6sparkpug6
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When to harvest garlic

Hi everyone! So this question has probably been asked many times, but I still need a bit of help. So from what I've gathered, you harvest the garlic when the scapes stand straight up or when the bottom 1/3 to 2/3 of the leaves turn brown. So my garlic looks almost ready, at least in the larger bed. However, I left the scape on two or so and it hasn't stood straight up yet.

The issue is that I planted three different varieties, and I don't know which is which. Also, I won't be able to harvest for about two weeks of I don't harvest within the next few days. I'm not sure if I should harvest the fuller bed now and wait on the larger ones for after.

Any tips or guidance would be appreciated. I'll be attaching more pictures as well.

There's also one that had seemed to turn brown.. I'm not really sure what is up with it...

Also, if this helps for timing, we put them in last fall.

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rainbowgardener
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I'm sure there are different opinions, but I wouldn't harvest them yet. I usually wait until the plant is pretty well done. In zone 6b, I usually figured on around mid-July to harvest garlic....

6sparkpug6
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Peter1142
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I would definitely harvest now! I pulled up my garlic when it was still mostly green. Better a little too early than too late. You could at least pull a few and see how they look.

For future reference the scapes are usually cut and eaten, before they stand up and get tough, after making a curl or shephard's hook.

The garlic has been very early this year just about everywhere in the US.

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applestar
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I've been harvesting as they yellow. I do see a couple that look ready -- I think you took pics of them because you thought so too? Some of them look no way near ready though. Those might wait another 2 weeks.

I dunno -- I almost never HARVEST ALL AT ONCE -- unless I'm finishing up and clearing the bed. Isn't that the whole point of backyard gardening? You can eat/use produce as they become ripe and ready to eat, or you can put them up/freeze them at their peak.

AnnaIkona
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My husband recently learned that it's better to harvest garlic late than early...he pulled out some garlic which was half way dried up and noticed that the garlic wasn't even bigger than the clove we planted last fall. :> haha! He learned the hard way! :roll:

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Annalkona, honestly IMO it sounds to me like you had other issues besides harvesting too early.

6sparkpug6
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Hi everyone! Thanks for the tips! I dug a few up that looked like they'd be ready -- how do they look? Does it seem like I pulled these at the right time?

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Peter1142
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Hard to tell in the photo, but it looks like some big and small ones. IMO I doubt they will get much bigger at this point, but if you want wait a little longer, if you see no signs of rot or splitting and the plants are mostly green.

Vanisle_BC
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Peter1142 wrote:Annalkona, honestly IMO it sounds to me like you had other issues besides harvesting too early.
I suspect the same; how early was the harvest?

The sources I've seen suggest mid-July but I usually don't wait that long - not enough patience I guess. Don't know about the 1/3-2/3 brown leaves. I harvest whenever the leaves begin showing a bit of brown, and get good size bulbs. Might get bigger later? Don't know.

As for varieties, I lost track of some of my original types - can still tell them apart but not which is which name. So I just identify them with "pet names" now - like Redneck, Pinkskin etc. Some get called No Name :).

I'm thinking of lifting mine this week. Here's what they look like now. I'm sure someone will tell me I'm way too early. Maybe I'll leave a few till later, for comparison.

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Peter1142 wrote:Annalkona, honestly IMO it sounds to me like you had other issues besides harvesting too early.
What do you think is the issue? We planted it in one part old soil from our garden beds (pretty sandy stuff) and one part composted manure. We never really watered it, as we had quite a bit of rain (I'm talkin' 2 times a week) And these were planted in deep continenrs, which got about 4 hours of sun each day.

Any ideas?

I personally thought it was just that we harvested too early. :oops:

Maybe if y'all think it's such a big issue, I should create a new thread...

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Analkona, when was your garlic planted - spring or fall?

AnnaIkona
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Vanisle_BC wrote:Analkona, when was your garlic planted - spring or fall?
Planted in the fall.

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Gary350
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Garlic will tell you when they are ready to harvest the stalks turn brown and die. My garlic are never ALL ready to harvest on the same day even though they were all planted the same day.

