PH's 2017 Garlic Trials

[svalli]

I can blame my husband for the slight curve in the end of the row.
He plowed the field and then ran couple of passes with a harrow in the middle of the field and that formed me a nice bed for planting. If I had made the bed by hand it would have been a total zigzag.

Sari

[PureHarvest]

So some of my yellow tipped plants have gotten worse on one bed. The planting cloves in this bed had some suspicious lesions/rusty marks on them when I separated the bulbs from the supplier last fall. I sent pictures and she said I will send you new ones overnight, they should not look like that.
I looked up what they were and it appeared to be something called stippling. No one seems to know what causes it, and it doesn't seem to affect anything. Looks like a rusty colored dust that doesn't rub off. Knowing I had free replacements coming, I planted then anyway.
So the forming bulb on this year's plants in that bed have small rusty colored lesions and come to find out, it is Fusarium. I should have chucked those cloves and not planted even though they were free, but I thought I would plant and see what happens. The supplier said do whatever you want with them, but did not say anything like TRASH THOSE NOW. Perhaps she didnt want me to have shaken confidence on the other cloves she sent?

Anyway, at worst I am out my labor and I will throw them in the dumpster. At best we will eat some and give some away, and maybe some will be sellable for eating. Certainly not gonna save those for replant. And will probably trash the fabric on that bed just to have piece of mind. That area will never get garlic again now. I don't care how much time goes by. Thankfully, I have enough land to not need that bed again in the future.

I'll try to upload pictures tomorrow.

[greenthumbomaha]

PureHarvest, if you do the soak route (steam was an excellent idea) wouldn't it be easier to get a big tub or bathtub and soak the weedblock. A few rinses in the tub and you are done. Steam takes forever to refill & recharge unless you rent a pro machine.

- Lisa

I should have read further. Being a supplier, you would think one looks out for diseases and knows what to do when there are suspicious symptoms. Major bummer.

I understand why potato seed is certified disease free. Too bad the same is not available for garlic. Buyer beware.

[zipcode]

I find garlic is pretty hard if you don't have the climate. it doesn't like wet, at all. Completely dry is better than wet. Not just because of production, but especially due to how well it will keep. Fungus loves the garlic.
PureHarvest, that is indeed great looking stuff, curios to see the final size of those. I also have like 20 garlics on the balcony, they're so scrawny, even if tall...

[bower]

We had some soaking rains close to harvest time last year, and for sure it made for problems. Some plants had yellow streaks on inside instead of outside leaves drying down. I pulled the ones that didn't look right, there were mites on some and also I found one or two plants with that pink fusarium. I ended up pulling my crop sooner than I would have, out of panic that the problems would spread - and it was interesting, the bigger and more mature bulbs were mostly the worst affected.

I did the same thing at the farm, was told to inspect and pull anything that didn't look right. Sure enough there were one or two with the pink fusarium.

Afaik or understand from just a few years growing garlic, it is normal for this climate anyway, that you may find one or two bad ones in any bed, and you pull them and dispose well away from the cultivated area. A wet year you may find some mites in the patch as well. Since the problems are present all around in a low level way, rotation is important because the next year you would have more of the pest or disease developing in that place the second time around.

I have done an experiment in reconditioning a bed last fall instead of rotating, though, because of having a bunch of Spanish Roja seed garlic laid on me after planting at the farm, and nowhere else to put them. There weren't any pest/disease in that bed afaik, so we'll see, if that strategy backfires or not.

Pulling early was a good strategy for me, as the impact was only on the wrappers. I didn't lose more than a clove or two to pest damage or disease, although I did peel slice and dry the worst affected to make garlic powder instead of storing. The others cured well and no sign of pest in storage. The fusarium bulb I left to cure in isolation was not even damaged - only the wrappers were pink. No good for planting, but you still may salvage some eating.

I haven't seen the stipple spot, it seems to be a mystery?

[PureHarvest]

Yeah I'll post a pic on stipple when I can find it.
My plants have started to scape. I have decided to remove all of them.
From what I read, harvest will be about 3 weeks from now.
Bulbs are still solid. I pull one per week. They've doubled in size since last week. Just shy of golf ball size.
The Romanian red from jumbo cloves have absolutely enormous stems. They are like trees.
Their bulbs are going to be like baseballs.

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by PureHarvest

My plants have started to scape. I have decided to remove all of them.
From what I read, harvest will be about 3 weeks from now.

That's about right. I harvest scapes in early to mid June and typically pull the garlic around the 4th of July.

Hopefully you're going to take advantage of the scape harvest and use them in recipes!

[PureHarvest]

I will probably give away the scapes. But I doubt anyone I know or work with would even know what to do with them. Sad commentary on how few people actually cook real meals.
I just don't have the time to cook, but willing to when I have time. My wife and MIL do a pretty good job of meal prep.

Here is a bulb from today, 5/17/2017:

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[ako1974]

Scape pesto (or basil pesto) with cashews - yum.

[bower]

PH, around here the garlic scapes fetch $3 for a bundle of five and sell out at the market. They're easy to pick and you can make a lot of bunches in an hour.

I have chopped and frozen them without blanching and they're good for a month or two but not for the long term (winter is longer here!).

My favorite use for a nice tender scape is to chop about the size you would green beans and toss them into a stir fry... awesome.

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by bower

PH, around here the garlic scapes fetch $3 for a bundle of five and sell out at the market. They're easy to pick and you can make a lot of bunches in an hour.

Exactly! They are like gold in some circles because they are only available for such a short time.

My husband and I are addicted to scape pesto and I make and freeze enough to get us almost through the year. Chopped and sautéed scapes are great in frittatas, stir fries, etc. They can be roasted and served as a side dish.

[PureHarvest]

I pulled all my scapes last Friday.
I pulled a couple plants on Monday and cut them cross section to see if cloves were forming or if they were still solid. Well, they are all cloving now. Just a week prior they were solid.
Here is the crop as of last night, 5/24/2017

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[bower]

They look great, PH. Made me sigh for harvest time.. will be August for us or even September. Can't wait to see the mature bulbs... that's a lot of seed garlic!

[PureHarvest]

Gonna harvest my middle bed on Saturday.

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[zipcode]

My grandmother when she grew garlic, this would be far from ready to harvest. The bulbs still have 1/3 to grow at least if not more.