The final two remaining control bulbs which were allowed to grow to full seasonal maturity were dug, measured and replanted today. These are also the ones allowed to bloom for cultivar verification, The Anaconda on the left had a circumference of 10.5 inches or a diameter of about 3.3 inches. The Moonlite on the right had a circumference of about 10 inches, or about 3,2 inches in diameter. Both bulbs were in excellent condition.
The observation that these bulbs were not larger than those with the stems cut 5 weeks prematurely I attribute to the fact that these two were allowed to bloom for identification, while the others were disbudded. So far, it appears that from the standpoint of size achievement, cutting stems while still green about a month before full maturity has no more affect on size than blooming does. Putting it another way, conversely, had these last two been disbudded, their bulbs would have been significantly larger than all the others.
How all this cutting early and scaling affects overall stamina and next years growth and bud counts is what I'll be evaluating next Spring. In the meantime, I've freed up a prime garden location for some of my own higher priority stock.