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rainbowgardener
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6sparkpug6 wrote:Hi everyone! Thanks for the tips! I dug a few up that looked like they'd be ready -- how do they look? Does it seem like I pulled these at the right time?
They look small. I think they still would have gotten bigger if you waited a little longer. I think a lot of the clove growth comes right at the end.

But I agree with the people saying the garlic is never ready all at once.

Peter1142
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This is my garlic harvest this year. As you can see, the bulbs are a decent size and the plants are still quite green.

I know from pulling up rotters, that the bulbs enlarge rapidly as the scapes start coming up.

Could they have gotten a bit bigger? Maybe... but there are a lot of risks, including rotting and splitting. I can say in my soil, when the plants start to brown, they are telling me they are in danger and I should pull them.

There are a lot of types of garlic though, and growing conditions, and my experience is limited to porcelains and rocamboles, over a few years.
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applestar
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Looks great @peter1142 :D


Something else to consider -- I've been told by garlic growing enthusiasts that they do acclimate to your location if you keep saving the biggest, best cloves and plant them for the following year. So if these were grown from the purchased seed cloves of garlic, be sure to cure them properly -- bunch and hang in well ventilated spot, up a fan on them if humidity is high. Don't cut off roots and stalks until completely dried -- then plant about a month before the ground freezes or around last average frost !! This is in the north with coldest winter temps below mid-20's. I believe you are supposed to plant earlier in the south.

Your seed cloves might not have been the biggest, too. You don't know if you were planting big cloves for that variety or not unless you bought from a source that prices them by size.

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applestar
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Btw I just harvested the new to me variety that was SUPPOSED to be the earliest to mature. Tzan Turban.

My others don't look ready yet. Elephant garlic doesn't seem to want to mature all at once at the same time -- they are all over the place in terms of indicators. :roll:

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jal_ut
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Garlic was hit and miss for me until I decided one year to plant a bit of everything I could get my hands on. Out of that experiment one variety excelled, so I have been propagating that one since. (Lost the name of it) For me garlic is planted in the fall before snowfall, and harvested about first week of July.

6sparkpug6
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I got my garlic from a local farm. It seemed to do a lot better than last year's garlic from what I've seen of it so far (especially in one of the beds). It's interesting how much larger the ones in the other bed got.

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jal_ut
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I plant garlic in the fall. By July 1 it is ready. I find that if you leave it in the ground too long the bulbs fall apart and you end up with a bunch of individual cloves instead of a nice large bulb with several cloves. Hey we are about there. I am going to start pulling some this weekend.

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I look forward to what you pull up, James. Its a little like a treasure hunt. Hope it pays off well. As for me, you all have convinced me to try my hand at it for next year.

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rainbowgardener
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KitchenGardener wrote:I look forward to what you pull up, James. Its a little like a treasure hunt. Hope it pays off well. As for me, you all have convinced me to try my hand at it for next year.
Absolutely! I've only been growing garlic for maybe five years now, but I love it! So easy! Takes up little room in the garden, helps keep pests away from your veggies, and what a wonderful thing to harvest! :)

I'm really missing it that I have none in my garden now -- I moved to a new state, last Sept and did not have things set up in time to plant garlic. Looking forward to planting it this fall!

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Something I really love about garlic is that if I plant 200 cloves in September I can probably count on getting at least 195 bulbs come July. I don't think I grow anything else that's so reliable.
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Taiji
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Great discussion! I tried some garlic ( just something from the grocery store)last fall for the first time just for fun. It's just about ready; I pulled one just to see; looks like it's doing well. I like the idea of pest control. This fall I'm gonna try it here and there throughout the garden instead of all in one spot.

That's interesting about choosing the larger cloves. With onions, choosing the smallest bulbs is what you do to get the best big onions, right?

Vanisle_BC
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Taiji wrote:This fall I'm gonna try it here and there throughout the garden instead of all in one spot.
I've always been an all-in-one spot guy and harvest-all-at-once too (did it yesterday). After following this thread I'm going to try - next year :( - being more selective about timing the harvest for individual varieties. Maybe about watering too although my drip-tape layout makes it difficult to vary that from one area to another.

