Galic With So Many Leaves.
 

I am neither a novice nor an expert when it comes to growing garlic.
PROBLEM
Better than 90% of my galics have very many leaves. Off the bat I know that the clove are separated an each clove has its own stem.
Now, I planted my seeds around mid November. We had pretty cold winter. Some nights it dropped to teens.
My seeds came from WM. They were reall nice big garlic with big cloves and they were hard necks.
Anyway, my harvest time is months away. I pull one now and then for cooking. The clove are separated and of good size. And I guess they are still getting bigger.
My concern is storage. Separated cloves don,t store well and I have 100 garlic plants.
So really my situation is irreversuble. I just want to know the cause of this growth pattern.
Maybe rhere are others with similar problem !?

Can you post pics?

Look at slide 7 here: [url]http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/fruit-vegetable/growing-garlic-in-minnesota/[/url]

Like that?

When you say seeds from WM, do you mean Wall Mart? If that's the case and you don't know what the variety is, then the hardiness (or lack there of) is unknown, so it could be weather related.

That is a really good page Zipcode posted. I've never seen it but it looks like the effects of cold temperatures. 10 F is mentioned.

OTOH I'm amazed you have separated cloves so early in the season. Could it be that the variety you planted is a Turban? They don't always produce scapes but when they do they are hardnecks. And have a look at the recent thread by GoDawgs, the necks are huge and the foliage like nothing I've ever seen on our northern hardnecks. And they are apparently close to harvest time already.. it's amazing.

If they are turbans, the experts advise to keep checking bulb size and harvest them before they flop over as onions do. By the time they flop over, the cloves are quickly losing their last wrappers so your chances of storage are over.

[QUOTE=bower;697860]That is a really good page Zipcode posted. I've never seen it but it looks like the effects of cold temperatures. 10 F is mentioned.

OTOH I'm amazed you have separated cloves so early in the season. Could it be that the variety you planted is a Turban? They don't always produce scapes but when they do they are hardnecks. And have a look at the recent thread by GoDawgs, the necks are huge and the foliage like nothing I've ever seen on our northern hardnecks. And they are apparently close to harvest time already.. it's amazing.

If they are turbans, the experts advise to keep checking bulb size and harvest them before they flop over as onions do. By the time they flop over, the cloves are quickly losing their last wrappers so your chances of storage are over.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for comment.
You mentioned temp under 10F. Could be. We had temps under 10F many times. In partucular we had as low as 6F once. It killed some of my onions. Thoughno garlic was killed, they lost some older leaves.
Well, of course, I don,t know the store bought variety. But they had hard neck and the color of wrap was white. .
On hoarvesting, I am pretty sure it will some time in late Jun -early July.
One more o servation.
The separated stems actually have more than just one clove , not single clove, as I previously mentioned.
I will take pictures tomorrow and post.

[QUOTE=zipcode;697730]Look at slide 7 here: [URL]http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/fruit-vegetable/growing-garlic-in-minnesota/[/URL]

Like that?[/QUOTE]

Thank you SO much for that link! That's exactly what's happening to mine and now, after much searching, I know the reason.

You folks are great! :yes:

[QUOTE=bower;697860]That is a really good page Zipcode posted. I've never seen it but it looks like the effects of cold temperatures. 10 F is mentioned.[/QUOTE]

We did have a cold snap in early March where morning temps got down to 27. They are mulched with leaves but not a real thick layer. So I'm wondering if that cold spell triggered the extra leaves.

[QUOTE=bower;697860]OTOH I'm amazed you have separated cloves so early in the season. Could it be that the variety you planted is a Turban? They don't always produce scapes but when they do they are hardnecks. And have a look at the recent thread by GoDawgs, the necks are huge and the foliage like nothing I've ever seen on our northern hardnecks. And they are apparently close to harvest time already.. it's amazing.[/QUOTE]

Mine are Turbans. I've never seen a scape on them but this is only my second year growing garlic.

[QUOTE=bower;697860]If they are turbans, the experts advise to keep checking bulb size and harvest them before they flop over as onions do. By the time they flop over, the cloves are quickly losing their last wrappers so your chances of storage are over.[/QUOTE]

I just checked yesterday after seeing two plants leaning way over. At first I thought they were dry as I've been withholding water prior to harvest. Those two were dug and they're ready. They were planted Sep 14.

Thanks so much for this info!

[QUOTE=PureHarvest;697726]Can you post pics?[/QUOTE]
Let me see if I can post pictures.
Ok. Finally did it with my turtle speed wi fi

Yep, that's exactly how mine looked!

Gardeneer, if those are the same Walmart garlic that GoDawgs planted you'd best keep a close eye on them because they were ready to pull much earlier than the other turbans. Seems like it is a super early variety.

I notice you have a scape on several of them! :)

[QUOTE=bower;698947]Gardeneer, if those are the same Walmart garlic that GoDawgs planted you'd best keep a close eye on them because they were ready to pull much earlier than the other turbans. Seems like it is a super early variety.

I notice you have a scape on several of them! :)[/QUOTE]

Those WalMart cloves I planted were overly ready just one day shy of six months!:shock:

[QUOTE=bower;698947]Gardeneer, if those are the same Walmart garlic that GoDawgs planted you'd best keep a close eye on them because they were ready to pull much earlier than the other turbans. Seems like it is a super early variety.

I notice you have a scape on several of them! :)[/QUOTE]
Thanks, Bower.
Yeah, I was thinking also that they should be pulled earlier than the normal ones. Only about 10% are normal. You are eight, they seem to be super early. In the past, in similarclimate (Atlanta,GA) Iused toharvest early July. Yeah. I will watch them closely. I keep dogging out , one ate a time for my cooking. So this way I should know whats going on.

Yes, few of them have scape. Good for stir fry. They are a delicacy to Asian cooks..
Thanks again.

It has been my observation any garlic plant that starts putting out the extra side leaves, the cloves have separated and started to grow.
They should be pulled ASAP.
I observed this strange phenomenon some time ago in that the extra leaves are coming up inside the main stalk and popping out the sides.

Gardeneer, I am also in zone 8a and planted 100 cloves from WalMart bulbs in November 2016. Of these 70 % had the same abnormality as your photo, called witches broom. I saved normal bulbs, stored them at 60 degrees and planted cloves last November. I just harvested 150 perfectly formed softneck bulbs and no abnormal bulbs. I think your problem was that your stock bulbs had been stored by WalMart at 32 degrees which is known to cause this growth anomaly. Save your normal bulbs and store cool not cold and they should form normal bulbs next spring.