How To Grow Rocumball Garlic

Rocumball garlic or hairstyle (Allium scorodoprasum)

Five years ago, I was lucky to buy a few cloves of large, giant garlic along with the usual winter garlic in the market. I planted it, as usual, in the fall on one common bed.

In the spring, shoots appeared that were different from the usual garlic. The time has come for cleaning - and my surprise was great, because during the digging, a head the size of a good man's fist appeared, and even with a large family of children.

Only two years later, I found a description of this plant in the literature, it turned out to be a hairstyle, or rocambol. Since then, I have planted it on a separate bed every year.

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Under natural conditions, it grows in our country in the North Caucasus, it is also found in Central Asia. Some researchers, in particular A. Kazakov, for this reason, do not exclude that rockambol is, possibly, a type of garlic, from which it differs in a less pungent taste, less pungent odor, a wider leaf blade, is very similar to leeks, and also differs in the ability to form babies at the ends of the roots, and not bulbs, as in garlic.

Rocambol can be attributed to mid-season varieties, the period from full germination to harvesting is 110-113 days, it is winter-hardy (overwintering 85%). The bulb is real rounded flat, 15-17 cm in diameter, weighing 40-50 grams. The outer scales (there are 3-4 of them) and the clove covering the scales are white and yellow, the flesh is yellowish. On the bulb, closer to the bottom, babies (4-7 pieces) are formed, weighing from 0.3 to 2 grams.

They develop both on multi-toothed bulbs and on large single-toothed bulbs weighing up to 100 g, obtained from small cloves. Children are covered with a dense yellow leathery shell, which should be removed when planting for better germination. Their number and weight per bulb depends on the size of the planting material and agricultural technology. On one rockumbola plant, 6-9 leaves are formed - flat, 45-60 cm long, light green, banded, with a weak waxy bloom, folded along the central vein. The flowering stem is up to 1.2 m high. The inflorescence is spherical, consists of sterile light lilac bell-shaped flowers. The flowers are sterile, neither seeds nor bulbs form, so it is better to remove them immediately.

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The agrotechnology of hairstyle rocamboll is close to the agrotechnology of winter garlic. It multiplies rapidly, mainly by teeth during autumn planting (late September - early October), as well as by children and one-toothed. It is stored well, not sprouting until April, therefore it is suitable for spring planting.

When planting in spring, the size of the bulbs is significantly reduced, or only one-toothed, but large, are formed. If you plant them in the fall, you get a bulb with several cloves.

Rocumball bulbs are removed when the leaves dry out and the outer scales dry up; delaying harvesting is undesirable, since the children can remain in the ground when digging, and the bulbs themselves will crack. After drying, they are stored until autumn in a ventilated room. Keeping quality increases if the bulbs are kept in the light for 10-15 days (V. Ognev, 2003). Young leaves and bulbs are used for food, both fresh and after canning. From 1 m you can get 2-4 kg of rockambol bulbs.

I also really like the tiered bow. It belongs to the family of perennial bows. In our climate, it forms both a turnip in the ground, and on long arrows of three floors, air bulbs: on the first, rather large, on the upper ones, smaller. It is propagated only in the fall, by planting air bulbs and dividing the mother bush. Air bulbs are suitable for planting only from August to November, they are no longer stored - they dry out. Its leaves are wide, subulate, grow back very early in the spring and produce a large amount of tasty greens, which are very good in salads.

For everyone who wants to grow these interesting crops on their site, I can offer planting material at the time indicated in the note. To obtain the conditions for sending the planting material, I am sending a catalog, which requires a large envelope with a stamp of ten rubles, since it is large and does not fit into standard envelopes, with your return address.

Write to Brizhan Valery Ivanovich at the address: st. Communarov, 6, Art. Chelbasskaya, Kanevsky district, Krasnodar Territory, 353715.