How does garlic grow?

[worldharmony]

We are growing garlic, which we started by planting cloves. They have grown tall stalks over the past six weeks. This week the stalks look kind of dry and brown-looking, and have fallen over. I pulled up a couple and they looked just like scallions- a little bulb at the bottom with roots. No sign of a garlic bulb. They sure smell like garlic, though. Did I just pull them too early? What should I be looking for to determine whether the garlic is ready to harvest?

[sweet thunder]

Well, usually garlic is ready to harvest when the leaves turn brown about halfway down and start to fall over, however, garlic is usually planted in the fall, or at least in very early spring if the ground is workable.
I don't think six weeks is long enough to make bulbs.

At this point, I doubt there's much you can do to get bulbs to form.
If it were me, I'd just re-plant in the fall. (Check dates for your zone. It's probably somewhere around mid-October.)
If you plant hardneck varieties they'll send up a flower stalk in the spring which you'll want to prune off (and eat!) and then when the greenery begins to die down next summer, you can harvest your bulbs.

[worldharmony]

So you are saying you don't think I'll get any bulbs at all? Even if I leave them in the ground?

[sweet thunder]

If the foliage has already started to die back the plant is pretty much done for the season, I'm sorry to say. It's no longer feeding the would-be bulbs.

I'm not sure if it'll work, but you could leave those in the ground and see if they come up next spring, but a safer bet would be to re-plant in the fall.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[hendi_alex]

Just harvest the small bulbs and then replant them at the proper planting time in the fall, probably September but check for your area. The bigger ones should make decent sized bulbs next year. If the bulbs are very tiny this year, then you may want to get some additonal large cloves to plant this fall. Large cloves planted in the fall equal large bulbs harvested the following summer.

[Gnome]

worldharmony,

So you are saying you don't think I'll get any bulbs at all? Even if I leave them in the ground?

If you only planted them six weeks ago the plants barely had enough time to get established, so no don't expect much from this years attempt. Sometimes you read that Garlic can be planted in the spring but I have never had good results with this method.

Ordinarily I would suggest that you do not leave the bulbs/heads in the ground this year, that you must harvest, split and replant the individual cloves. If you leave whole heads to overwinter they will survive nicely but will grow into a group of plants next year. This group will be far too close and will not produce good sized heads next year.

Since your plants are so small you are in an unusual position, they may be too small to divide properly. In this odd situation you may be able to leave them undisturbed. Alex has a point about perhaps acquiring some larger cloves for replanting. Perhaps do both.

Ordinarily you should plant individual cloves late this summer for harvest around this time next year. The plants will begin to grow this fall, overwinter and resume growth next spring.

Also make sure you are growing an appropriate variety for your locality. Garlic is photoperiodic and relies on day length to induce bulb formation. If you are growing garlic from the supermarket it may not do well for you.

More [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=32071#32071]here.[/url]

Norm

[Gary350]

Start over. Plant your garlic late fall. I see you live in Ohio so you probably want to plant about October. Do you have a compost pile? I always save two 5 gallon buckets of my best compost for garlic. Garlic likes a well drained sandy loam with an abuncance of organic material and lime. I buy my bulbs at the grocery store, seperate each bulb into cloves. Push them into the soil so they are barely covered. I put the compost on the ground patt it down about 3" deep and plant grocery store garlic in it. Let it grow all winter in the snow and cold weather. It will be ready to harvest next summer.

[SP8]

From my experience in takes at least 8 weeks and more often than not up to 12 weeks to get a successful garlic crop.

Sounds like you just got your timing for planting wrong.

Home grown garlic is the best so don't be disheartened and have another crack at it as suggested!

[johnrf]

I am just starting to harvest garlic that I planted in the fall with nice bulbs.
I assume I should dry this and I have it hanging on the fence now.
I would like to keep the bed going indefinitely. Can I just replant some of the cloves now or should I wait until Fall?

[Gnome]

johnrf,

Please follow the link I posted earlier in this thread.

I assume I should dry this and I have it hanging on the fence now.

Yes, they should be dried and stored. Do not allow them to get wet once you have dug them.

Can I just replant some of the cloves now or should I wait until Fall?

