Growing garlic from seeds: why is it needed and how is it done

Good afternoon, my reader. The usual method of growing winter garlic is to plant it in cloves from a ripe head. However, in addition to this vegetative method, there is still an opportunity to grow a culture with the help of "bulb" seeds ripened on the arrows. This is a laborious and painstaking, but sometimes absolutely necessary procedure. Why is this done and what is this technology?

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Why bother with bulbs

Growing garlic from air bulbs will take not one, but two years, but over time, this procedure becomes mandatory. It's all about the biological characteristics of this culture.

When grown in the traditional way using lobules, each new plant is, in fact, a clone of the mother. As a result, all its features are inherited, including randomly formed mutations - even those that are not inherited. In 4-5 years, with an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances, garlic can completely degenerate. And genetically, the bulbs are cleaner than the cloves - and with their help you can try to restore the "natural shape" of a particular variety.

In addition, when growing a garlic head, the cloves accumulate bacteria and viruses in themselves, safely transferring them to new ripening heads. Seeds are also much cleaner in this regard.

What is the essence of technology

Growing with bulbs is like this:

1. At the beginning of summer, in plants selected as a source of seeds, the arrow (peduncle) is not pulled off, but left to mature.
2. Ripe seeds are dried and sown, depending on the climate, either in the fall or the next year.
3. From the sown seeds, one-toothed bulbs grow, which are sometimes called sevka.
4. In the fall, the seedlings are harvested and planted the next year in order to get a full harvest of garlic.

How to grow seeds

To get garlic seeds, you need to proceed as follows:

1. We find several of the largest and healthiest plants in the garden.
2. We do not touch their peduncles. You can pull off on neighboring plants.
3. We look at the arrow. When it straightens up, stiffens, and the shell at the end of the box begins to burst - you can remove it.

1. Seed garlic is carefully dug out together with the seeds and dried in the shade until the arrow is completely dry.
2. After that, the boxes are cut and stored in a dark, dry and cool place.
3. About 2 months before sowing, the boxes are disassembled, the seeds are calibrated, sending all the small change and unripe bulbs to waste.
4. 5-6 weeks before sowing, the seeds are hardened and stratified by placing them in a colder place (for example, in a refrigerator box).

If the bulbs were harvested correctly and well dried, they do not lose their germination for two years.

How and when the bulbs are sown

There are two sowing options:

1. In late autumn, about a month before frost. For winter planting, hardening is not necessary
2. In spring - as soon as the soil warms up to +7 ° C.

Seeds are planted according to the scheme:

• embedment depth - 3 cm;
• the distance between the seeds is 2 cm;
• row spacing - 25-30 cm.

When planting in autumn, it is advisable to mulch the bed with peat, humus or hay so that the soil does not dry out and freeze.

After the emergence of seedlings, the care of the growing sevka is the same as for the crops of ordinary garlic. The only caveat: 3-4 weeks before harvesting, we take the mulch from the beds - the one-tooth should have time to breathe.

Harvesting sevka

It is necessary to harvest the sevok at the same time as ordinary winter garlic, that is, in mid-July - early August. Then in the fall it will be possible to sow one-toothed cloves before winter and in the next season to get marketable garlic. The main thing when cleaning is not to let the leaves dry completely: then you will be tortured to look for one-toothed in the ground.

The dug out sowing is dried in the shade and stored in a dark and dry place until planting.

Some gardeners use the direct method - they simply do not remove the sevok, leaving it to winter. This is a good option, but then the bulbs must be sown immediately "like an adult" or thinned well, otherwise they will interfere with each other's growth next season.

Do you know how to grow garlic seeds?

Original articleand many other materials, you can find on ourwebsite.

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