Weather Where You Are

[Zeedman]

You plant all that garlic?

Mary

No, only the best cloves were planted that year (20-30 of each variety) and the rest dehydrated. The garlic I grow supplies our household, my 4 adult children & their families, and a few close friends. That photo was my original garlic collection, before aster yellows disease killed everything in 2012. I rebuilt the collection & added to it; in 2016/2017 there were 36 varieties, 900+ cloves planted:

2016 harvest, just before planting

All but 4 of those varieties died last winter, or were eaten due to the unexpected loss of my garlic plot. This year I rebuilt again, and have 17 varieties (and 3 multiplier onions) waiting to go into the ground, 4-across, in a 100' row... probably about 300 cloves of garlic, and onions to fill the rest of the row. They will be planted this week regardless of conditions, which once again seem to be deteriorating from the previous forecast. I hope it gets dry enough for me to run the hiller/furrower down the row before the rains return.

 

[ninnymary]

That is still a lot of garlic. I’m surprised you can make it last long enough to use some for planting again. My homegrown garlic doesn’t last that long before it starts sprouting.

Mary

 

[Zeedman]

If I plant late, some of the cloves will show signs of sprouting. A couple of the rocambole varieties I grew even had a few dead cloves by planting time (which I can identify by their off color). As a rule, I only break the bulbs just before planting... once exposed, the cloves appear to be triggered into sprouting, and deteriorate quickly. I'm cracking the bulbs now to prepare for planting.

 

[Beekissed]

The weather has been glorious this week where I live!!! 50s-60s in the sunny day, a slight breeze, very frosty mornings in the high 20s and no rain predicted until Friday, so a whole week to get some work done!

Colors haven't changed much at all around here, though have started in the higher elevations...very late this year due to all the warm weather and rains we've had giving us more of a tropical climate.

I'm having all sorts of fun in this weather, getting a lot of fall chores done.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That is still a lot of garlic. I’m surprised you can make it last long enough to use some for planting again. My homegrown garlic doesn’t last that long before it starts sprouting.

Mary

What kind of garlic are you growing Mary? There are two basic types, softneck and hardneck. Are you the one that said they plant store-bought?

Softnecks have more cloves but the individual cloves tend to be smaller. They tend to have larger cloves on the outside of the head and small cloves in the middle. They are generally not as flavorful as the hardneck but fresh garlic is nice anyway. In Arkansas I grew a softneck, the Silver Rose variety. Softnecks store better than hardnecks but as Zeedman said, do not break the heads apart until you are ready to use them or plant them. They are more likely to sprout if you break them apart. The stem is leaves that stay limber when you dry them. These can be woven into braids. Because they store better most store bought garlic is going to be softneck.

Hardnecks are kind of the opposite. Fewer cloves but they tend to be bigger. Flavor is an individual thing but hardnecks are supposed to have more. These send up a hard stem in the middle so they are harder to braid. They supposedly do not store as well.

How do yo store yours? The recommendations are dark and dry, not too cold. I let mine dry for several days after harvest, then hang them in an outbuilding that is dry and well-ventilated until the weather cools off. I have braided them but prefer hanging them with a string and slip-knot as Steve mentioned in that pepper thread. You don't want them to freeze so I then bring them into my attached garage and store them in hanging mesh bags before frost is predicted. They last well into spring.

With the softnecks they say to plant the larger outside cloves and not the interior small ones. Skeptical and cynical as I am I experimented, I planted the larger ones in one area and the smaller ones right next to them but on one end a couple of different years. I did not see any difference in productivity. @Zeedman have you played with that? I did notice that if you plant them in a relatively thick bed, the ones in the middle did not produce nearly as well as the ones on the edges. I don't know if that is a competition for sunlight, nutrients, or water, maybe all three, but I learned to not crowd them too much.

 

[ninnymary]

Ridge, here in Cali we only grow soft neck. That’s what I plant and yes I buy it organic from the grocery store. I don’t plant the small ones but I don’t get that many of them. Maybe just a couple in the middle of each head.

I store them in a single layer in a cardboard box lid in my laundry room. It is downstairs and quite dark But not too warm or freezing cold. I like to store persimmons and squash there too since they seem to store well.

Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ridge, here in Cali we only grow soft neck. That’s what I plant and yes I buy it organic from the grocery store. I don’t plant the small ones but I don’t get that many of them. Maybe just a couple in the middle of each head.

I store them in a single layer in a cardboard box lid in my laundry room. It is downstairs and quite dark But not too warm or freezing cold. I like to store persimmons and squash there too since they seem to store well.

Mary

That sounds like reasonable storage, you might try hanging them for a while if you can, maybe in a mesh bag not that full so you get good air circulation while curing.

They should last longer for you, at least long enough to plant the next year's crop. Do you plant garlic in the fall? When do you harvest them, are they fully mature? I'm struggling with why they don't last longer for you, what you do sounds reasonable.

 

[ninnymary]

Ridge, I plant garlic on October 15. We can plant in November too but I don't. They do mature kind of early like late June. Heads are on the small size and I suspect that I need to fertilize them at least once. I know I'm not harvesting them too early cause the plants are half dried out. I don't plant many, maybe around 35-40 and since I don't like to pay shipping I just buy them at the store.

Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mary, I can't see anything you are doing wrong. I'm out of ideas.

 

[ninnymary]

Mary, I can't see anything you are doing wrong. I'm out of ideas.

I think maybe the fact that they are small may contribute to it. Perhaps they are not as strong to make it longer.

Mary