The usual advice is to wait until fall. I have given this some thought and can't really think of a good reason to wait. In nature the plants are never dug and getting them in earlier means a stronger plant next spring.

Perhaps there may be other issues, like different locations/climates, or variety grown, that I am not considering. In my area, with the variety I grow, I have never experienced any problems getting them in sooner rather than later. On the other hand there is no real urgency either, you definitely have a window of opportunity.

One last thing, it may be wise to move your Garlic bed from year to year if you have the space. I have occasionally had problems with the Onion Maggot.

Norm

[hendi_alex]

October is a normal time to plant in my area, as the ground gets cool enough to trigger sprouting of the bulbs. This year I'm going to experiment with refregerating some cloves around mid August. I will leave the cloves in the refrigerator until the first of September and then will move them into the planting bed. I believe this will cause the garlic to sprout earlier and get perhaps a month's head start on growth for next season's bulbs.

[gixxerific]

This year I'm going to experiment with refregerating some cloves around mid August. I will leave the cloves in the refrigerator until the first of September and then will move them into the planting bed. I believe this will cause the garlic to sprout earlier and get perhaps a month's head start on growth for next season's bulbs.

I would be interested to see if this works, News at 10:00.

Dono

[hendi_alex]

I've read several places that refrigerating garlic will stimulate it to sprout. When planted in October or November in S.C. the garlic just sits in the ground until the cool temperatures cause the cloves to sprout. I don't see why forcing the cloves in the refrigerator would not work, but will post an update in September or October and let everyone know how this works out.

[gixxerific]

I'll be waiting Alex. Maybe you should try a control group that was not refrigerated. Heck maybe I should do this. I'm going upstairs right now to put garlic on the shopping lists. If I do this we shall see but I do want to try garlic this year if I can find room.

Dono

[SP8]

I'll be waiting Alex. Maybe you should try a control group that was not refrigerated. Heck maybe I should do this. I'm going upstairs right now to put garlic on the shopping lists. If I do this we shall see but I do want to try garlic this year if I can find room.

Dono

Make sure it's certified organic as most garlic is sprayed with stuff to stop it from shooting in the store.

[hendi_alex]

Until this year we bought our fresh garlic from walmart. Believe me, it has no problem sprouting. Within about three or four weeks of bringing the bulbs home any that remain generally start sprouting.

I did try some walmart cloves in the garden one year. The plants just made the smallest of bulbs and were barely useable. They did about like tulups down south, always making very small cloves that never mature to any real size. I just found out last year that only certain vairieties are suitable for growning in warmer climates. After buying the right varieties, this year gave a bountiful crop of good sized bulbs and cloves.

Here is about 1/10 of the harvest.



[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3622/3611639636_fa6e7afe10.jpg[/img]

[gixxerific]

Alex don't leave us hanging here , what are the varieties that you get that do so well so I can tell my wife to get those.

I love garlic I put it on about everything, but what the heck do you do with that much garlic?

Dono

[hendi_alex]

I made a little over 100 bulbs this year. Keep in mind that the harvest will last many months. We use about 1-2 bulbs per week, there will be some loss to rot, and then I'll need over 100 cloves for next year's crop. Also, friends and family just love getting bulbs of specialty garlic from our garden. Since we most always home cook and never buy ready made foods from the grocery store, we use a good deal more fresh garlic than most families.

This year I planted Morado Gigante, Tuscan, Bogatyr, Asian Tempest, Metechi, Xian*, Purple Glazer, Susanville*, Early Red*, Polish White, Silver Rose*, Silver White and CA early. Next year I'm adding Corsican Red and Simonetti to the crop.

* - These were the most productive varieties for this year, though all but Bogatyr gave a good crop of nicely sized bulbs and cloves.
Bogatyr mostly rotted and only produced a couple of bulbs. Nevertheless will give it another try this year.

I order my stock from thegarlicstore.com but you better hurry as they are beginning to sell out of many varieties.

[gixxerific]

cool thanks Alex I will look into those and other varieties.

Dono

wolrdhrmony or anyone else trying to grow garlic must read this https://www.thegarlicstore.com/ZenCart/index.php?main_page=page&id=5&chapter=0 that is from the garlic stores website very in depth planting and harvesting how to.