"The festival has a policy stating that all vendors must test their product and it must be proven free of GBN in order to be able to sell there." Who performs the testing? Private labs? Does Minnesota have state-sponsored testing? I hope to see the USDA & state extension offices become more active in fighting GBN. It would be in everyone's best interest if that testing is made available & affordable to gardeners and collectors as well, since some of those are unwittingly spreading the organism through trades. I am no fan of Federal intervention in commerce, but since infected stock is being sold across state lines, this is a case where a USDA "GBN free" certification program should be initiated for all garlic sold as seed stock. "I have some Artichoke types but I generally shy away from softnecks because under my growing conditions most of those plants are weakly bolting and create bulbils in various locations - at the top of the the bulbs in the wrappers, just above the bulbs, halfway up the pseudostem, etc." While I have read of this behavior, mine have only rarely produced stem bulbils. I wish that was a more frequent occurrence, it would offer some hope of salvaging a variety, should GBN infect the bulb. It is the artichoke & other softneck garlics which are most at risk from the spread of GBN; my fear is that we could lose some heirloom softnecks completely before this infestation has been dealt with. "I too have noticed a general decline in size of what is being grown and offered out there. It was a goofy growing season in many parts of the U.S., wondering if that is the reason. I also suspect that a lot of bulb/clove stock is infected with viruses which can affect bulb quality and size, especially when combined with the stresses of a poor growing season. IMO people would be wise to break the chain and replace their entire stock by planting bulbils every five years or so, at least with types that produce bulbils. Not a complete solution but it is helpful." On that topic... correct me if I am wrong, Tom, but the use of bulbils as planting stock would only offer protection against GBN and other soil-borne organisms. Diseases tend to be systemic, and any part of the plant - bulbils included - would be infected. I have read comments from several garlic growers who believe that if they grow bulbils from stock infected with aster yellows, that the resultant crop would be free of the disease. It would be wonderful if that were true, but I doubt that would be an effective remedy. I do believe that hardneck garlic offered as seed stock (both commercially & through trades) should be more available in the form of bulbils. When I again offer garlic through SSE, I will make a statement explaining the threat of GBN, and encouraging more growers to offer bulbils. I will be doing so for all of my hardnecks. Spreading knowledge to other gardeners is key to getting a handle on GBN... my sincere thanks, Tom, for bringing this to our attention. It sure opened my eyes, especially as I begin to rebuild & expand my collection. I hope the "goofy season" is the reason for the predominance of small bulbs this year. Several of the growers that I obtained stock from ascribe to this theory, and I hope they are right. Looking back, I had several years with small bulbs, followed by years where bulbs grown from that smaller stock returned to their full size. Obviously, I hope that will happen with the stock I am planting now. It seems odd, though, to see this phenomenon occur on a national level. I don't necessarily suspect a virus, but that is a possibility... and if true, it might be yet another threat that is not being tested for. If there was one good thing about the aster yellows outbreak, it was that it generated awareness of just how fragile our garlic industry really is. Any vegetable which owes its continued existence to vegetative propagation is vulnerable to disease buildup... think Irish potatoes. " I focus instead on hardnecks, Rocamboles in particular. To me they are the best and are the focus of my attention (although I think most growers around here focus on growing Porcelains). Rokes are very winter-hardy plants. Their clove size, ease of peeling, flavor, and roasting attributes put them in high demand, even if they do not have the best storage attributes." Rocamboles are my favorite hardnecks as well. They tend to have larger bulbs than my porcelain garlics; one of them, "Special Idaho", had bulbs almost as large as my artichoke types. Additionally - and importantly - rocamboles also have especially large bulbils. Those of "Special Idaho" were often marble size. This means that it is realistic to propagate rocamboles from bulbils in a short time frame. I had been meaning to test that large-scale in 2012, but aster yellows put a halt to that. Sadfly, I have been unable to find sources for some of the rocamboles I lost... including "Special Idaho" and "Chrysalis Purple".

I dry ours in an airy place, under cover. I tie the greens together in bunches of 10 or so with string, and hang the bundles either in an unchinked outbuilding or under the metal roof of a porch - out of hot sunlight.If you are in a humid area, between 3 and 6 weeks later at most, they are cured.After curing, i cut away the leaves, brush dirt and snip the roots down short. Peel one layer of the garlic's paper away to get that clean, white look. No cleaning water is needed, even when planted in clayish soil. I found that if i harvest my garlics when the soil is quite dry, i get a much cleaner bunch of bulbs. I just wouldn't harvest it when water-logged, but damp has not been a problem. Glad

>why shouldn't I just replant the cloves I choose as I harvest them? It might work. Garlic is, at base, a perennial. But I see two things that would concern me. First, the tops might grow too fast, then die back in late fall/winter. That's a lot of energy gone, that might effect the overwintering roots. On the other hand, they just might go through a summer dormancy the way some onions do. Second, it's likely to be hit or miss, with the replanted cloves rotting from summer rains. The fresh cloves are much more suseptible to this, as compared to cured ones, because the wrappers dissolve before roots can establish themselves. Give it a try. But be sure and reserve some of your seed stock for fall planting, just in case.

I'm curious how you determined the age? The first question is whether it was real garlic to begin with, since there are wild alliums which resemble garlic (I grow two of those). Some of those wild alliums can form enormous clumps, so your back hoe comment has me wondering. Do you by any chance have a photo, of either the plants, or of the bulbs? Did you observe any stalks, with topset bulbils? If it is true garlic & was feral for that long, the cloves are probably undersized. It may take a couple years of selection & replanting for the bulbs to size up to something salable... if at all. If it does improve to the point where it looks worth selling, then yes, it would be considered an heirloom. The standard convention for naming it would be to give it the name of the property owner (or of the person which first planted it if known).