In article , Rodger Whitlock
writes
On Wed, 4 Aug 2004 08:08:09 +0100, Seb Flyte wrote:

...I have 16 good heads and 200+ individual cloves. Many of
these are of a good size and can be used. The smallest I will replant
although I see this is not recommended.

You should always put aside the best as your seed stock for the
next season. If you plant the runts, you will be selecting for
runtiness. Remember that even though propagated vegetatively,
there is some variation in the progeny.

Explain! ;-)
I can see that some will have grown bigger than others, and that the big
ones have a better food store for starting off the new plant, and that
therefore planting bigger cloves will give you better plants next year.

But there isn't any genetic variability, surely? So you're not selecting
in that sense if you propagate vegetatively? In other words, even if
chose a runt you could reverse the process with a few seasons good
feeding, or vice versa. Or has Lamarckism come back into favour since I
was last on the fringes of evolutionary study?
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"