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Hi Annalkona,

Where in BC are you? Here in Port Alberni we get very little winter sun - often seems like none - but garlic grows well. Mine, planted September, is usually up before winter and survives right through. It's not a "real cold" season here but even in years when there was significant frost that hasn't been a problem.

I'm no expert but have been raising garlic for many years. Never in containers so I know NOthing about that.

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KitchenGardener, sorry to be so long in replying to this...............

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Always save the biggest and best for planting. Try a bit of several varieties. You may find one that excels in your conditions? Plant in the Fall. Good luck!

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jal_ut wrote:KitchenGardener, sorry to be so long in replying to this...............

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Awesome looks like you got some real big ones too!. We got about 30 bulbs of garlic this year which should last us a while. It's so easy to grow and I love garlic.

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When planting garlic, I like to separate the cloves and plant individual cloves about every six inches in a row. Like I always say, give a plant some room and enough room and it will do well. When to pull it? If planted in the fall, by July you should be able to grab some as you need it. When it looks ready pull the whole bunch. If left in the ground too long the outer covering of the bulb deteriorates and the clump falls apart into individual cloves. These are still OK for eating or cooking, but not what you might want for selling at a Farmer's Market.

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If I plant my garlic late Oct it is ready to harvest in July. If I plant in Sept it is ready to harvest in June. Sept to June is best there are fewer hot weather days over 80 degrees. If I leave them in the ground until the tops are totally dried out heads fall apart. If I harvest when plants are starting to yellow and die I get solid garlic head. I let the garlic dry outside for a week then put it in a plastic mesh grapefruit bag, we keep them in the kitchen pantry.

I made Enchilada sauce a few days ago, 6 un pealed garlic cloves, 1/2 small onion, 2 cups water, 3 tablespoons of chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, 2 teaspoons fresh garden oregano, 2 tablespoons of flour. Optional 1 teaspoon red pepper if you like it a little bit spicy hot. 3 minutes in kitchen blender on high then bring to a boil until thick about 5 minutes. Garlic skins cook up no need to remove skins not even from grocery store garlic. I use to spend a lot of time removing skins Oriental lady said, 'no remove skins they cook good you eat."

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I have some leftover garlic in the refrigerator from last year that are sprouting. I am eating the ones that are not rotting. Should I throw the rest away and get new ones or how can I keep them? They are also getting soft. I know I can't plant them, they will only shrink.

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When last year's harvest is starting to dry up, sprout, or just getting old, I take the worst cloves and use them to make plant sprays, with other natural ingredients. Ones that are drying out a little, I mince them, then cook them in oil to make Thai crispy garlic, and nam prik pao - two things that older garlic won't really be noticed in. Nam prik pao is something that I always have in my fridge - a paste of 4 oz shallots, 2 oz garlic, and 1 1/2 oz dried peppers, all minced up with 1-1 1/4 c oil, and cooked to 290°, to crispen and caramelize the ingredients.

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imafan26 wrote:I have some leftover garlic in the refrigerator from last year that are sprouting. I am eating the ones that are not rotting. Should I throw the rest away and get new ones or how can I keep them? They are also getting soft. I know I can't plant them, they will only shrink.
Don't refrigerate garlic. There is no need and it only tells the plant to begin sprouting. Keep garlic on your counter/in the pantry.

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jal_ut
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Sorry about the pics. Seems Photobucket has went bonkers. Time to look for a new photo hosting site?

Hmmmm...... here it is a year later. About time to harvest the garlic?

