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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Garlic woes

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  • From: "Marlin Burkholder" <glenecofarm AT planetcomm.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Garlic woes
  • Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 22:07:28 -0500


----- We managed to
> get the garlic planted at the normal time for here, Fall, just before the
> ground froze, mulched it heavily with straw. We then got normal winter
> with freezing temps and 16" snow. Then came global warming...it went up
> to the 40's and poured. The snow completely went away and the fields
> started to green up. In December! Near the Canadian border Zone 4! Some
> of the garlic started to sprout though the mulch. Now the forcasters are
> calling for mid teens for temps at night. Can it survive?

I'm from Virginia (zone 6) For the past number of years I have planted
garlic in the fall at the normal time (mid Oct -mid Nov) and have either not
mulched at all or mulched lightly with straw and consistently had successful
crops. We often get windy weather here in the winter and spring so even if
we do mulch, much of it gets blown away. As I write, my garlic has yet to
be mulched and several days ago we had lows around 10 degrees F with 30 mph
winds and wind chill indexes of well below 0 degrees. Typically we can
expect cold spells where lows get down to minus 5 to 0 interspersed with
warm spells where highs get up to the 60's and even low 70's during the
winter months. This means alternate freezing and thawing of the soil and
most snowfalls melting off within a week. I have yet to see significant
damage to garlic tops exposed to subfreezing temperatures. I have seen some
loss due to heaving of garlic plants especially if the garlic got planted
late and didn't have good early root development. Intermittant freezing and
thawing can cause heaving (the plant pushed upward out of the ground
exposing part of the roots).

I think it helps to have varieties adapted for cold hardiness pertinent to
your area and to go easy on available soil nitrogen as the crop is being
established in the fall. Lower N levels means that the top growth that does
develop will be less succulent and more hardy to cold temperatures than a
crop growing in soil high in available N. This applies to all crops being
established in the fall for overwintering, not only garlic. I have also had
repeated success overwintering spinach this way. In fact I have a nice
patch of spinach alongside my garlic, unmulched and looking great. Come
late winter and early spring when the air temperatures start to warm up,
then one needs to roll on the nitrogen as there will be low biologial
microbial activity in the still cold soil and then a highly soluble source
of nitrogen such as Calcium Nitrate or Fish Emulsion applied as a foliar
spray will really jump start things. I know CaN04 is not acceptible for you
certified organic folks, but I am ok with using a modest amount directly on
the row as it seems to be chemically mild, and though a salt formulation,
minimally damaging to soil life if not used heavily or spread all over the
soil surface. Fish emulsion or fish meal, though more expensive, will work
nearly as well and is of course organic.

Marlin Burkholder
Virginia





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