Russian Red Garlic

ThePlantLady

10 years ago

Details

Type: hard neck Rocambole garlic
Color: bulb wrapper has a brownish cast
Maturity: ?
Size:
- “A Grade = 1 7/8″ and larger bulbs”
- averages 6-8 cloves per bulb, per PVFS
- 8-13 cloves per bulb ^BCMAFF
- approximately 7 bulbs per pound
Yield: ?
Taste:
- Heat: strong & long-lasting
- great flavor
- “strong garlic flavor with a warm sweet aftertaste”
- “raw flavor is intense and big up front, with some sweetness along with a slight and pleasant bitterness”
- “the perfect garlic flavor” per Chester Aaron
Disease or Environmental Tolerance:
- cold tolerant
- can withstand soggy winter soils much better than others
Storage Quality: fair

2010-2011: planted 10 cloves 10/13/11
- White bulb wrappers; red cloves
- 6-8 cloves per head
- harvested 5/18/2011 (217 days)
  - 8 heads (2 hit by s&b nematodes)
2011-2012: 1 lb seed stock = 6 heads = 41 cloves (only planted 31 of them)
- planted 11/19/11 at 4″ spacing, rows 18″ apart (23 cloves)
- planted 11/28/11 at 6″ spacing (8 more cloves)
- stem & bulb nematodes hit in mid-April
- harvested 6/2/12 (190 days)
  - 29 heads out of 31 cloves planted (94% survival rate)
  - 4.6 lbs total; 2.5 oz each, about 8 cloves each
    Russian Red Garlic seed stock (2011)
    Russian Red Garlic seed stock (2011)
    Russian Red garlic harvest (2012)
2012-2013: 1 lb seed stock ($15.19) = 7 heads (up to 13 cloves each) = 84 cloves
Russian Red garlic seed stock (2012)
- some of the seed stock was rotted or too small, so only 53 were planted
- planted at 4″ spacing, biointensively (11/4/12)
- harvested on 6/13/13 (221 days)
  - 50 heads out of 53 planted (94% survival)
  - total weight was only 1.6 lbs (not enough water?) average size: 1/2 oz each
2014-2015: 1 lb seed stock ($14.99) = 9 heads (~72-117 cloves) = 1.8 oz/head
Russian Red Garlic seed stock (2014)
- seed stock was pretty ratty looking…overripe (okay for planting) with small cloves (small cloves lead to smaller heads)