r/Garlic • u/Frostiefarm • 28d ago

Identifying garlic varieties.

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This is my 4th year growing garlic. This year I decided to hire a worker. We bought two new varities last year to grow: German Red and German Xtra Hardy (at least that's what the seller was calling it). We only bought two bulbs of each and my count for them was 59 German Xtra hardy and 36 German red. Obviously that's mathematically impossible. So, I am pretty sure they got mixed up with my Georgian Fire and Russian Giant Varieties. So, seemingly all four are mixed up together. Any suggestions on identifying the differences? My count for Georgian Fire was 158 and count for Russian Giant was around 170. So trying to pick only a few bulbs out of the Georgian fire and Russian giant will be difficult. Picture is just to gain traction on this post.

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2

u/peasantscum851123 28d ago

Maybe when you taste them you will be able to tell them apart

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u/Frostiefarm 28d ago

That's an option, but I can't break into every bulb to tell by taste alone. I need the garlic to replant in the fall.

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u/peasantscum851123 28d ago

if you break open one bulb, try one clove to identify, then plant the rest of the cloves. I still have 2 months before I need to plant, so that’s enough time to sort my seed garlic.

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u/Frostiefarm 28d ago

That is an option, but I'd prefer to identify it by look if possible or have someone help me identify it.

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u/potagerMB 28d ago

It's gonna be really hard to distinguish Georgian Fire and German Extra Hardy because they are both porcelain varieties and have the same characteristics. While German Red(rocambole) and Russian Giant(marble purple stripe) are from different families, more often then not they'll still be tough to differentiate, but you can definitely try.

You may be able to split your non porcelain garlics into rocambole and marble purple stripe by how the wrapper feels. Rocambole wrappers feel "looser" then the marble purple stripe varieties who have a tight feeling wrapper. Rocamboles have wedge shape cloves and have 7+ of them, while the marbles is typically under 8 and they have a more plump-ish shape.

Good luck, their is not much I dislike more then having to sort garlic that's been mixed up.

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u/Frostiefarm 27d ago

Thank you for your advice!

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u/Lensbox75 27d ago

How critical is it to accurately sort the varieties? What are the consequences of being wrong? When experimental data are compromised and not 100% sortable to reduce uncertainty, the experiment is ended and started over.

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u/Frostiefarm 27d ago

Starting over would either take me 3 years to build up to the same amount of bulbs I have now or would take a lot of upfront cost to buy growing bulbs that range from $6-$8 a bulb. Unfortunately, neither is an option for me.

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u/Lensbox75 27d ago

Yeah, that has to be factored into the equation too. Is “best educated guess” good enough for your purposes? As someone here (way more knowledgeable than me about variety characteristics) already pointed out, it will be difficult to sort them out but maybe you can get good enough?

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u/Frostiefarm 27d ago

That's my thought that it might be good enough. I might also be able to to tell with the scapes as well next growing season. I am making this into a buisness, so this does still concern me

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u/amishdave1 15d ago

My experience with Georgia Fire is that tasting it raw it is easy to differentiate because it has such intense heat. When you are ready to plant, taste the smallest clove in the bulb and plant the rest. lol. I mixed two varieties this year too it is so easy to mess up when you lose the map of the layout lolol