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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] mechanical garlic planter

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  • From: Pam Twin Oaks <pam AT twinoaks.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] mechanical garlic planter
  • Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 13:24:01 -0400

Mike Rock asked:
"Does anyone use a mechanical planter that just drops seed cloves into a
trench without regard to 'pointy end up'?  Can anyone tell me if
orientation of the clove is of concern except for really high end,
perfect garlic?  Some say that the bulb will be distorted if planted
indiscriminately."

​Years ago,  I read an article by someone who planted garlic from the seat of a tractor with a handmade jig involving a length of plastic pipe. Here's what I say in my slide show Growing Great Garlic (which you can find on www.slideshare.net)

Hardneck - plant pointy end up! Hardneck cloves with the points down suffer a 30% reduction in yield. Softneck cloves can be planted any way up, so are easier for mechanical planting.
If you can’t squat, or you are planting from the seat of a tractor, use a 3’ (1 m) length of pipe to drop the cloves into the furrows. Dropped from that height, through a tube wide enough for the garlic to tumble end-over-end, the cloves will land the way they need to be.


About the allium leaf miner, have you tried asking Charlie Eisner of Bug Tracks fame? He's a leaf miner specialist. https://bugtracks.wordpress.com/


Pam Dawling
 
Author of Sustainable Market Farming, Intensive Vegetable Production on a Few Acres
sustainablemarketfarming.com
facebook.com/SustainableMarketFarming



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