Black Spots On Garlic Leaves

[greenthumbomaha]

I dug this garlic one week ago (about half my crop) but stored it in an attached garage. The garage was slightly humid as the weather changed about midweek. The leaves were a healthy green (I think I picked a little early due to the expected heatwave). When I returned to retrieve the harvest, I noticed these dark spots on the leaves. One bulb out of 4 boxes had white powdery spots on the wrapper but nothing on the leaves.





I harvested all but a few of the remaining bulbs today. No spotting of leaves in the field. I have the newly harvested garlic isolated (in my air conditioned living room) until I prepare an alternate location.


I have stored bags of weeds in the garage until pick up day. There is a fungus that blows in but the result looks more pronounced than what I have pictured. I hope nothing transferred to the garlic from the garage "air" .



Any insight would be appreciated!


- Lisa

[bower]

It definitely looks fungal of some kind. I would guess it is too humid? And if you have weeds with something similar on it, stored in the same place, then it seems the conditions are suitable for it to grow from the spores that are present.

[greenthumbomaha]

I agree Bower, likely fungal. I've never noticed this type of spot in my garden - plant or weed. The damp environment must have been the perfect condition for growing this spore. I removed most of the leaves that were damaged and some were limp and wet close to the bulb. I left about an inch of leaf above where it attaches to the stem. The stems don't have spots.

It was very tempting to start pealing the first layer off the stem to get rid of any spores that might be present but I left in on as not to damage or hinder the drying process. The stems are still green. Is there any treatment I should consider while it dries down?

- Lisa

[bower]

Dry air is the best treatment for this I suspect. Maybe get them out of the box and onto a rack, or hang them? But ultimately, if the environment is too humid that may not be enough.

I've always cured mine indoors and had no problems - but I've seen what can happen in a cool damp shed, and those less ideal conditions can be lossy.
If you can't bring them into a warm dry place with good air circulation, I'd be tempted to speed up the dry down process by cutting off the greens, maybe leaving a foot or so to reduce the risk of fungus getting down into the neck, trim the roots to an inch, and get them onto some kind of rack where they're not touching each other, maximum air around them.

[zipcode]

Probably some normal fungus, not something particular to garlic. Removing the outer layers was a good idea. You certainly should move them, the house is always a great place, just put it on top of a cabinet where there is usually nothing, that is the best place to dry anything (upper air in the room is much warmer than at 'ground' level).

[Father'sDaughter]

If there is someplace you can hang them (tied in bunches of 5-6) with a low fan blowing on them, it will help them dry down and hopefully stop the fungus in it's tracks. And as Bower suggests, cut down the leaves and trim the roots. Before I hang mine I cut each leaf down to about 5-6 inches and the roots down to about an inch. It will dry quicker and more evenly without the floppy leaves all clumped together (and make less of a mess!).