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Gary350
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imafan26 wrote:I have some leftover garlic in the refrigerator from last year that are sprouting. I am eating the ones that are not rotting. Should I throw the rest away and get new ones or how can I keep them? They are also getting soft. I know I can't plant them, they will only shrink.
The garlic you have in the refrigerator are what you need to plant. I keep garlic in the refrigerator 3 months before planting it. This makes garlic think winter is over now it is time to grow. There is new information online about onions & garlic the old belief of planting short day plants in the south and long day plants in the north is wrong. There are growers that grow long day garlic & onions in Texas. They have learned onions & garlic both need to grow below 80 degrees. When I lived in Arizona I planted garlic in November and harvested it in April when weather was 85 degrees, that was best garlic I ever grew. My garlic is in the refrigerator now soon as our weather gets below 80 degrees I am going to plant garlic.

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Dirt Man wrote: Garlic skins cook up no need to remove skins not even from grocery store garlic. I use to spend a lot of time removing skins Oriental lady said, 'no remove skins they cook good you eat."
Holy guacamole! My last sixty years I've been living a lie! This is excellent news. It is not the case with onion skins for sure. I hate those little papery bits. I can deal with celery strings and whole peppercorns, but always peel onions completely, save for the roots.

And now that I think on it, I no longer trim the tiny little root end off of garlic cloves unless I want something really smooth like a garlic aioli or a cream sauce.

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I learned the hard way about the different types of garlic. I tried to grow elephant garlic one year and ended up with a clove half the size of the original. I did a little better with the shallots; and came out about even. My garlic does not make scapes. I love the Dixondale site because I learned about growing onions in the South (Hawaii too). I found equally good advice about the nuances of growing garlic from different sites. For the southern growers the greyduckgarlic farm was the most insightful for me

https://www.southernexposure.com/blog/20 ... m-a-clove/
https://www.garlicfarm.ca/growing-garlic.html
https://greyduckgarlic.com/Southern_Garl ... Guide.html
https://organicgrowersschool.org/wp-cont ... dout-1.pdf

In General
You need to plant a variety suitable for your climate. Hardnecks in the North and Softnecks do better in the South.

Garlic growth is dependent on daylength and temperature so you in the South garlic needs to be vernalized a minimum of 6-8 weeks before planting, but up to 12 weeks may be better. Keep the garlic in a paper bag in the frig.

Stages of garlic growth
We have no control over when garlic starts to make bulbs, only over how large and healthy the leaves are when bulbing
starts, and how large the final bulbs can be.
Bulbs start forming once day-length exceeds 13 hours. Air temperatures above 68°F (20°C) and soil temperatures over 60°F
(15.5°C) are secondary triggers - no more leaf growth!!
12 hours of daylight = spring equinox. Northern latitudes reach 13 hours of daylight before southern ones, but garlic does
not start bulbing there then because it’s too cold. Temperatures cause harvest dates to be earlier in warmer zones than in
cooler areas at the same latitude.
It is important to establish garlic in good time so roots and leaf growth are as big as possible before the plants start making
bulbs. Small plants on the trigger date only make small bulbs!

Best planting time is in the fall between Labor day and Halloween. In the tropics. I plant the last week of October

In warm climates it is best to refrigerate longer 8-12 weeks. Mulch to keep soil cool with compost. Hay can cause fungal diseases in humid climates.

You have to have good top growth to get big bulbs - more nitrogen in the early stages of growth and less later.

If you want big garlic only plant big cloves- eat the small ones. If you plant the smaller cloves you will get smaller bulbs.

Harvesting garlic in early Summer. For the tropics and the south May-July, for northern growers after the fourth of July.
Keep a record of when you plant so you know the time your garlic variety is likely to mature.
Avoid watering before harvesting so the bulbs are dry. Nothing worse than pulling muddy bulbs!
You have a window of opportunity to harvest. Too soon and it will look like an onion (the segments and papery wrapper will not yet be formed). Too late and the cloves will grow and expand so much the outer tissue paper-like wrapper will split, which will reduce bulb quality and storage life.
As a guideline, harvest hard neck garlic when roughly 1/3 – 1/2 the leaves are brown and wilted. Harvest soft neck varieties when the bottom few leaves start dying off or the garlic falls over. If you’re not sure, pull out one bulb to test it is fully formed before harvesting the whole crop.

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Great summary. Lots of details relevant for my area, too. Thanks @imafan! :D



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