Very good but one of the most important parts of understanding scapes is which section of the scape to use in eating. An inexperienced grower may use the entire scape which is way too woody. Of course the woody parts of the scape can be used to flavor stocks and soups like bay leaves and discarded latter. But neglecting to tell a total neophyte making soup or dishes with bay leaves to discard or not consume the bay leaf.
This video was great, thank you! I'm growing garlic for the first time and am still learning so this was so informative. Also the frozen pesto idea sounds lovely!
It’s very important to get Garlic that is easy to peel and the "paper type skin" comes off very easy. We bought German Red Garlic and Giant Russia garlic because it was so easy to peel all of it. Our first year we just bought Garlic from a grocery store. Our fingers burned trying to peel the garlic we planted from the grocery store.Now we plant heritage garlic only.
Ok, I feel good as I did my first scaping today with shears and while I took the top leaf I left a nub before the next leaf and then peeled the top leaf plus outer layer back. I feel that's a good compromise going in blind
On most subgroups/varieties you want to wait until they start to coil. I good rule of thumb for most varieties is that when the scape curls and cross the center stem the first time (essentially a 3/4 curl) then harvest. Asiatics, Creole and certain Turban varieties are "lazy" scapers and the rules are a little different.
We just finished up shipping this years crop and we'll start planting at the farm in VT in the next week or so. We plan to post a video that outlines how we plant.
Thank you for your informative videos! I’m in NJ and have a small home garden. I’m excited to have planted garlic on October 25th for the first time. It is now early June’s and I have noticed yellowing on the tips, the first few inches of the tops, of my garlic plants. Yesterday I decided to give them soluble fertilizer of 24-8-16 with a little fish fertilizer. I thought they might need nitrogen. I did side dress them in April and planted them with compost and fertilizer . I see I now have scapes on the hard neck varieties and as per your wonderful information I am going to harvest them and learn to make wonderful things with them. My concern is have I done damage by fertilizing at this late date? Did I do the wrong thing? They don’t seem ready to harvest as I only have maybe one brown leaf at the bottom. The yellowing and browning is at the top. I hope I haven’t damaged my desire for having wonderful garlic bulbs. Please inform? Thank you!
Hi Karen, yellow tips in spring/early summer is typically caused frost/freeze damage on the tips of leaves. Garlic starts growing well before spring frosts end and those early leaves/tips pay the price. The cell walls get damaged from the freezing and when temps warm up and it gets hot the tips dry down. This spring was especially bad due to the unseasonably warm temps in March and April and then a return to cold multiple times. If you look at the pictures on our Facebook page you’ll see a field full of yellow tips. That’s the cause. As far as the fertilizer you applied. Really not ideal for two reasons: 1) way to late in season to apply fertilizer. You should stop fertilizing about 2 weeks prior to scaping. In your location May 15th is a good rule of thumb unless you are in Northern NJ than move to May 22nd. 2). Fertilizer that you used is WAY to high in Nitrogen IMO. In well prepared/composted beds I would be reluctant to use anything higher than 10.x.x. In fact we use 5/3/4 in fall and fertilizer in spring with fish emulsion 3.3.03. What’s going to happen? It’s going to delay your harvest. Plant is going to want to keep growing instead of forming bulb. It could also cause the plant to start “Witches brooming” which is when it grows extra leaves (actually elongated clove wrappers). Nothing you can do now other than wait and see.
@@thegarlicgrower1443 thank you so much for your advice! If only I asked before I did this…ugh…it did rain yesterday afternoon and again today perhaps thst will dilute the fertilizer or carry it away?
Very useful question and response. I'm in NJ, same question about yellowing tips, and same mistake with fertilizing, high nitrogen and too late! Oh, well. I guess we'll see what happens! My garlic was going great, and over the past few weeks it has been looking a bit yellow and wilty (it has really been HOT), but still overall seems healthy. Because the yellow tips were worrying me, I fertilized them with calcium nitrate 8 days ago. Apparently, a big mistake. I have scapes on some varieties, and will soon have more, so at least that's going to be great! It's only my 2nd time growing garlic, and as with all gardening, it's always a learning process. Thank you, The Garlic Grower, for your video and detailed advice!
Can't wait for next video. I'm in central Indiana my I have been fertilizing every 2 weeks my tips are starting to brown should I fertilize again or just let them go?
Too late in the season to fertilize now. In your location we would stop fertilizing early May. You are only a few weeks from harvest and if you haven’t scapes yet will be very soon.
i've been pulling the scape completely out for years and I have never seen a plant have any issue.... if I do ever get one that has issues I will let you know.
I am growing Garlic for the first time this year, and so far, with luck, so good. Am growing German hard neck as it seemed to be the recommended variety for central to north central Maine. 8-9 leaves per plant, just harvested scapes today. Am now watching bottom 3 leaves for browning, going forward, for when to start test harvesting. Any recommendations on storing bulbs for planting next year, and other varieties to try in my area to plant this fall? Thanks in advance for any advice. Will check your website out. Mark
Typically German White/Extra Hardy will be ready 3-4 weeks after scaping. With that variety we pull a little earlier as it has a tendency to throw HUGE cloves that will bust wrappers if you get rain close to harvest. Always better to be early than late. I’d recommend you try a Turban variety or Rocambole which have deep flavors compare to German White/Hardy. Spanish Roja or Sans Creek are nice Rocamboles and we like Thai Purple, Basque and China Stripe in Turbans.
