Harvested ~50 garlic bulbs today. On the far right is Musik and the two photos to the left are Northern White.

I have tried several different garlics here in Michigan. I continue to propagate these two.

I cut & pasted info from my plant spreadsheet below:

Allium sativum ophios 'Musik' 2014, Stiffneck or Ophio Garlic, AL-ee-um, 18 in Bulb,Z4, buff-colored cloves streaked with red, V1

(Hardneck Porcelain) There are three main types of hardneck garlic: rocambole, porcelain and purple stripe. Canada hardneck. A hardy, high-yielding hardneck porcelain variety from Canada (grows well in northern climates). Very large bulbs yield 4 to 5 cloves. Good flavor. Easy to peel. Stores 6-10 months. Large in 2013. Musik and Northern White did best in 2013. Harvested ~25 in 2013. Harvested ~27 Musik in 2014 on aug 1st."

Allium sativum ophios 'Northern White' 2014, Stiffneck or Ophio Garlic, AL-ee-um, 18 in Bulb,Z4, 4-6 cloves per bulb, V1

Porcelain type hardneck garlic producing large bulbs. Thick, papery-white outer wrappers encase 4 to 6 large, fat, elongated cloves. Full-bodied spicy flavor, good for roasting. Easy to peel. This one grew the best for me. Good harvest in 2011. ~6 cloves per bulb. Grew best again in 2012 & 2013. Good harvest in 2013. ~25 bulbs. Good harvest in 2014, ~25."

Nice looking garlic, Frank. You are 10 weeks behind my harvest date of Mid-May (for my hardneck). How many bulbs per pound on average?

drdawg said:Nice looking garlic, Frank. You are 10 weeks behind my harvest date of Mid-May (for my hardneck). How many bulbs per pound on average?

Good question. I have never weighed my garlic. Maybe I will give that a try...

Nice harvest, Frank -- I'm planning to dig up my hardneck garlic tomorrow! (Softneck has already been harvested, a week or so ago; I finally managed to dig it soon enough that all the cloves are enclosed in the bulb wrappers, hoping to braid it for myself and a couple to give away. If that works out I might plant more of the softneck this year.)

I love the "Musik" variety, and also grow another unidentified hardneck that was given to me by a friend some years back. Should have about 50 of each of those.

Ken, I've never weighed my bulbs either, but they look smaller than usual this year; we had a truly brutal winter last year and I was just very happy that my garlic all came up. What would be a normal number of bulbs/pound for you?

I grew 12 varieties, but the average would have been about 8 bulbs per pound. The Creole are smaller, a couple of the hardneck and softneck would have averaged close to 1/4 lb. per bulb, so that's a pretty close estimate. Since I sell my garlic, at least what I don't want for myself, the size of the bulbs becomes pretty important to me. The larger bulbs lose no taste and pungency compared to the smaller bulbs. Of course, nothing is like the Creole, so if I grow it, I just have to accept its smaller size.