Weedwhacker said: Ken, Jerry, or whoever else - what is your opinion about removing the scapes from the stiff-neck garlic? I've done this in the past and did not really see much difference in the size of the bulbs that did and did not have the scape removed, but I think I may have waited too long to remove them. This year I'm planning to do so with some of the bulbs, but as soon as I see the scapes forming. (I also grow a couple varieties of softneck garlic - which gives me very large bulbs; which I just mention by way of encouragement to anyone who thinks they can't grow it because they aren't in the south.)
Sandy, I've been removing my scapes for maybe 10 years. I give them to a local friend who makes Pesto out of them and freezes it. She freezes them whole if she can't use them all at once. And, actually, I have her come over and do it for me usually. (She'll bring her kids. I've known her since she was born. She's a friend of our oldest daughter.) Do I really see a difference in the bulb size? Not really. Was I really, really careful to do a fair trial (as in remembering which ones didn't have the scape!-Not really) Sorry I'm not more helpful there. Harvesting them does give another crop out of the garlic.
I have eaten the scapes by steaming, and raw. They are pretty good, but I'm really not interested in harvesting over 200 scapes and taking care of them.
Back in the late 80's when I was just starting with my garlic, I let the scapes mature so I could harvest the bulbils to plant. I'd also eat the bulbils raw after peeling. I shared them with others at my work and the Toolroom at times really smelled of garlic!!
I selected for larger bulbils by only harvesting the large bulbils and planting them. Some of my bulbils got to about 1/2" diameter.
