We currently grow about 16000 garlic bulbs. Roughly 1/3 were initially started from bulbil on our farm. We propagate by bulbil in part to keep costs down but also to avoid importing disease from other farms when we buy in new garlic varieties.
Garlic bulbils are the small bulbs that develop in the garlic scape if you leave the scape on the plant. These are not seeds, they are genetically identical to the mother plant.
Let’s take a year by year look at one garlic variety that we bought in 2006 and have since bulked up to be one of our main cultivars using bulbils.
( You can also read about planting garlic bulbils in more detail in this GTS post.)
2006
- Bought Siberian Marbled Purple Stripe garlic from another grower.
- October: Planted bulbs in trial garden to avoid introducing unknown disease into main crop.
2007
- June: Left garlic scapes on plants
- Early August: Harvested bulbs then ate them. Kept scapes with bulbils.
- October: Planted bulbils.
2008
- Early July: Harvested 16 garlic rounds. Garlic rounds are bulbs that only contain 1 round clove.
- October: Planted 16 garlic rounds.
2009
- Mid July: Harvested 16 small bulbs with 2-4 cloves each.
- Most bulbs are 1.5″ to 1.75″ in diameter. The largest is 2″ wide.
- October: Plant all garlic cloves.
2010
- Mid July: Harvested 47 bulbs with 3-5 cloves each.
- Most bulbs are 1.75″ to 2″ in diameter. The largest is 2.25″ wide.
- October: Planted all garlic cloves.
2011
- Early August: Harvested 178 bulbs with 4-6 cloves each.
- Most bulbs are 2″ to 2.25″ in diameter. 1 bulb is 2.75″ wide.
- We ate/sold half the bulbs (the smallest bulbs) and kept the largest bulbs for seed.
- October: Planted garlic cloves from the largest bulbs.
2012
- Early August: Harvested 520 bulbs.
- 3/4 of bulbs are from 2″ to 2.75″ in diameter. 39 bulbs are 2.75″ wide.
- We ate/sold half the bulbs (the smallest bulbs) and kept the largest bulbs for seed.
2013
- Early August: Harvested about 1200 bulbs.
- Over 95% of the bulbs are from 2″ to 2.75″ in diameter. Many 2.75″ wide.
- We plan on keeping the largest bulbs for seed and planting about 2000 cloves in the fall.
In Conclusion
I planted Siberian bulbils in 2007. It took 3 years (2010) to get a fair number of bulbs of moderate size. By year 4 (2011), we started selling bulbs. By year 5 (2012), we achieved bulb sizes comparable to our Rocambole and Porcelain garlic. And in year 6 (2013), this garlic is now one of our main varieties!
Growing garlic from bulbil let’s you bulk up your garlic stock and it also gives you some time to evaluate that garlic!
Love the timeline. Shows the progression (and patience required) nicely!
Interesting thank you!
Excellent! Many thanks for that!
Will Bonsall
That is a fascinating progression from bulbils to cloves. We have gotten what you call “rounds” before and I had no idea to plant them and get cloves. This year about half of our garlic died in early summer. We sent some plants to the university lab and they couldn’t find any disease. Do yoy have any ideas why a perfectly normal stand of garlic would die? I am not sure to plant our cloves or not this fall.
Thanks,
Jean in Mt
Hi Jean,
Was your season colder/wetter than usual?
Is this garlic you’ve been growing for a bit? Is any of it new?
My guess for why your plants died early would be disease. In recent years, there has been a lot of nematode damage in garlic.
If you have any bulbils, they would be a good way to regenerate your garlic in clean soil.
Dan
Hi Dan, the plants started turning red in mid June, that was the only rainy time we had. Thecrest of the season was warm, but they had already made up their mind and withered away. Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately I didn’t save any bulbules.
Thanks again for sharing!
Jean in Mt
Thanks for the experiment and results!
woo hoo, found some scapes tossed away behind an onion basket. Now I have bulbils. Have you ever tried planting bulbils in the Spring? I saw that suggested somewhere. It seems like the bulbils might dry out by then though. What do you think Dan?
Hi Jean,
Garlic bulbils stay firm much longer than garlic bulbs do. I planted some in the greenhouse last April and had no problem.
Dan
Hey I love eating garlic but I am new to garlic growing! My partners parents grow some 2000 bulbs. We ate many bulbils this spring but the rest we tossed in the woods. Have you ever used bulbils for planting when they have been left out in the elements for 3 months? We’re about to plant garlic for next year and we’re not sure if we should bother trying to use the bulbils. BTW some of the garlic – we think – got nematode damage…
Hi Sarah,
If the bulbils are still firm they should be fine for planting. If you have had nematode damage, starting a new garlic plot from bulbils would be one way to get rid of the pest.
Dan
This is very cool. I just found a random cluster of bulbils on my seed starting table. I’m getting ready to start some seeds indoors here in Oregon, and found the bulbils still attached to a partial scape and completely dry. I picked up the cluster and all the dry little bulbils fell apart. I searched for info online and found your site . . . thank you for the info. I intend to plant them as soon as possible (early Spring or right now?) and hope for the best. Thanks again and best wishes to you in all your endeavors.
We are planting bulbils this spring from last years hard neck crop. Can we just leave them in the ground this fall and winter, and harvest the rounds next summer for eating and dividing into cloves for replanting again next fall? Must they be dug and re-planted for any reason other than inspection, or dividing the small cloves into new plants. Can a bulbil not be just planted once and grow into a large harvestable bulb in 2-3 years? thank you
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.
You can leave the bulbils in the ground. However you need to exert good weed control to keep on top of them. If your bulbils are too dense they will compete with themselves for space and might not size up well.
Dan
Hi Daniel
Une petite question.
Do we plant bulbils at the same depth as cloves?
Thank-you
Only getting to your answer right now.
We generally plant bulbils to a depth of about 3 times their diameter.
Forget-it Daniel
It was written on the envelop.
Best regards
I’m new to growing garlic and am visiting the site today to learn about these strange bulbils growing at the top of the scapes. Last year I planted a few single cloves and had some scapes. I pulled some up expecting to find them turned into full cloves but I guess it doesn’t work that way đŸ˜® This year the ones I left behind have much taller scapes and there are 2 big bulbils. I guess I’ll cut them off and eat one and plant the little bulbil pieces from the other one in the fall. Happy garlicing.
Good luck with your growing!
Hi, how long does it take for garlic bulbils to sprout after you plant them?
Thanks!
Hi Laura,
I don’t have an incredibly precise answer for you. But I’ve got some ideas!
When we plant garlic bulbils in the fall, they sprout the next spring after a winter under snow and mulch.
If you want to plant bulbils inside or at another time of year, I believe they need a vernalization period. they need to spend some time at cold temperatures. However, I’m not sure for how long or how cold. You could probably put them in the fridge for a 2-4 weeks to see if that works.
We store bulbils at around 10C (50F) for the winter and plant them in the spring in the greenhouse. They usually sprout in 1-2 weeks.
I hope this helps,
Dan