Peeling garlic a week before planting

[My Foot Smells]

Scuzi my ignorance, but what in Sam Hill does peeled garlic have to do with the price of tea in china?

Why not leave the wrapper on, surely customs...........

[bower]

Shrinkrap, I didn't plant anything with mite damage (that I could see) but I did the alcohol dip 3-4 minutes before planting, on the cloves from that same stock of bulbs that were stored with the bad one. Didn't dip the other ones that looked good, will see what happens.

The original stock that I planted last year from the farm (3 kinds) had been soaked in soda and seaweed but didn't have an alcohol dip. This time I just didn't have time to do the whole rigamarole but figured the alcohol is most important for tiny pests. I mulch with seaweed anyway and there's some layered into the bed I built so they'll be getting that as time goes on.

MyFoot, the point of peeling wrappers to cross borders is pretty clear, when you realize that pests do hide and live in the wrappers! And fungus too I suppose, if anywhere.
At least it's pretty cool you could bring them back peeled!

[Shrinkrap]

Originally Posted by My Foot Smells

Scuzi my ignorance, but what in Sam Hill does peeled garlic have to do with the price of tea in china?

Why not leave the wrapper on, surely customs...........

I sure wouldn't want to be the source of some sort of agricultural epidemic here in California! I seem to remember reading that the Mediterranean Fruit Fly here in the US could be tracked to one traveler!

Here is an old thread from Chowhound, but it doesn't a dress peeled garlic.

http://www.chowhound.com/post/customs-questions-353902

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by My Foot Smells

Scuzi my ignorance, but what in Sam Hill does peeled garlic have to do with the price of tea in china?

Why not leave the wrapper on, surely customs...........

When trading you get less garlic for the tea you trade to China that was brought from India if it is peeled.

[disneynut1977]

Originally Posted by Shrinkrap

Made it through customs! Planning to soak before planting, since the peels are already off, and I've had a problem with rot.

I found this on the earthboxes forum, which I value, since I grow in earth boxes. I have had a problem with rot, which I assumed was becuase the boxes are too wet in the winter. More recently someone warned me about "white rot".

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/...he-garlic.html

"Preparing the Garlic for Planting
**Garlic is subject to fungal diseases and pest infestations that can be virtually undetectable until they strike. Prevention is the best way to deal with them. In our experience, garlic that is soaked in certain solutions and with the clove covers peeled off have a better chance of growing free of pathogen or pest.
**When your soil is fully ready to be planted, take the bulbs you want to plant and break them apart into their individual cloves (Being sure to keep each variety separate from others. Soak each varieties' cloves in water containing one heaping tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and liquid seaweed to protect them from fungus as well as give them an energy boost. Leave the cloves in the soda water overnight or long enough for the clove covers to loosen so the liquid comes into contact with the surfaces of the cloves. Garlics clove covers can contain fungal spores, or conidia or the eggs of pests such as mites and are best discarded rather than planted since the first thing the cloves do is to shed them, anyway. The baking soda helps neutralize the fungi. Commercial growers don't have time to peel cloves bare but gardeners do.
**The cloves should then be soaked in rubbing alcohol or 140 proof vodka for three or four minutes and then planted immediately. The alcohol kills pests and pest eggs and any pathogens the first soaking missed. Every time I have done this, the treated garlic turned out better than the untreated control group. Alcohols are on the National Organic Program accepted list and baking soda is accepted..."

The original source

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/...he-garlic.html

Hi

I tried garlic at my last house in an earthbox and lost all of it due to rot, those things in my opinion hold onto too much water for overwintering, only time I didn't grow garlic in the ground. A large plain jane pot may do better.

The first time I grew garlic I also did the complete peeling and dunking of cloves. All my garlic survived and came up except for 2 cloves I think. I don't peel and soak anymore though, just that first year and *except for the earthbox's, I haven't had any problems.

Good find on that garlic.

[Shrinkrap]

Here they are about a month after harvest. I left some too long, the wrappers split, and I ate them. The ones that grew hydroponically after about two months seemed to do the best.

[Father'sDaughter]

Glad to see your efforts paid off!

[bower]

They look great! Will you be keeping some to replant?

The garlic that I dipped in alcohol (an old tincture actually likely a bit less than 40%) is looking good but still far from harvest - they are just beginning to peep the tips of the first scapes.

Besides the alcohol dip, I had some porcelain bulbs with minor mite damage on exterior wrappers that I treated and cured differently. I took them down to a clean wrapper, cut the greens off leaving about eight inches of stem, trimmed the roots to an inch or less, and used a soft brush to scrub just the root area briefly under hot running water. Then I stuck them upside down to cure - which they did very well. I ate a few and saw no sign of mites on them - in fact they looked the best of the bunch so I decided to plant just five cloves - with no alcohol dip - to see whether they were viable and mite free. They all came and are looking as good as the rest at this point. So if they come out clean as the others or better, I might try this again if I have a mitey year.

The porcelains which were so appealing to mites last year, are the tall ones on the right in this pic.

[Shrinkrap]

Speaking of looking great, those look amazing! I might keep one, but they are sort of small. I might see what Creole are available around here in the fall. I especially liked that they were Creole, which should do well here, but I have not easily found them in years past. In researching these, it seems they might be a bit easier to find now, if you don't wait until the fall.