Gatlic bulbil viability
 

So I pulled the garlic and cured it.
Some had scapes that ended up forming into these.

So my question is are the bulbils viable, and what do I have to do to keep them that way until october?
Thanks

if you are talking about the bulbs under the ground just let them dry and hang in a cool dry place.
They are prone to bruising so treat then tenderly.
Cut the scapes off.
The scape on garlic is different than and onion.
On an onion it grows up through the center of the bulb ruining it for storage.
On garlic the bulbs/cloves grow around it.

If you are talking about the bulbils on the top treat them the same way I think they will sprout.

Worth

Snip of and dry on trays one layer deep once dry they keep well in paper bags what you have to watch for is if you bag them up too soon there is a chance of mold.

Here is a link, I used to just eat the things.
[url]https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCoQFjACahUKEwij-7bivbDHAhWCn4AKHY73AaI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.garlicfarm.ca%2Fgarlic-bulbils.htm&ei=cQTSVeP-IYK_ggSO74eQCg&usg=AFQjCNEGEknMzrNQLPc3vjAwpZBQFOK2BQ&sig2=RDsJhcPjFDEjumYpvdpaiA[/url]

They remind me of the Agave plant when it blooms.
On the 35 foot tall stalk you will see baby Agave plants and agave seed pods.

Worth

Those look great, Nematode. I'm sure there's a best bulbil protocol out there but I'm not sure what it is. The basic notion is that you cure them like a regular garlic and then plant em, I plant in fall same time as garlic but some do spring planting. As long as there's a green stem attached, it will be nourishing the bulbils and letting them grow and mature to the max. I would just cut the stem long (if it's still green), put a paper bag around the top with a twist tie and hang them upsidedown to slowly mature, dry and cure.
The best keeping bulbils I had, were from cut scapes that flowered in the vegetable bin.. they just kept expanding until they started to pop themselves off. They also were slowly drying /curing because the scapes were not in water. When I collected them they were basically falling off the stem in a 'cured' condition more or less.
Last year I tried to get flowers and true seed from some scapes. For that you're supposed to keep the cut scapes in water, and pry out all the bulbils. I did get some flowers, but also they kept making bulbils, I couldn't tear em out fast enough. So I stashed all the bulbils to plant, but they didn't keep or cure as well as the first lot, some got brown spots. Still there were so many, I still got quite a few growing.

[QUOTE=Nematode;499446]So I pulled the garlic and cured it.
Some had scapes that ended up forming into these.

So my question is are the bulbils viable, and what do I have to do to keep them that way until october?
Thanks[/QUOTE]

[URL]http://www.durgan.org/2015/June%202015/29%20June%202015%20Garlic%20bulbils/HTML/[/URL] 29 June 2015 Garlic bulbils
The garlic bulbils planted in October 2014 were harvested and put to dry for seed in October 2015. About 50 rounds were obtained. I labelled the rounds as bulbils in he photos which is not correct.

Called bulbils the first year growing on top of the scape. The planted bulbil produce one clove called a round. The round planted produces bulb with three cloves. When each clove it planted it produces a normal sized garlic bulb. Three year cycle.

To insure the bulbils are viable, I wrap the cluster at the end of the scape with a piece of gauze or well ventilated material to prevent the mature seeds from falling out when mature. This means the bulb producing the bulbils is left in the ground long after the main garlic harvest, probably up to six weeks. If taken too early the bulbils will not germinate. I lost a year of production due to this happening.

After harvest the bulbils were simply dried and winnowed and kept in a cool place in the container with the main bulbs in a paper bag until planting time. There are from 300 to 500 bulbils in a mature cluster. I usually allow four bulbs to mature and mix as insurance, which is probably overkill.

The rounds also are dried and kept in a paper bag until planting time.

If you look at the pic, it looks like they might be sending some growth already while still attached.
Is that normal?
Ill dry them in a paper bag plant them and see what I got. They have been out of the ground attached to the garlic bulbs for about 3-4 weeks, until yesterday.
October garden space isn't at a premium if you know what I mean.

[QUOTE=Nematode;499491]If you look at the pic, it looks like they might be sending some growth already while still attached.
Is that normal?
Ill dry them in a paper bag plant them and see what I got. They have been out of the ground attached to the garlic bulbs for about 3-4 weeks, until yesterday.
October garden space isn't at a premium if you know what I mean.[/QUOTE]

The bulbils should not be growing in the cluster. They must have been too wet for a long period. My clusters are still in the garden, wrapped in their gauze. I have four elephant and three hard neck. I want them dry and literally falling out of the cluster with a bit of minor disturbance.
[IMG]http://www.durgan.org/2015/August%202015/2%20August%202015%20Garlic%20Harvested/HTML/dsc_58362%20august%202015%20garlic%20harvested_std.jpg[/IMG]

Nematode, I had the same thing happen with bulbils on cut scapes in water last year - they were basically sprouty. Also saw the same on some that were bulb attached in the field last year - it was wet. Moisture for sure the cause.
I dried the lot of them, but can't say whether sprouty ones that dried were afterwards good or not... :?!?: they were put in with the rest, some came some didn't.

I did take a whole "punk" of tiniest sprouts, cut off the stem and planted the whole thing into a pot for curiosity, and kept in greenhouse instead of curing and planting outdoors. It ended up producing some little bulbs - no bigger than bulbils but pretty much came from nothing. :) If you want to get every bulbil for sure you could pop the sprouted ones and plant them now - but then protect them over winter.

This is my bulbil setup - some flats outdoors heavily mulched for winter, had to weed these once. Not harvested yet. But lots of them came, from bulbils off of cut scapes. Drainage is key for flats outdoors - I think some of the misses in the smaller tubs are due to bad drainage, freezing and filling with water to overflowing with ice a couple times this winter.

Bower, Durgan,
While I believe excess moisture could cause this, they were on the covered porch on the drying rack, still attached to the bulbs.

Alliums are amazing they suck moisture right from the air, an old stem...bulbs. I would definitely cut the bulbs off and shorten the stem which is enough to feed and water those bulbils for a long long time.

I saved leek seeds last year and it was ridiculous... the scape stems just don't dry out for months. Garlic is the same - crazy water engineered solid scape stems. Dromedaries of the plant world.

We have it wet here of course, and it's all about your climate and relative humidity... Durgan can do things that wouldn't work for me. But your sprouting bulbil says, plenty moist, to me.

Why do you have to wait until Oct to plant them?

I dont know, I was reading that they should be planted the same time as you would plant garlic.
Bower says I can plant them now but will have to shelter them for the winter.

The reason for planting in October is so that the roots can start growing but the shoots won't pop through the ground just before it turns to winter. That would be bad, they might die or be weakened anyway I guess. They actually grow during the winter but you want that to be all below ground. It's beyond my experience but there is a bit of mystery about when to plant to get it just right.. varies by your location.:?!?:

This is why I protected the one I planted right away, by keeping it in the greenhouse, so any shoots wouldn't be winter killed. I planted the sprouting top fairly deep in the pot, tips below the soil surface anyway, and actually they didn't break the ground until spring anyhow.8-) At least, until greenhouse spring.

Just an FYI, Henry is a professional, a farmer that grows thousands of heads every year. His info and experience is exceptional and welcome.

[QUOTE=henry;499466]Snip of and dry on trays one layer deep once dry they keep well in paper bags what you have to watch for is if you bag them up too soon there is a chance of mold.[/QUOTE]