Gardeneer, I am also in zone 8a and planted 100 cloves from WalMart bulbs in November 2016. Of these 70 % had the same abnormality as your photo, called witches broom. I saved normal bulbs, stored them at 60 degrees and planted cloves last November. I just harvested 150 perfectly formed softneck bulbs and no abnormal bulbs. I think your problem was that your stock bulbs had been stored by WalMart at 32 degrees which is known to cause this growth anomaly. Save your normal bulbs and store cool not cold and they should form normal bulbs next spring.
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