TatiEva
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Location: Eastern Central Florida

What happened to my garlic?!?!

I had planted 6 cloves about 1 month ago and the stall grew pretty tall, I've noticed the leaves turning yellow and today I just couldn't take it anymore, they were dying and I wanted to find out why. I dug and I found nothing! Not clove no bulb, nothing! Just the stalk and roots. Some parts of garlic I found were mush, as if it decomposed. Did I water too much? Not enough drainage in the soil??? I planted them in the appropriate container with appropriate distance from each other.

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rainbowgardener
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Garlic is difficult in Florida, it prefers a cold winter. Garlic is usually planted in the fall and winters over, getting the chilling it needs. You can start again in fall, but put your garlic cloves in damp potting mix in a zip lock bag and put them in the fridge for six weeks first.

Turning in to mush sounds like staying too moist for too long. Could be over watering and or your potting mix. Did you by chance use the moisture control stuff? It is designed to stay damp all the time, but lots of plants don't like that, prefer to dry out some in between.

pepperhead212
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What variety of garlic did you plant? Hardnecks need that cold that rainbow refers to, esp. rocambole types. However, some softnecks grow well in heat, and don't need that winter freeze. They obviously grow things like this in areas like Szechwan province and Thailand, where they love their garlic! I have seen some varieties from these areas, and Creole garlic, which also is probably a heat resistant variety, though I have never grown them. But all garlic needs good drainage.

TatiEva
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Thank you both so much for your replies. I honestly think it wasn't enough drainage and too much water. Oh well, we learn from mistakes! Time to try it again!
Thanks again! :)

imafan26
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Garlic in the south should be planted in the fall. I grow California garlic because it is the easiest ones for me to get. Artichoke garlic, Creole garlic and Marbled Purple Striped garlic are recommended for Florida. Add compost to the soil and when they start growing they need nitrogen, but nitrogen should not be continued once the leaves have matured or the bulbs will be small.
Garlic bulbs need to be vernalized or conditioned before planting so keep them in the refrigerator in a paper bag for about 6 weeks minimum. I keep them in longer. For me, I plant them ideally October - November and I am frost free so they grow greens the entire time. In places with frost, the tops will die, but come back again in the early spring. Right around March my bulbs started to grow, I have only side dressed them once and yesterday I fed the potted plants and the garden with MG. It is the first they have had in a very long time. Some of the garlic and onions bloomed so I removed the seed heads. I am waiting now for the bulbs to finish sizing up. I know when they are done when the leaves start to dry. It usually will be sometime in May or June that they will be ready to harvest.

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jal_ut
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There are hardneck garlics and softneck garlics. It has been said that hardneck is for the North and softneck for the South.
I am simply suggesting that you need to find the right variety for your area. I promise that all garlic varieties will not do well there. I tried over a dozen varieties here before finding one that excelled in this area.

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Gary350
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I grew very good garlic when I lived in Phoenix AZ area, your garlic should do good in Florida. I bought grocery store garlic and planted 75 cloves every year about last week of Sept day temperatures were still 100 degrees every day. I planted my garlic under a small palm tree for shade. AZ has no clouds full sun all day is much different than many places back East where they have lots of scattered clouds all day. My garlic had full sun from 7am to about 1 pm every day. The palm tree had irrigation that came on at sun down for 15 minutes every day it gave the garlic and palm tree 1 quart of water. No one sells ammonium nitrate in AZ so I fertilized the garlic with 8-4-4 palm tree fertilizer and ammonium sulfate. Garlic was ready to harvest March when we had 95 degree weather again. Garlic bulbs were large about 2 1/2" diameter. AZ soil is extremely fine sand about like kitchen flour with almost no food value for plants. You will not have any problem growing garlic in Florida.

TatiEva
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Location: Eastern Central Florida

Thank you all so much for the helpful insight! I shall try again in the fall and go with softneck garlic.

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Gary350
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Here is the link I was looking for about garlic.

https://www.greenmountaingarlic.com/garlic-types/

TatiEva
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Thank you Gary :)



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