For me, scapes start to appear between 5/23 and 6/4 every year. It seems to depend more on the variety grown for timing - my Northern White are almost always first, followed by the Killarney Reds, Germans and Siberian in the middle and Carpathians for the last. I haven't kept good enough records to say for sure but if memory serves, for the ones that had around 4-5 leaves, scapes did not appear on a consistent basis and ones with 6 or more leaves, scapes were almost always coming. Within a variety, height didn't play too much of a factor - the shorter ones put out scapes within a day or so of the tallest.

Lilacs,

I noticed scapes on the elephant 4 days ago. the Klaver hardneck is just starting to grow them on thursday,22nd. As far as I can tell they are right on schedule. In a couple weeks I'll pull them out then 4-5 weeks it's harvest time..weather pending of course.

let me explain why I choose to pull them instead of cutting them. In the past I have cut them only to see the plant tries to grow that inner stem some more...wasting energy. When I have pulled them that's it, no more energy is wasted and everything is put into the forming the bulb. I have noticed the plants that are pulled mature faster and produce a larger bulb than plants with scapes intact. I did this test with a 6 Music plants last year. The plants with scapes intact were much slower to die down by a week or more.

Now, how to pull the scapes...I believe it's best to do it in the afternoon when the plant isn't constricted by the cooler night temps. VERY GENTLY with both hands pull straight up on the scape right where it's coming out of the plant, you'll feel it moving. It can break off inside the plant if you pull too hard. I'm going to do a test this year on the best time to pull them either early morning before the heat or say around 5:00 - 6:00pm. I'll post my finding and hope to have pictures on my site of what it looks like pulled out

I was out looking around the plot today and saw some Elephant scapes up 10" so I gently stated pulling from the base of the scape...most came out perfectly. I broke one of them down inside the leafage though...whoops I ate the most ender part of it..yummy.

I saw the first signs of my scapes about 3-4 days ago.

Still no scapes on mine. And some of them are 1/2 - 3/4 inch diameter stalks, too.

I'm kind of hoping that the scapes will be ready about the time my snow pea pods are so I can have them both for stir fry.

So far, I think your timing will be about perfect ... I'm just seeing the start of the first scape on the Northern White about 1" above the top leaf and with luck the snow peas will start flowering this week. That stalk size sounds promising for a good crop of garlic at harvest - here's to hoping that everything works out.

I spoke to a fellow grower about scapes, he scolded me about pulling mine instead of snapping them off after they curl. I asked him why I shouldn't pull them, he didn't have an answer. So I called Tom at Fileree farms..He said some weird bulb formation might occur. So far I've not seen any unusual effects. A real plus to doing it my way is the part that is down inside the plant is soooo tender and sweet.

I spoke too soon. There were no scapes yesterday. I went out into the yard this afternoon, and my biggest garlic stalks, the Music and Georgia Crystal in my raised bed, are developing scapes. I counted four to five so far.

Oh, and my snow peas are beginning to bloom, so maybe I'll have scapes and pea pods at about the same time at that.