Nice video. This may seem stupid, but I cannot find a answer anywhere. My wife just brought home the most beautiful purple stripe hard neck garlic I have ever seen. Nice bulbs and half dried flower head still attached. Can I immediately plant these fresh cloves for a fall crop or must they be dried for some time? Thanks for any thoughts.
Really depends on where you are located. Assuming the US you’d be better off waiting until the fall to plant. Make sure to save the bulbils for fall planting as well.
We are now farming in Northern Vermont. The last two years we pulled back to about 40-50,000 because of Covid impacts with festivals and other family priorities. We planned to go back up to normal 100,000 this year but decided to maintain and increase when we plant in fall of 2022.
@@thegarlicgrower1443 I'm just a backyard grower.. I couldn't find any last season so I used store bought.. I know they are sprayed with something.. these were elephant ? Something.. but I wanted to try so it's in the ground from last October.. stalks not really big.. but I tried
Garlic in general does not like to have its roots disturbed. Transplanting at anytime is not really a great option but if you have too it’s better to do so when the plant is very young. If more than 4-5 leaves it’s going to set the plant way back. We’ve done some spring planting experiments where we transplanted from cell trays that were about 5 weeks old vs direct seeding cloves and the direct seeded cloves in every variety outperformed the transplants.
Very good but one of the most important parts of understanding scapes is which section of the scape to use in eating. An inexperienced grower may use the entire scape which is way too woody. Of course the woody parts of the scape can be used to flavor stocks and soups like bay leaves and discarded latter. But neglecting to tell a total neophyte making soup or dishes with bay leaves to discard or not consume the bay leaf.
This video was great, thank you! I'm growing garlic for the first time and am still learning so this was so informative. Also the frozen pesto idea sounds lovely!
Excellent video! NOW I understand what a scape is lol. Thank you. Can’t wait to try that pesto. Sounds delicious 😋.
It’s very important to get Garlic that is easy to peel and the "paper type skin" comes off very easy. We bought German Red Garlic and Giant Russia garlic because it was so easy to peel all of it. Our first year we just bought Garlic from a grocery store. Our fingers burned trying to peel the garlic we planted from the grocery store.Now we plant heritage garlic only.
Good to know. I have just harvested my scapes and I have always snapped rather than pulled.
Nice video and great knowledge past on. Thanks :) tomorrow we are planting our first 14 lbs of music. Cheers ! :)
Good info. Thank you. Have a great day.
Excellent and detailed. Thank you!
Ok, I feel good as I did my first scaping today with shears and while I took the top leaf I left a nub before the next leaf and then peeled the top leaf plus outer layer back. I feel that's a good compromise going in blind
Just keep in mind every leaf you remove prior to harvest reduces bulb size between 10-15% depending on variety and timing of removal.
@@thegarlicgrower1443 huh, very good to know lol
Thanks for the time you take out of your day to video. Can you pick the scape to early?
On most subgroups/varieties you want to wait until they start to coil. I good rule of thumb for most varieties is that when the scape curls and cross the center stem the first time (essentially a 3/4 curl) then harvest. Asiatics, Creole and certain Turban varieties are "lazy" scapers and the rules are a little different.
Its been to long i need a new video. Haha hope all is well would like to see your fall planing and soil preperation.
We just finished up shipping this years crop and we'll start planting at the farm in VT in the next week or so. We plan to post a video that outlines how we plant.
Thank You
Thank you for your informative videos! I’m in NJ and have a small home garden. I’m excited to have planted garlic on October 25th for the first time. It is now early June’s
and I have noticed yellowing on the tips, the first few inches of the tops, of my garlic plants. Yesterday I decided to give them soluble fertilizer of 24-8-16 with a little fish fertilizer. I thought they might need nitrogen. I did side dress them in April and planted them with compost and fertilizer . I see I now have scapes on the hard neck varieties and as per your wonderful information I am going to harvest them and learn to make wonderful things with them. My concern is have I done damage by fertilizing at this late date? Did I do the wrong thing? They don’t seem ready to harvest as I only have maybe one brown leaf at the bottom. The yellowing and browning is at the top. I hope I haven’t damaged my desire for having wonderful garlic bulbs. Please inform? Thank you!
