too much rain - garlic

tjg911 · July 19, 2008

YES TOO MUCH RAIN!
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i dug 1 french pink bulb a few days ago, all of the french pink are almost on the ground... never saw this before.
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the bulb is 2" and looks fine.

i have 1 music also on the ground for several days so i dug it today.
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the bulb is 3" and looks fine, until closer inspection!
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i called rich, a local organic farmer, who i got my stock from. his garlic is a mess and he's trying to dig it all up before we get any more rain, no rain for 10-14 days but the soil is still damp and clings to the bulbs and especially the roots with 2" of straw mulch on it.
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so i decide to dig all the french pink. rain showers are predicted for sunday thru tuesday. some bulbs are a smaller than the original but just 1 or 2 are 1" most are 2-2.5" and i have 2 that are the size of a bigger than normal music bulb, and that's large.
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many bulbs have wrapper problems due to being too wet. i question how well this long storage variety will store?
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the 1 music bulb has the wrapper worn away at the roots with a space that looks like a clove is exposed. i assume too much rain.
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the other 6 varieties are standing up and don't look quite ready to dig so i am going to chance it and hope the thunderstorms miss me or don't drop a lot of rain.
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it just rained all of june every day with almost no sun at all, maybe 3 days if that. we got about 4 months rain in 1 month. pole beans, winter squash, cukes, peppers plants are smaller than normal and onion bulbs are smaller too tho plants are large and healthy. other plants seem to have grown ok - broccoli (heads rotting and bursting), potatoes but digging will tell me for sure, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, chard, parsley, eggplant. zucchini and yellow squash just put out on july 4th so they look ok.
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tom

henry · July 21, 2008

Hi Tom, that amount of moisture is not going to let your garlic dry down. I expect it may be better to dig a bit early and save what wrapper you have.

Henry

tjg911 · July 23, 2008

dug the 24 french pink on saturday and dug all the rest of the garlic yesterday. not bad but not what i should get. i should have waited another 7-10 days but today and thursday we are getting a lot of rain.

the soil was so damp (it rained 1/4" the other day the 1st rain in about 10 days) the roots of some varieties were just packed solid after pulling. music were about 3/4 of expected size, others were dying back and about the right size, some varieties are new to me so not sure about them.

had 3 damaged bulbs and 4 very tiny bulbs. several looked like they had a small hole at base but hard to say.

what should have taken 2.5 hours took 5.5 hours, 170 plants, includes tying up in shed. it took a while to clean the soil off the roots and the base. delicate work as i didn't want to damage the paper wrapper. spent about 2-4 minutes per bulb vs pulling and shaking off the dry soil. all hanging in shed and the few i have eaten were water logged tho they did have flavor. time will tell on storage.

tom

July 19, 2008	#1
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	too much rain - garlic YES TOO MUCH RAIN! . i dug 1 french pink bulb a few days ago, all of the french pink are almost on the ground... never saw this before. . the bulb is 2" and looks fine. i have 1 music also on the ground for several days so i dug it today. . the bulb is 3" and looks fine, until closer inspection! . i called rich, a local organic farmer, who i got my stock from. his garlic is a mess and he's trying to dig it all up before we get any more rain, no rain for 10-14 days but the soil is still damp and clings to the bulbs and especially the roots with 2" of straw mulch on it. . so i decide to dig all the french pink. rain showers are predicted for sunday thru tuesday. some bulbs are a smaller than the original but just 1 or 2 are 1" most are 2-2.5" and i have 2 that are the size of a bigger than normal music bulb, and that's large. . many bulbs have wrapper problems due to being too wet. i question how well this long storage variety will store? . the 1 music bulb has the wrapper worn away at the roots with a space that looks like a clove is exposed. i assume too much rain. . the other 6 varieties are standing up and don't look quite ready to dig so i am going to chance it and hope the thunderstorms miss me or don't drop a lot of rain. . it just rained all of june every day with almost no sun at all, maybe 3 days if that. we got about 4 months rain in 1 month. pole beans, winter squash, cukes, peppers plants are smaller than normal and onion bulbs are smaller too tho plants are large and healthy. other plants seem to have grown ok - broccoli (heads rotting and bursting), potatoes but digging will tell me for sure, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, chard, parsley, eggplant. zucchini and yellow squash just put out on july 4th so they look ok. . tom

July 21, 2008	#2
henry Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Midway B.C. Canada Posts: 311	Hi Tom, that amount of moisture is not going to let your garlic dry down. I expect it may be better to dig a bit early and save what wrapper you have. Henry __________________ Henry

July 23, 2008	#3
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	dug the 24 french pink on saturday and dug all the rest of the garlic yesterday. not bad but not what i should get. i should have waited another 7-10 days but today and thursday we are getting a lot of rain. the soil was so damp (it rained 1/4" the other day the 1st rain in about 10 days) the roots of some varieties were just packed solid after pulling. music were about 3/4 of expected size, others were dying back and about the right size, some varieties are new to me so not sure about them. had 3 damaged bulbs and 4 very tiny bulbs. several looked like they had a small hole at base but hard to say. what should have taken 2.5 hours took 5.5 hours, 170 plants, includes tying up in shed. it took a while to clean the soil off the roots and the base. delicate work as i didn't want to damage the paper wrapper. spent about 2-4 minutes per bulb vs pulling and shaking off the dry soil. all hanging in shed and the few i have eaten were water logged tho they did have flavor. time will tell on storage. tom