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Post by macmex on Jun 15, 2021 8:30:12 GMT -6
If Ron has taught me one thing about gardening, it's to pay attention to stuff, especially changes in ones plant stock. Yesterday I was admiring my elephant garlic, when suddenly it occurred to me that something was out of place. Can you tell what it is?
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Post by boiledpeanut on Jun 15, 2021 17:50:03 GMT -6
haha I love those, they look like fire works!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 15, 2021 18:28:10 GMT -6
Nice!
That makes me wonder what color the bulb is.
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Post by macmex on Jun 16, 2021 5:56:24 GMT -6
I intend to mark the stem and save that one, seeing if there are any other differences.
One of the mysteries of life, to me, is how plants which are clonally reproduced still mutate, and that, so frequently. It happens all the time with sweet potatoes and I've heard of branches on fruit trees which suddenly change and produce distinctly different fruit from the rest of the tree.
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Post by macmex on Jun 20, 2021 14:31:46 GMT -6
Yesterday I took a closer shot of this one. It is a beauty!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 21, 2021 13:23:49 GMT -6
Wow, George, that's pretty enough to be used in a wedding arrangement!
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Post by macmex on Jul 9, 2021 11:34:14 GMT -6
All garlic flower heads in my garden are maturing, some drying down. As far as I know Elephant Garlic makes neither seeds nor scapes The little balls which look like seed balls don't contain any seed. Here's a picture of a mature flower head of regular Elephant Garlic.
That white flowering plant's flower head is acting really differently. Here's a picture of it.
I'm thinking of picking it and seeing if those long spikey things might not grow into new plants.
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Post by macmex on Jul 21, 2021 6:52:50 GMT -6
Been watching that head of white garlic as it dries down. For one thing, I don't want to lose track of that plant. I want to save the bulb and replant it, to see if we get a repeat performance. To be safe, yesterday I took the time to cut the head and save it aside. Notice the little green sprouts on it? Though normal elephant garlic is apparently sterile; never produces seed of scapes, this one plant produced something akin to scapes. But they're not really scapes, as they never resembled little garlic cloves. They jumped straight into being little plants with no root system as of yet.
I plucked the majority of the little plants off the head, noticing that some which had sprouted first may well have expired, waiting for suitable conditions for growth. I planted them in potting soil and watered. We shall see if I get a batch of little elephant garlic seedlings. That would be really something, as I have no idea when last, someone grew this plant from seed!
Here's a picture of the bulb, along with bulbs of other, normal elephant garlic I dug. The bulb from the white flowering plant is situated 180 degrees from the position of the normal ones.
Maybe someday an allium expert will drop in and explain just exactly what's happening here!
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Post by rdback on Jul 22, 2021 8:01:21 GMT -6
...Maybe someday an allium expert will drop in and explain just exactly what's happening here!
You know the old saying "I know a guy"? Well, I have an e-friend on a tomato forum who I believe "knows his garlic", so i asked him to take a look at this thread. Here's what he said:
"... I have had some elephant garlic here for at least 30 years but have never seen anything quite like that. In regular garlic, that would be called Medusa head. I've seen some leeks do strange things like that. Those that I've seen were as if the plantlike things looked like sprouted seeds or bulbils.... In short, I know a lot about growing garlic but have never seen that."
So, it sounds like what you've got going on there George is pretty rare, to say the least. It will be interesting to see where it goes.
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Post by macmex on Jul 22, 2021 9:51:48 GMT -6
Thanks Rick, those little sprouts appear to be growing. I'm kind of excited to see what comes of it.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 22, 2021 14:51:01 GMT -6
It’s just amazing what’s hidden in the natural world just waiting to be discovered. I’m excited to see what happens, too.
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Post by macmex on Dec 7, 2021 7:14:30 GMT -6
Incidentally, every one of those little sprouts withered and died when I tried growing them. I don't know if it was because of the heat or what. Sunday I planted four cloves, all there where, in the head from this white sport. The cloves looked good. We'll see if they produce a white flowering elephant garlic in 2022.
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