Garlic from bulbs

gogreendiwa · Fri Sep 18, 2015 1:53 pm

Hi team,

Please see the attached picture and please let me know of what you think about the growth of my garlic produce.

This is approx a month old crop. I managed to plant just 5 bulbs.

Kindly share your views/opinion.

gumbo2176 · Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:22 pm

That pot looks a bit crowded to me. Garlic takes up to about 7 months to mature and form heads and in the meantime the foliage will get 2+ ft. tall in that time and the mature heads will be anywhere between 2 1/2 to as much as 4 inches across when ready, depending on which garlic you planted. A couple years ago I had Elephant Garlic that had heads close to 5 inches across.

imafan26 · Fri Sep 18, 2015 8:00 pm

4-6 inches apart for regular garlic, but it will fill that pot in the end.
You need to plant garlic for your zone. Please put your zone and location in your profile, it helps the rest of us answer your questions.

What kind of garlic did you plant?

Gary350 · Sat Sep 19, 2015 9:25 am

I have very good luck planting garlic 4" apart. I grew about 75 garlics last winter. I never have good luck with anything in pots. The ground has a constant moisture and temperature plants like that better than uneven moisture and temperature in pots. Some plants do better than other in pots. Cactus do better in the ground than pots. It works best for me to do it natures way and not use pot but some people seem to know how to grow plants in pots.

jal_ut · Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:52 pm

I am thinking its going to get much growing in a pot. You need to plant in the fall in the ground.

OK, for us to really help you, it is best if we knew where you are located. Things vary a bunch across the area the readers cover. You can amend your profile to include your stats if you wish. Welcome to the Forum!

gogreendiwa · Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:58 am

Guys, please suggest as to how much and how often should I be watering my garlic produce.

imafan26 · Wed Sep 30, 2015 1:51 pm

Everything is watered as needed. I prefer to grow my bulbs in a wide container it is called a bulb pan. Your tall pot will keep the soil moist longer so you need to know how fast it dries. Too much water will rot the bulb. Learn to test the soil for moistness. Use the finger or chopstick method.

gogreendiwa · Thu Oct 01, 2015 12:02 am

imafan26 wrote:Everything is watered as needed. I prefer to grow my bulbs in a wide container it is called a bulb pan. Your tall pot will keep the soil moist longer so you need to know how fast it dries. Too much water will rot the bulb. Learn to test the soil for moistness. Use the finger or chopstick method.

Got it. So basically you are saying is only when the moister content goes down or the soil is dry enough that's when one should water and not on a daily basis for these garlic produce. Am I getting this right?

imafan26 · Thu Oct 01, 2015 1:35 am

It really depends on your soil and how fast it dries. Garlic needs adequate water to keep it growing green and vigorously. If the soil is sandy and it drains fast and it is in a place with good air ciculation it can dry fast enough to water daily.

If you have a heavy soil with a lot of clay and compost in a pot with very few holes and indoors it will not need to be watered as often.

I would not let it get completely dry but just to the point where it is just barely damp.

gogreendiwa · Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:03 am

imafan26 wrote:It really depends on your soil and how fast it dries. Garlic needs adequate water to keep it growing green and vigorously. If the soil is sandy and it drains fast and it is in a place with good air ciculation it can dry fast enough to water daily.

If you have a heavy soil with a lot of clay and compost in a pot with very few holes and indoors it will not need to be watered as often.

I would not let it get completely dry but just to the point where it is just barely damp.

Perfect makes sense. Thanks a lot #imafan26

jal_ut · Wed Oct 21, 2015 7:58 pm

You can get Moisture Meters, that will measure the amount of water in the pots. They are not very expensive. Look online or at your favorite garden store.

pepperhead212 · Wed Oct 21, 2015 10:47 pm

When the garlic is close to harvesting, and about one fourth of the stalks have turned brown, it would be a good idea to stop watering and let the pot dry out. Ideally, when growing garlic in the ground, we want it to stop raining three weeks before harvest, but that rarely happens! In the pots, it would dry out much faster, so maybe a week without water would dry it out. This way, the dry dirt cleans off easier, and the garlic cures faster, because the drying has started.