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bower · August 9, 2018

FWIW, I have only seen a bulbil go straight to a full divided bulb once, and that was a rocambole (Spanish Roja). In growing out purple stripes (Persian Star and Chesnok Red) and porcelains (Music, Argentina, Susan Delafield) and a bunch of other afaik marbled purple stripes, I have seen maybe three?? rounds that were split into two. Every other bulbil I've grown out has produced a single round in the first year.

So I suspect the issue of bulbils going straight to bulbs is variety specific, likely rocambole.

Equally rare for me is the round that goes on to produce a bigger round... 99%+ of all the rounds I've grown out have produced a small divided bulb, proportionate to the size of the round.

I don't know if climate differences are a factor, but they could be so YMMV.

Varieties with few cloves per bulb will size up in a couple of years, because the small size of that first bulb is only divided by 2-4 cloves. (eg porcelains, some marbled purple stripes). The cloves for replanting are a good size, and the next year bulb is much larger.

The same sized bulb which has 8 or 9+ cloves (eg Persian Star, Chesnok) will increase in size more slowly because each clove is small. Those first cloves from the rounds were barely as large as the rounds themselves, for me. OTOH, these are great varieties to increase your stock from bulbs, because of the larger number of cloves. So if money is scarce to invest in bulb stock, you might factor the number of cloves into your choice of varieties.

Rocamboles are a special case, because they do have really large bulbils already. Even going to a divided bulb the first season, there is some increase in clove size cw the bulbil, and if they go to rounds they will be large enough to produce sizeable divided bulbs with nice size cloves, even though there may be 8-9 of them. And once they are full sized, a breeze to maintain or increase your stock using cloves, or the largest bulbils as well.

The only real down side to porcelains for us, is that you have to save 1/4 of your stock for replanting the same amount. So growing up stock from bulbils on the side is well worth it.

August 9, 2018	#7
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,793	FWIW, I have only seen a bulbil go straight to a full divided bulb once, and that was a rocambole (Spanish Roja). In growing out purple stripes (Persian Star and Chesnok Red) and porcelains (Music, Argentina, Susan Delafield) and a bunch of other afaik marbled purple stripes, I have seen maybe three?? rounds that were split into two. Every other bulbil I've grown out has produced a single round in the first year. So I suspect the issue of bulbils going straight to bulbs is variety specific, likely rocambole. Equally rare for me is the round that goes on to produce a bigger round... 99%+ of all the rounds I've grown out have produced a small divided bulb, proportionate to the size of the round. I don't know if climate differences are a factor, but they could be so YMMV. Varieties with few cloves per bulb will size up in a couple of years, because the small size of that first bulb is only divided by 2-4 cloves. (eg porcelains, some marbled purple stripes). The cloves for replanting are a good size, and the next year bulb is much larger. The same sized bulb which has 8 or 9+ cloves (eg Persian Star, Chesnok) will increase in size more slowly because each clove is small. Those first cloves from the rounds were barely as large as the rounds themselves, for me. OTOH, these are great varieties to increase your stock from bulbs, because of the larger number of cloves. So if money is scarce to invest in bulb stock, you might factor the number of cloves into your choice of varieties. Rocamboles are a special case, because they do have really large bulbils already. Even going to a divided bulb the first season, there is some increase in clove size cw the bulbil, and if they go to rounds they will be large enough to produce sizeable divided bulbs with nice size cloves, even though there may be 8-9 of them. And once they are full sized, a breeze to maintain or increase your stock using cloves, or the largest bulbils as well. The only real down side to porcelains for us, is that you have to save 1/4 of your stock for replanting the same amount. So growing up stock from bulbils on the side is well worth it.