Propagating ail is very straightforward . Where I get hang up up usually has to do with deciding how many cloves to spare from the kitchen knife to embed back out .

And I love these tasty flavor bombs , so it ’s a fight between the preference buds of the present and futurity .

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A close up horizontal image of garlic bulbils on the top of a flower stalk pictured in bright sunshine on a soft focus background.

Bulbil Pod

Sure , every class the number of clove you end up with increases , but it ’s not by a lot , and it can take a farsighted time to importantly increase your planting descent without buying more seed garlic .

That ’s where the bulbils come in . Leave a few scapes alone and you ’ll cease up with ten to 100 tiny aery cloves from each one to plant in your garden in the declension .

How does this type of propagation workplace and where do you start ?

A close up vertical image of a garlic flower with developing bulbils pictured on a dark soft focus background. To the top and bottom of the frame is green and white printed text.

register on to find out !

This is what we ’ll compensate :

What You’ll Learn

What Are Garlic Bulbils?

You knowthose delicious scapesthat sprout from your hardneck garlic each spring ?

If you leave them be , rather than cutting them to habituate in pesto or agitate fries , each one will finally raise an umbelliferous bloom . In the former summer and other capitulation , the scape will produce mini cloves known as bulbil .

These piffling guy rope can be collected and either eaten – although it ’d take a lot of the rice - texture - to - pea plant - sized bulbs to season a given looker – or planted outlike source Allium sativum .

A close up horizontal image of the small bulblets of garlic pictured on a soft focus background.

Bulbils , or bulblet , are notseeds produced via sexual reproduction . Scapes are not true blossom , and their generative part only work partly – so they are n’t viable , and there ’s no cross - pollenation ask here .

Each one is a clone of the parent that offers a unlike path for the works to vegetatively propagate , as is dividing your bulb harvest time into cloves that you ’ll replant .

However , that method only yields four or five undercover clove each , while each scape can grow 10 to 100 of these mini aerial electric-light bulb – and you’re able to sow all of these out .

A close up horizontal image of a garlic flower showing the bulbils, pictured on a soft focus background.

Not only are they free of any soilborne diseases that may be present in the ground - grown germ garlic you ’d normally put back into the garden in the downfall , but you may increase your planting stock much quicker than if you ’re saving filth grow cloves to plant out .

It ’s worth sacrificing two or three scape deserving of pesto for that , in my opinion !

Note that softneck varieties not make scapes so this propagation method acting can only be used with hardneck type , like ‘ German White . ’ You canlearn more about the different types of garlic in our guide .

A close up horizontal image of human hands opening up a flower to reveal the bulbils.

Collection and Storage

Once the bulbil pod develops a cranny , cut the entire scape and hang it to cure in a protected , well - ventilate area .

You ’ll know they ’re sufficiently dried when there is no unripened left on the scape , and the stem and proscribed layer are chocolate-brown and crispy . This can take about a calendar month , so be patient !

Once they are dry out , violate the pod get to the rest of the means and itch with your digit to remove the bulbils . They should easy drop off when they ’ve dry and cure sufficiently .

A horizontal image of long mature flower scapes of hardneck garlic with developing bulbils at the top.

stock in a cool dry position until you are quick to imbed them out .

Planting and Harvest

Add these to your garden as you would regular seed Eugenia caryophyllatum . institute them out in the fall with their wrappers entire , in a mulched , weed - free bed . you’re able to also root them in containers fill with unsex soil or potting mix .

The only marked difference between inseminate seed clove and bulbils has to do with planting density .

Since these are so small and wo n’t grow as heavy as a full clove tree does in one time of year , result six to eight inch between rows . position the gravid one four inches apart , and smaller one can be planted two column inch apart .

A close up horizontal image of small Allium sativum roundels set on a dark gray surface.

Different varieties produce bulbils of different sizes , so be mindful of this and plant befittingly .

They will emerge in April or early May and will be ready to harvest when the bottom leave turn yellow and the stems flop over .

Gently pull them from the ground . The result roundel ( or single Syzygium aromaticum ) are not as strong as those acquire from planting a full - sized Eugenia aromaticum , so be heedful ! You require the fore to remain intact so you’re able to hang them to dry .

Just like the bulbils , these roundels will postulate to be cure , so hang them in a cool , teetotal location as you did with the scapes in the beginning . You canlearn more about the process of curing garlic in our guidebook .

Replant the individual roundels in the declination , providing increase spacing as want depending on their size .

It can take two to five year , look on their size and the local conditions , to go from bulbil to a full - sized harvest thatyou can harvestand use in your culinary adventures .

But just imagine how much garlic you ’ll have down the argumentation , propagate for costless !

From Mini to Major Harvests

Garlic , especiallymoregarlic , is always a good idea . But I always skin with the internal fight between want to have enough to eat over the winter and wanting to insure an abundant crop next class .

The solution to increasing plant strain without buying more seeded player cloves is to leave a few shaft to farm these aery clove , and they ’ll be disease - free , no less !

Sure , it take longer to get a useable crop with this generation method . But within a few years , you ’ll have more than enough to eatandto plant out for an abundant harvest time the next class .

In the meantime , read these helpful garlic - grow articlesto help you in your seeking :

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Sylvia Dekker