How To Remove Garlic Scapes
Why Removing Scapes Is Important
When growing hardneck garlic varieties, scape removal is generally recommended unless you want to let them develop bulbils. Scape removal encourages larger bulbs because energy is conserved and diverted to the bulb rather than the flowering structure. Failing to remove the scape on hardneck varieties can reduce bulb size by up to 50%.
Softnecks do not generally produce scapes, but in really cold climates, some plants may form scapes. If they grow above the plant, they can be removed, but most will form incomplete scapes with bulbils in the stem that cannot be removed. These stem bulbils are not an issue, and you can just leave the plants mature naturally until harvest.
Scapes are excellent to eat and can be cooked by themselves or in recipes that call for garlic. Most growers harvest them to eat or sell. They can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month.
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When To Cut
There is some debate regarding what the best stage of plant growth is for scape removal. They can be cut as early as when the structure first appears or as late as when the scape has uncoiled, elongated, and the capsule begins to swell.
Early removal is said to divert the most energy to the bulb, while late removal is believed to maximize bulb quality and storage ability. Generally, most growers choose somewhere in the middle and remove the scapes once they have formed one or two loops, but before they begin to uncoil and the capsules begin to swell.
How to Remove
Scapes can be snapped off by hand or cut with sharp shears just above the last leaves. Some growers also use knives, but this takes a bit of skill to prevent accidentally cutting yourself. Some people's skin is sensitive to the juices that are produced when cutting the scapes, and therefore wear gloves.
How We Do It
On our farm, we cut the scapes at two different stages depending on our goal. If we are trying to grow the largest bulbs possible, we cut the scapes as soon as they emerge (1" to 3" long) in order to maximize bulb size. If we want to harvest scapes for eating and selling, we wait until they have just begun to form a single loop and well before they start to uncoil.