Saturday 21 March 2015

Planting Bulbils

Starting new strains of bulbils in pots, for future seed.
 I've planted garlic bulbils in spring and fall. There are benefits to each planting time, as I will explain in a moment. But first!- What are bulbils?
  To ask this question, you must either be new to garlic, you have grown garlic before, and done it to the "T", never allowing a single scape to escape the knife - out of sheer terror that you'll harvest marble-sized bulbs; or, you are pretty sure you know what they are, and want to hear if you're on the right track:
Bulbils are a reproductive function of the Lily family, of which garlic is a member.  Most annuals have one method of procreation; garlic has three, the bulb, the bulbil, and seed from the flowers. (Heads up: you don't have to worry about the seed from the flowers, because the ability to sustain flower growth through to maturity and seed production, has been bred out of garlic, and now requires careful intervention to achieve.)
Like the flowers, Bulbils are found in the umbel of the mature scape. They are like miniature cloves.
 Bulbils are vegetative seed, meaning that no cross-pollination occurs. A bulbil is in the same genetic shape as its parent clove. (There is a possibility that the natural adaptation that occurs even in "clone-like" vegetative seed is more apparent in the bulbils than it is in the cloves, but this is my own theory, and grossly unproven.)  Bulbils are small, compared to cloves, and it takes a while to get a good-sized bulb to grow from a bulbil, which means that most people don't see the potential of bulbils. Until you grow them, you don't. It takes a leap of faith - something like true, green heroism to venture forth into the patient and exciting world of advanced seed production. 
Bulbil plants, from an Asiatic strain called Asian Tempest.
These are directly from bulbils, and will produce
either rounds or very small bulbs, for the first harvest.
Notice that a few plants have tiny scapes.
This crop was fall planted.
All very well and good, you say, but how do we go about this act of bravery?  Well, if you plant in the fall you don't have to worry about the chilling hours I mentioned in the last post. The bulbils are also very fresh in the fall, you wont have any dried-up ones, like in the spring. One of the things I advise ( though I don't always do this myself ) is to mulch the planted bulbils lightly, to help them through the winter. Straw, grass clippings, possibly fall leaves, as long as you check in the spring and make sure they can break through the matted leaves or mulch. Some growers advise mulching after freeze-over, so that mice do not make homes in your bulbil beds. I don't have problems. It would be up to your location and whether you want to worry about this or not. I have a plan that usually works for spring planting, partly because I work with heavier soil, and I like to be able to till it unrestrainedly at least once after the snow has finished packing the soil down.

You can also plant direct-seeded, in the spring. I like to make raised beds, or ridged rows, create a one-inch deep depression, and sprinkle the bulbils in a six-inch swath. Just like fall planting, you space them about 1 inch apart, 1 inch deep. The difference with spring planting is that you have to make sure the seed has been chilled, or vernalized, to grow properly.

 A third planting option is what I did in the first picture, starting bulbils in pots. I did this the first time I grew bulbils, and decided it was time to try it again. I planted these in the first week of February and put them in a cold storage room we keep just above freezing. I'll bring them out into the sun when I judge that I can grow them to a safe size, and not too big, because I intend to transplant these out into a garden plot once the soil is fit, and I don't want them too crowded and tangle-rooted. If I had given them more room, I could keep them in pots all summer. Much easier to weed. I don't intend to babysit their sun / moisture / soil temperature needs all year though, because that is not easy for me - it is up to you and how your system works. I also spent a lot of time digging up seed from a large plot of direct seeded spring bulbils last summer, and I have a memory of that. I should have sifted them, at the very least, because planting only the biggest bulbils increases the chances of a good harvest. The tiny ones are very tedious to find, especially if they get away on you, and the tops disappear. And then the ones you invariably miss become weeds next year. With my pots, I sifted the bulbils, and then when I transplant them I will sort them again, and only grow what I really want. This all seems like more work, but it comes at a time when I am not busy harvesting the main crop of 3/4 acre of garlic, so there are benefits.

Systems, we all work on them, and each is unique. They are the guiding principle to a long and successful relationship with your business.

A few last notes: Larger bulbils benefit from being planted upright. (The pointy end where it attaches to the umbel is the end that produces roots, and should be at the bottom. The other pointy end is usually pointier, if that helps ;-)
Rocamboles are awesome, and can only take one year out of production, until they are back on the "bulb-wagon". The first growth is usually a large round ( single-clove plant ).
Asiatics and Artichokes rank a close second.
Marbled Purple Stripes and Purple Stripes can be done in 2-3 years.
Glazed Purple Stripes and Porcelains can take longer.
I haven't gotten much experience with Turbans yet, or silver Skins. Creoles are small to begin with, so I'm not sure when they hit their potential ( I've got year one started, and counting...)

Pink, maturing bulbils on a Purple Stripe scape. These bulbils can be used as seed.
The flowers are nicely visible yet, as they are still budding.
The flowers are small, in comparison to the bulbils.
 Later, they will wither, as the bulbils steal too much space and energy.
Garlic flowers are small and numerous, ranging from
 white to purple in colour, depending on variety.

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