Australian Garlic
Celebrating and understanding our garlic groups and cultivars
Chesnok Red
Hardneck - Strongly Bolting
This cultivar falls into the Artichoke Group, Type 2 and shares its evolution with others in this sub-group from Formosan to Taiwanese and Taiwanese Purple. Long time grower Roger Schmitke selected bulbs from this heritage that produced larger bulbs and cloves then other cultivars grown in the 80s and 90s. These went to Queensland’s Gatton Research Station and over a 6 year period they were grown and selected and replanted, selecting only the biggest and best bulbs and cloves. In 1997 Southern Glen named and released.  See the Production of Garlic here
This day-length neutral cultivar is a very important cultivar for growers in warmer more northern regions.
General Information
International name/s: Chesnok Red (NGPS W6 35657; ALL 841) , Shvelisi (K 6811)
Flavour: Hot at first, but sweet flavour. Good for roasting; roasted cloves have been used to flavour ice-cream. Flavour improves with storage.
Storage: Medium to long storage.
Growing location: Tasmania and more mountainous regions of Victoria and NSW.
Growing requirements: Grows best in cooler climates. Tall and vigorous so needs plenty of room.
Planting and harvest: Mid-season planting, mid to late harves.
Bulb
Shape: Large, globe shaped.
Skin colour and texture: Easy-to-peel white bulb with faint pink streaking.
Clove
Number and layout: 8-12 in one (occasionally 2) layers.
Size and shape: Large tall cloves with pointed tips.
Skin colour and texture: White to tan skin with cranberry streaks. Thick and easy to peel especially after a few months storage.
Plant
Size and shape: Vigorous growing large plant
Leaves:
Young plants:
Matures:
Scape: Strongly bolting with a long, strong scape that does a 270° turn.
Umbel and beak:
Bulbils and flowers: Umbels contain numerous tiny to small bulbils (100-200) as well as flowers that have been shown to be capable of producing seed.
Artichoke Group
Silverskin Group
Subtropical Group
Asiatic Group
Creole Group
Middle Eastern Group
Turban Group
- Flinders Island Purple
- Glamour
- Italian Purple
- Monaro Purple
- Ontos Purple
- Shandong
- Tasmanian Purple
- White Crookneck
- Xian