Planting last beds of Garlic
 

I have totally confused my garlic, no surprise the labels faded and some that were mapped were mixed after harvest. In this group is either Persian Star or Pehoski Purple and potentially other varieties listed in the Asian Tempeset thread.

I have been trying to select out any with visible mite damage and have soaked in hydrogen peroxide anywhere from 3-15 minutes immediately beore planting. New beds are used but were not as well prepared as the area these were grown in last year.

I'e tried using numbers to illustrate the whole bulb and the corresponding cloves. Comments welcome and appreciated.

The one labeled #2 is the only one with really long tips on the cloves - that is characteristic of Persian Star.


I had really clean garlic this year after the wet winter - mite wise that is. Did have a few cloves that were found to be discolored when cracked, maybe similar to your last pic but more yellowish than brown, they may have gotten soaked in the wet part of summer. I decided not to plant anything that looked at all suspect. I cleaned loose wrappers off the cloves but didn't soak with anything this time.

This is my first time soaking to prevent mites or disease. I am planting a row away from last season at the remote garden and I didn't want to bring any hitchhikers over to a new row. I had several suspect porcelian bulbs last year too. Number 1 was the best of the worst which I selected for by small suburban backyard raised bed.
Thanks for the tip on Persian Star. I'm not seeing how it looks like a star but the tip climbs up the scape and is is very prominent. Now I have to check the leftovers and guess which box is the Pehoski.
I'll post some post soak photos over the next few days. Really interesting color changes on the remaining wrappers.

- Lisa

I have a really newbie question: How do you get them so clean after picking? I read that you're not supposed to rinse them after harvest. I've got a bunch of dirty bulbs hanging up drying that look anything but appetizing.

I let it dry for a day or two and and gently brush the soil off the wrapper after it dries a bit. The roots take longer for the soil clinging to them to dry out. I pick at it several times until it is relatively clean. They are my babies so they get lots of gentle attention and inspection several times a day.

If you have a large quantity, some of the market growers here trim right in the field.

Nan, depending somewhat on the variety and how tight wrappers are, it can be easy enough to trim roots and strip off the dirty wrappers after about 6 weeks or fully cured, as the outer wrappers are looser then. It's also easy to strip to a clean wrapper immediately after harvest, by taking the bottom leaf that's still soft enough to pull off easily down to the bulb. IMO it is hardest to remove wrappers in the in between time, when neither fresh and soft nor fully cured.

I used to spray mine quickly with water and then peel off the outer layer before drying them. I found I had less problems after doing that than leaving the dirt on them. One thing for sure you need fairly low humidity to dry them properly. I had to use an air conditioned building to properly dry garlic down here otherwise when it got really humid or during rainy weather the drying garlic would just soak the water right out of the air and if this happened too often much of the garlic would ruin.

One thing I really know made a difference in growing large heads of garlic was to keep any weeds away from them as they do not compete well for nutrients. I found mulching them made it much easier to keep the weeds away.

Bill

Bill,

On that note, I posted my weed photo two years ago.The source of my horrific weed problem was the mulch itself; a thick layer of mulch from decorative Halloween straw bales.
[B]Do not be tempted from this free day after holiday windfall!!!![/B]
Two years of flame weeding and there are still uncontrolable outbreaks. Newly applied each year Pro5 weed fabric is no match for them. The gift that keeps on giving ...
-Lisa