Thanks for the info, Henry.

Garlic bloat nematodes are what really concern me.

[QUOTE=Father'sDaughter;588810]It's always in the back of my mind when I buy seed stock.

My opinion is that if a grower is producing good, healthy garlic that they are selling specifically for planting, and their own seed for the next year comes from the same crop that they're selling, then I won't worry about it. No guarantees, but a lot less likely that there will be problems.[/QUOTE]

I would agree with this and getgarlic.com is most certainly not the only supplier who sells carefully selected garlic. I have just had good luck with they company and they are also a small family owned business which I also like.

Garlic can also be infected with many things other than viruses, like fungus, and they may be carried in the bulbs and infect your soil. This is why I would buy from a reputable supplier the first time and then grow your own from that stock if you like it.

I am probably more cautious that I need to be but I only have a small home garden and I don't want infections to get started in my soil so I do not grow store bought garlic or potatoes. I buy from certified suppliers but that is just my opinion.

Here's a link to some garlic disease information:

[URL]http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/factsheets/garlicdiseases.pdf[/URL]

I have only ever planted (the one time I did plant) seed garlic sold for the purpose of planting. I have not bought grocery store garlic and tried to plant it in my garden, and I hope a local organic farm would be trustworthy. In any case, I am not willing to throw out 15.00 worth of organic seed garlic or even use it in cooking out of fear. If the study Henry posted is correct, even virus-free garlic frequently picks up viruses once planted. If the Garlic Farm can grow 3" bulbs from it I am willing to chance that it is decent quality for planting in my garden.

I ordered from BigRedBarn this past week for fall planting....i ordered 'colossal'. Want to kick my harvest into some new and larger varieties since it does so well here.
I've had garlic growing for years but decided to try some new varieties.

My exit is Saugerties NY to drive up the mountain to my farm in the Catskills every weekend.
We actually avoid the festival and the traffic and crowds to spend quiet time after a long city work week in NYC...(but i hear it is great). We attended years ago when it was tiny.

Re: softnecks in the north, I grew New York White for the first time this year, but my friend has been growing it at her farm for several years now. The bulbs are as big as the other garlics and the cloves are about medium sized. So NY White is one that seems well adapted to a northern climate. I think it also goes by the name Polish White.

One nice thing about growing softneck is that it's ready to harvest earlier. I don't have a lot of space for curing so it was nice to stagger out the harvest of different types. Also loved having garlic to braid. :D8-) A very pleasing and space saving way to store them.

Thanks Bower! That's good to know if I ever want to expand my garlic repertoire. The only downside for me would be the lack of scapes with the softnecks -- I look forward to them just as much as I do the full heads.

I don't agree that there are no hardnecks, that make large cloves, that will store as well as typical softnecks, I have one from 2015 that is still sound with no refrigeration. It came to me from Ivan's New Garlics.

I have several heads of my own grown/harvested garlic from 2015 that I will replant this Fall to help select for keeping qualities.

I also never store garlic in the refrigerator unless I want it to sprout!:shock:

[QUOTE=swamper;590869]I don't agree that there are no hardnecks, that make large cloves, that will store as well as typical softnecks, I have one from 2015 that is still sound with no refrigeration. It came to me from Ivan's New Garlics.[/QUOTE]

Ivan's garlics are grown from true seed which may account for their better keeping qualities - they will not have accumulated the viruses that cloned garlics carry.

My order arrived today from Six Circles Farm in NY and I had forgotten I ordered a softneck variety to try! I did get a true pound of each and they look great.

The Inchelium was $15 for the pound, and the other two $14. So far so good!

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160910/0926e7a85d380de889cb10dbe88187b2.jpg[/IMG]

Bumping this thread for any new opinions on sellers or sources. I purchased a limited amount of new seed garlic last year and wished I had started more as it was a great year. I ran out of eating garlic before this year's garlic was ready so I would like to try the dice and freeze mentioned here, but I need to purchase quite a bit more as extras.

I was not pleased with the size of a Nebraska source that I had mailed to me. The bulbs fit easily in the cup of an egg carton. I did get nice bulbs in a local store that were grown by Keene Organics in Wisconsin. No hesitation to order from them but they are sold out of a few varieties.

When you buy from a large company like High Mowing / Johnny's / Burpee, etc. how do you know where the bulbs were grown? Obviously a midwestern grown garlic would be preferred over a milder climate for me.

- Lisa

If at all possible, find a local source (farmer's markets, farm stands).

If you go mail order, order directly from a garlic farmer as close to your location as you can find.

I buy from the local farm market or the farmers market I attend as a vendor.

Ditto the idea of buying locally, I have kept the same garlic variety going for a few years from local vendors. I select the largest cloves from each bulb to plant. Despite our crazy summer of first drought and then too much rain I harvested a good crop to select from.

We have two garlic festivals each year in the area and I have learned which vendors have the best garlic. German White and Music have been the best varieties for me. Here is a link to a farmer's market you may be familiar with in your area. I see there are three vendors offering garlic. You might want to check out their quality.
[url]http://www.villagepointeshopping.com/village-pointe-farmers-market/[/url]

I found a local place called The Garlic Farm that had huge seed garlic. I need to get more but they told me online their garlic is smaller this year. Better than no garlic, though. There is also the local Agway.