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Old May 26, 2018   #4
bower
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
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Environmental moisture seems to make a huge difference in garlic curing. I think the point of leaving the greens on at first is to slow down the drying by letting the greens provide some extra moisture. Some hardneck growers are trimming to six inches in the field, and it works for them because they have such a huge crop in the barn, the garlic alone raises the ambient moisture level as much as needed to slowly dry, and don't need all the tops for that.

I had mites one year and tried washing a few of the worse bulbs, also trimmed them right away. The dampness they took up from being wet was really noticeable to touch and stayed a long while. Not a problem for curing indoors in a dryer environment, but it was as well I trimmed them too. The extra moisture they took up was more than enough to slow down the drying process.

Softnecks are a bit different for sure... I know if you do braid them it has to be done before the tops are totally dry. You strip away most of the dry greens before making the braid. If dampness is a concern it is probably true they will be better off trimmed short instead of braided.

Those are nice looking garlic!
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