Question: Multiple Garlic Stems?

[GoDawgs]

I noticed a couple of days ago that a few of my garlic plants have two or three stems. Huh? I've not seen this before and am wondering what the deal is since only one clove was planted. The plant in the photo has three stems.



Now, this is happening in the Russian Inferno garlic and that's a variety I've been growing for about 4 or 5 years, always using some of the previous year's bulbs as planting stock. I've not seen this problem in the Lorz Italian Garlic (3rd season for Lorz).

Any suggestions or reasons this is happening? I was contemplating replacing the Inferno with something else for next year anyway but I'm just curious about what's going on.

[MissS]

My guess is that it must have grown some offsets over the winter. You could dig one up and take a gentle peek to see what is going on beneath the soil.

[pepperhead212]

I have this happen occasionally, more often with some varieties than others, and it seems that there are double (or maybe triple?) cloves inside the skins, that cause it. Music seems to have a lot more double cloves causing this, than others.

[Whwoz]

Agree with pepperhead, multiple cloves within skin, had a number do this the season just past. You will find multiple globes joined together, each smaller than a singly grown globe if left together

[Meganp]

At planting time, check the basal plate of larger cloves and you ought to be able to see if they're doubles and avoid planting them.

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[bower]

Spanish Roja is one that does this a lot, and I'm sure there are others. With the double cloves under the skin, you end up with several small bulbs instead of one big one. It's tricky when you're going for the biggest cloves, because naturally a double is often a big one.

[JRinPA]

Are you sure it was one clove? You'd have to peel them to be sure. And once you peel them, if they are multiples, then you can't really split them easily without damaging the bigger one.
I soak mine in baking soda water and then peel immediately before planting. The ones that are in fact doubles, if I don't plant them, they get used next for cooking.

Oftentimes mine are not so obvious as Meganp's example. What looks like one big clove of mine can end up with two skinny insiders with just a hint of root on the bottom.

[GoDawgs]

Thanks for the all the input. I tried to make sure all the cloves planted were singles but when doing repetitious stuff the mind sometimes wanders and a multiple might have slipped through.

So it's OK to take off the skin before planting? I try to use only the large cloves from the outside layer where there's less chance of doubles but you never know.

[Whwoz]

Sometimes double and the odd triple are just not that obvious when planting @GoDawgs .

Suspect that I might have planted a multiple clove of Korean Spicey Mountain today but didn't remove skin to check. See no reason why one could not remove skin to check if you wanted to, I find that the final skin will often split and pull a bit off one clove without an issue. One could run a finger across the outside of the clove, you should feel a dip if multiple cloves present under one skin. I always mean to lift and divide multiple cloves but never get around to it, have more than enough planted for our needs so don't really fuss over one or two slightly smaller than normal cloves.

[JRinPA]

Come planting day I'll go through the "best" garlic I had saved for seed and start peeling bulbs looking for nice mass and shape to cloves. Half or more of this garlic doesn't make the cut and is left as cloves or bulb chunks with the papers intact and set aside for using soon. My garlic has a lot of cloves of irregular size. The unpeeled cloves that make the cut go into the baking soda water. After a few hours soak in the baking soda water, I go to plant. The papers come right off. At that time (usually by flashlight in the cold) I peel two dozen or so, flicking the peels on the ground, and I look over the clove and drop the bare cloves into a cup of isopropyl alcohol, swish it for a minute, and start planting them. Info was from one of the garlic websites a few years back. It lets you check the actual clove for any sign of disease or malformation.

When you made that follow the paper trail thread last year I thought those peels were what you meant by paper, at least at first, because those peels I leave behind in late Fall are still on the ground in March. I don't know why they stick, if it is the shape or what, but it always cracks me up, like I left them there last week instead of four months ago.

Point is, for me even after peeling them, when I find a double or triple in the guise of a large single, I may plant it, or put it aside for using in the next meal, or just toss it. It is tough for me to actually split them apart without damaging both cloves, so I quit worrying about it. If it is a real nice big one, even if a double, I'll probably just plant it. At times I wish I had to wherewithal to really catalog the seed/mature rate. Weight, pic, numbering each hole... I am fairly certain I get more mass from a double than a single of the same size. Usually it looks like two halves of an extra wide clove.

[GoDawgs]

@JRinPA , thanks for those tips for my fall planting!

@Whwoz , I didn't realize you can separate and replant those doubles and triples. I can try that with one or two now. I don't know how early on I could have identified them as I wasn't looking for them but I will from now on. I'm just guessing that the earlier I can split and replant the better off they'll be growing on their own. Of course, the best remedy is not to plant multiples in the first place!

[Whwoz]

@GoDawgs , haven't actually lifted and divided myself yet, but see no reason why it couldn't be done, obviously the earlier the better

[pepperhead212]

Just found a double in mine today, when I was working in the back part of the garden.
found a double garlic out there - a Metechi, I think. by pepperhead212, on Flickr