where the clones will scatter on ground and possibly be moved to better location by wind and rainstorms. Last June here was quite dry and I had no watering for the field grown garlic. Now I have planted all garlic closer to the well, so I can water it during the weekends, if it is dry, so I do not expect to see real scapes in the softnecks.

Sari

[Medbury Gardens]

Hi Sari, The size of the bulbs which the bulbils came from are just normal size, she has been growing and selecting this sliverskin line for 30+ years so they may well have adapted to the dry to still be able to grow to that size. She only gave me the bulbils to grow which were smaller the hardneck bulbils. the bulbils now small bulbs that grew in autumn are the ones i'm interested in, the fact that there was variability amoung them in which some sprouted straight away while the rest sat till spring and then grew. So Sari, all the garlic in that plastic crate below was the bulbils given to me 10 months ago. The same happens in my hard neck as well, 99% of my bulbils grow into small bulbs&scapes in the first growing season.

These were planted from hardneck TGS grown bulbs 8-9 months ago, these will only be small bulbs, i'm leaving these in the ground for about another month to mature the bulbils, the scape is still green but the leaves have dried off

[bower]

Still snowing outside, but my bulbils are up in the greenhouse. Germidour is on the left. Many thanks, Svalli for letting me try these varieties from across the pond! Extra lucky to have bulbils on a softneck variety.
I have more bulbils outdoors in my best bulbil flat covered in kelp, but I kept some of each to put in the greenhouse as a backup. So I don't have to worry now, about the strange winter without snow.

[Medbury Gardens]

Looking good bower.

Noticed yesterday the rounds grown from my softneck bulbils are up and a the weather has hardly cooled down, so these bulbil grown soft necks diffidently has vigour than the clone they came from.