Garlic for the south

[JScott]

I know generally softneck garlic is considered better for warm climates like Texas. Previously, I have always jut planted whatever garlic was available at the grocery store, and I always got some good garlic that way, but this year I decided to try ordering proper seed garlic so I could try some different varieties and see what does best for me.

I've planted the garlic, and I no longer remember the names of the varieties, but I planted quite a bit of hardneck garlic. I remember as I selected my varieties, I tried to select ones which were labeled as more heat tolerant, so I may have done just fine.

The thing is, the garlic scape is one of my favorite part of growing garlic, and only hardnecks produce scapes. Obviously it is too late for this year, but I was wondering if any of you in warm climate have had any success with any specific varieties of hardneck garlic that have done well in warm climates.Does anybody have any suggestions for hardneck varieties I may want to try next year?

[DirtyCoconuts]

Negative. I have had zero luck with any garlic items except garlic chives

I am so envious of anyone who can grow it as it is the best

[JScott]

I've done great with just garlic I bought at the grocery store and planted. I've got some nice big bulbs that way, but this year I wanted to go a little gourmet and get some really exciting specialty varieties and see how I do with them. They may all die and I may have to go back to grocery store garlic hahahaha, hopefully this will work out. Like I said, when I was selecting my seed garlic, I looked for ones that were mentioned as being heat tolerant, so I may have done okay. Time will tell. They are in the ground for about a week now, so we should be seeing some growth soon.

[kvet]

Apologies, won't be able to help, just chiming in here to say this will hopefully be an interesting thread.

I'm in southern california, 10a. Early 2020 I planted rocambole garlic that I brought back with me from new york Oct 2019 and some spanish roja purchased from internet. I kept both in the fridge per instructions. Planted it into containers. The NY rochambole remained a single clove with small leaves. The roja did bulb out, but they were small cloves and didn't give me scapes. They were super tasty, though. I've never had garlic scapes and was looking forward to it!

For 2021, I'm trying the soft-neck "inchilium red" and planted half into the ground in October, and holding onto the other half to plant in January just to test. The october cloves have already sprouted. Hoping someone has hard-neck variety recommendations

[WaterWitchin]

You won't get scapes from softneck garlic. Hardneck scapes readily. In your climate, it won't get as big of a bulb, but you should get plenty of scapes. If that's what you're going for, hardneck is the way to go.

Here in Kansas... smaller bulbs on softneck and more that just doesn't make it through the winter.

[kvet]

JScott: I've been researching this all morning, and seems like creole would be a good type to look into. Examples include Ajo Rojo, Creole Red, Germinador, Cuban Purple, Burgundy.

You've likely already come across this article, but I'll link to it anyway, since it covers Texas and Florida:
Warm Winter Growing

Unfortunately, many vendors seem to be sold out. I'll be calling a few on Monday to see if they have one or two bulbs left.

[kvet]

Quick update, the vendors are all pretty much sold out at this point, with some minimal remaining stock of other varieties (no creoles). One recommended Turban and another Asiatics. Best time to pre-order is mid-late spring I guess.

Also... one of the calls turned into an unexpected, nearly hour long lecture on the health benefits of garlic and its superiority over antibiotics. If anyone's interested in learning how to take a crushed garlic bath to treat mrsa or what dilution of crushed garlic is appropriate for an enema to cure three weeks of explosive diarrhea subsequent to food poisoning, I now know.

Can we chalk this up as taking one for the team?

[WaterWitchin]

[DirtyCoconuts]

Hahahaha you are a good apple, kvet

I found a seller who had some creole bulbs. If the timing works I’ll send em to you with the monstera and some sugar cane.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by kvet

JScott: I've been researching this all morning, and seems like creole would be a good type to look into. Examples include Ajo Rojo, Creole Red, Germinador, Cuban Purple, Burgundy.

You've likely already come across this article, but I'll link to it anyway, since it covers Texas and Florida:
Warm Winter Growing

Unfortunately, many vendors seem to be sold out. I'll be calling a few on Monday to see if they have one or two bulbs left.

I ordered my garlic way back in the summer when everything was in stock at Filaree Garlic Farm. I seem to recall the product descriptions mentioning which ones were more heat tolerant, so I tried to go with hardnecks that were listed as heat tolerant, and a few softneck in case the hardneck didn't work out. I went back through my email and found my sales receipt, and these are what I ordered: Metechi (Marbled PS)
Thai Purple (Turban)
Music (Porcelain)
Island Rocambole (Rocambole)
Early Red Italian (Artichoke)
Silver White (Silverskin)

And thank you for that article. I don't think I actually came across that in my original research. That will be very helpful in helping me decide what to plant if what I got this year does not produce the results I want.