Hi Karen, yellow tips in spring/early summer is typically caused frost/freeze damage on the tips of leaves. Garlic starts growing well before spring frosts end and those early leaves/tips pay the price. The cell walls get damaged from the freezing and when temps warm up and it gets hot the tips dry down. This spring was especially bad due to the unseasonably warm temps in March and April and then a return to cold multiple times. If you look at the pictures on our Facebook page you’ll see a field full of yellow tips. That’s the cause. As far as the fertilizer you applied. Really not ideal for two reasons: 1) way to late in season to apply fertilizer. You should stop fertilizing about 2 weeks prior to scaping. In your location May 15th is a good rule of thumb unless you are in Northern NJ than move to May 22nd. 2). Fertilizer that you used is WAY to high in Nitrogen IMO. In well prepared/composted beds I would be reluctant to use anything higher than 10.x.x. In fact we use 5/3/4 in fall and fertilizer in spring with fish emulsion 3.3.03. What’s going to happen? It’s going to delay your harvest. Plant is going to want to keep growing instead of forming bulb. It could also cause the plant to start “Witches brooming” which is when it grows extra leaves (actually elongated clove wrappers). Nothing you can do now other than wait and see.
As far as harvest, we have a video posted about that but typically harvest is 3-4 weeks after scaping.
@@thegarlicgrower1443 thank you so much for your advice! If only I asked before I did this…ugh…it did rain yesterday afternoon and again today perhaps thst will dilute the fertilizer or carry it away?
Very useful question and response. I'm in NJ, same question about yellowing tips, and same mistake with fertilizing, high nitrogen and too late! Oh, well. I guess we'll see what happens! My garlic was going great, and over the past few weeks it has been looking a bit yellow and wilty (it has really been HOT), but still overall seems healthy. Because the yellow tips were worrying me, I fertilized them with calcium nitrate 8 days ago. Apparently, a big mistake. I have scapes on some varieties, and will soon have more, so at least that's going to be great! It's only my 2nd time growing garlic, and as with all gardening, it's always a learning process. Thank you, The Garlic Grower, for your video and detailed advice!
Can't wait for next video. I'm in central Indiana my I have been fertilizing every 2 weeks my tips are starting to brown should I fertilize again or just let them go?
Too late in the season to fertilize now. In your location we would stop fertilizing early May. You are only a few weeks from harvest and if you haven’t scapes yet will be very soon.
i've been pulling the scape completely out for years and I have never seen a plant have any issue.... if I do ever get one that has issues I will let you know.
Glad that you have an approach that works well for you. As they say, there’s more than one way to skin a skunk.
I am growing Garlic for the first time this year, and so far, with luck, so good. Am growing German hard neck as it seemed to be the recommended variety for central to north central Maine. 8-9 leaves per plant, just harvested scapes today. Am now watching bottom 3 leaves for browning, going forward, for when to start test harvesting.
Any recommendations on storing bulbs for planting next year, and other varieties to try in my area to plant this fall? Thanks in advance for any advice. Will check your website out.
Mark
Typically German White/Extra Hardy will be ready 3-4 weeks after scaping. With that variety we pull a little earlier as it has a tendency to throw HUGE cloves that will bust wrappers if you get rain close to harvest. Always better to be early than late. I’d recommend you try a Turban variety or Rocambole which have deep flavors compare to German White/Hardy. Spanish Roja or Sans Creek are nice Rocamboles and we like Thai Purple, Basque and China Stripe in Turbans.
@@thegarlicgrower1443 TY for responding. Already checked out your website. Will check those varieties out.
It's a delicious food
Nice video. This may seem stupid, but I cannot find a answer anywhere. My wife just brought home the most beautiful purple stripe hard neck garlic I have ever seen. Nice bulbs and half dried flower head still attached. Can I immediately plant these fresh cloves for a fall crop or must they be dried for some time? Thanks for any thoughts.
Really depends on where you are located. Assuming the US you’d be better off waiting until the fall to plant. Make sure to save the bulbils for fall planting as well.
How many do you plant on your farm?
We are now farming in Northern Vermont. The last two years we pulled back to about 40-50,000 because of Covid impacts with festivals and other family priorities. We planned to go back up to normal 100,000 this year but decided to maintain and increase when we plant in fall of 2022.
100k..holy moly..you are the godfather of garlic..thats how its done...
Iam wondering how i can sell 10000 in 2023..let alone 100k..
Thanks 👍... Did you have plenty of garlic in stock for bulk sales last August?
We don’t start selling until Sept and while we don’t limit quantities someone can order we don’t really do bulk/wholesale volumes
@@thegarlicgrower1443 I'm just a backyard grower.. I couldn't find any last season so I used store bought.. I know they are sprayed with something.. these were elephant ? Something.. but I wanted to try so it's in the ground from last October.. stalks not really big.. but I tried
You kinda sound almost exactly like Joe Rogan.
Can I transplant the whole plant in July?
Garlic in general does not like to have its roots disturbed. Transplanting at anytime is not really a great option but if you have too it’s better to do so when the plant is very young. If more than 4-5 leaves it’s going to set the plant way back. We’ve done some spring planting experiments where we transplanted from cell trays that were about 5 weeks old vs direct seeding cloves and the direct seeded cloves in every variety outperformed the transplants.
Darn wish I seen this before I cut all mine!! 😳 I cute right at the stem! 🥲😫
Ok. I didn't know garlic had seeds till now
On a sunny day the last garlic video said a cloudy day to scape harvest....hmmmm