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Garlic Clean Seed Available

Travis Cranmer

Roundels Available from the SPUD Unit for the 2026-27 Season

Ontario growers who are members of the Garlic Growers Association of Ontario (GGAO) are now able to order clean seed (roundels) to be planted this September and harvested next July.

What are Roundels?

Roundels are the clean plant material that are produced from the Clean Seed Program. The garlic scape was chosen as the meristem to enter the tissue culture program since the cells at the tip of the scape grow faster than the viruses can infect them. These tiny tips are cut and on media in a test tube. Under lights and ideal growing temperatures, these tips grow and produce small plantlets. Once the plantlet is large enough, tips of its leaves are placed in new test tubes to determine if there is bacterial or fungal contamination. Once the plant is thought to be free of larger pathogens, it is sent to be indexed against certain garlic viruses. From there, plantlets are micro propagated to build up numbers and eventually transplanted into potting soil in trays within the greenhouse for these small plants to produce single bulbs known as roundels.

Garlic roundels produced by the SPUD Unit through meristem tip culture. Garlic scapes were submitted to the SPUD Unit germplasm, were tested for contamination, virus-indexed for commercially recognized viruses, and micro-propagated to create clean plantlets. Plantlets were transplanted into the greenhouse to yield roundels

Benefits of Clean Seed

Roundels take an average of 2-3 growing seasons to reach a marketable size. Field trials between 2021-2025 show an average of a 25% increase in yield if planting a similar size clove of clean seed compared to a conventionally grown clove. The full results of this trial and a summary of the benefits of clean seed can be found in this previous article published October 2025: https://onvegetables.com/2025/10/10/cleanseed/.

A visual comparison of garlic with identical genetics that has been through the Clean Seed Program (CSP) at the SPUD Unit compared to a conventional bulb. The ‘Polish White’ bulbs pictured were harvested from the same field in July 2025. Both bulbs were grown under the same conditions for the past two growing seasons and had the same average starting clove weight in Fall 2024. The bulb from the CSP (right) was originally grown from a roundel that was planted in fall 2022.

How to Purchase

Currently, roundels are only available to Ontario growers who are GGAO members. You can become a GGAO member by going to https://www.garlicgrowersofontario.com/membership. Members can order roundels in multiples of 50 by E-mailing garlicgrowersofontario@gmail.com.

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