Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - What happened to my garlic?

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Alliums <garlicgrower AT earthlink.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: What happened to my garlic?
  • Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 09:29:13 -0400


Martin wrote:
This spring I grew one of my best garlic crops ever. I had mulched it over
winter, kept good moisture in the soil despite the relatively dry
conditions, and it sized up really nice. As far as I can tell, I harvested
it at the right stage and cured it properly, keeping it in the coolest and
dryest spot I could provide in the airy loft of an old outbuilding.


Sounds like you processed it correctly.

Yet
when I brought it out of storage recently I notice many of the bulbs have
shrunken sides and, when opened, have cloves that are soft and deteriorating
to a shriveled state.

Send it to whoever analyzes plant material (here's it's the Penn State Plant Pathology office) and find out what disease you have. Depending on what it is, your stock or your soil is carrying it. If you bought the seed stock from someone, don't buy from them again. If it was your stock, make sure that you don't plant any bulb that isn't rock-hard --even one bad clove in a head can contaminate the entire head. If it is a soil problem, plant your garlic in a different place (depending on what the disease is).

Good luck! Disease is the only real problem in growing garlic, but when it hits, it can hit bad!

Dorene




Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden

A mission of
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460





  • What happened to my garlic?, Alliums, 10/21/2002

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page