Onion Pips help PLEASE

[Pies]

Hi all just lifted one of my elephant garlic as it looked finished.I've found mini cloves growing from the underside of the bulb.

Are these the mysterious 'pips' i keep reading about

If so what should i do with them now?

[Snadger]

Probably not much help this, but the same thing happens to all alliums methinks.

On leeks, the king pods that form at the bottom can be planted and will quickly grow and run to seed. The grass,pips,pods or seeds that form on the seedhead can be planted.
The grass,pips or pods are vegetative reproductions of the original plant. The seeds, if the plant has been cross fertilised will grow into a cross between the two plants that fertilised each other.
My gut feeling is that if you plant these small basal pips they will grow quickly and throw up a seed head. The seed head will contain vegetative reproductions of the original plant which can be sown and will grow on to form useable garlic cloves. I don't think the seed heads will have seed on them as such?

Experimenting is the name of the game...........give it a go!

[zazen999]

Allums propagate by: division, seed and bulbil.

If you think of garlic, that divides and you plant out the separate cloves to get new garlics.

this is just an extension of that.....

[Pies]

So do i plant them out now or store them for sept/oct time and if i store them how ?

Im all for experiments Snadger

[zazen999]

I'd just plant them out now...

[taff]

the skins on those are incredibly tough, apparently it forms a non-flowring head in the first year, and a single large bulb, that develops into a 'proper' cloved bulb in the second year.

[Pies]

OK will plant out what sort of spacing distance shall i use or can they gow in a big pot

[zazen999]

OK will plant out what sort of spacing distance shall i use

Same as the ones you just took out?