Garlic

[lezelle]

Hi Ya, I have grown garlic this year and quite pleased with the results. I was looking at it and there is more than I will use and was wondering if I can grow it from my own saved bulbs. Has anyone done it and how did it turn out? cheers all

[Tee Gee]

Yes, I did it regularly, providing it is free of disease! 

See here;https://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/G/Garlic/Garlic.htm

[Tiny Clanger]

Hi Iezelle,  I've successfully  grown bulbs from saved garlic. I don't grow a lot of saved cloves as there are so many different ones I've never tried.

Had to scrap mine this year due to rot. I have it in patches all over the plot. Unlucky this year.  Glad to hear yours have done well. X

[Beersmith]

A perfectly sensible thing to do, but as TeeGee has emphasised use only healthy disease free bulbs, and in my opinion decent sized cloves.  It can be an excellent economy measure too as garlic sets can be expensive from some suppliers.

I have done it myself with good results but as I have a source of good sets at reasonable prices I do not do it every year.  I tend to monitor how my stocks are keeping and how much has been eaten as autumn approaches, and act accordingly.

[Plot22]

I have done it for several years now . Last year white rot decimated all my stock EXCEPT it did not touch the elephant garlic. I had to buy all new stock except the elephant. Same again this year lost most of the softneck that I had purchased but the elephant is fine. I have kept the elephant for a number of years starting off with just 4 cloves this year I set 60 so I am wondering if it has built up a resistant to the white rot?

[Tee Gee]

I have only had white rot once and it was after a particularly hot spell.
On seeing the comments above I have been theorising and come up with this thought;

When onions swell they form a sort of basin/pan below them and if you water your onions quite often this basin/ pan remains quite moist relative to the soil around it.

Meaning the base of the owning is cooking( boiling) due to the hot weather and it is this action that initially causes the base of the onion/s to soften making them more susceptible to disease.

One of my pet hates is watering and the lack of this on my plots may have helped in keeping me free of white rot

We have certainly been getting spells of very hot water in the last few years at the time the opinions are swelling is a reason or just a coincidence?

Over to you...........

[gray1720]

Unfortunately for the theory, I get white rot, and I water as little as possible (living three miles away, working full time and having a home garden too, I just can't water everything every day - especially as we have to pump water up from wells) - I water the planting hole, plant, water in, and then it has to get on with it. Mind you, this year, it's either been too wet or too dry, too hot or too cold, and my poor onions that looked so good when I put them out now mostly look brown bread... and the least said about the garlic the better.

[Plot22]

I have heard of Tee Gee's theory before as I have said on a previous post I have grown my onions in the same bed white rot free for the past 2 years. I have not watered for some weeks now irrespective of the weather and touch wood they are looking ok. It maybe that I am mainly growing Golden Bear which I had white free success with last year or maybe it is the watering theory but rain is forecast for most of next week which is fine for most crops but perhaps not so fine for my onions. I will try to post the results when I harvest them.

[Tiny Clanger]

Onions not doing to badly this year in a new part of the plot. I rarely water album of any type - garlic not at all, I planted October last year. My daughter claims nearly all my garlic (when I have any to harvest),as we don't eat it - makes me quite ill, but she did not care for the flavour of the elephant I grew  last season.

Things not looking too bad on our plot. May even have some red onions to show for my efforts. Now, if I can just get my husband to learn what is a courgette to pick and what is a harlequin squash  to let be a while.....

[Beersmith]

Today I lifted most of my main crop onions before the predicted rain arrived.

Although there was still plenty of green top on most of them the roots were weak. They lifted with only a very gentle tug.  The bases were sound and dry.  Not a single one showed any decay or mould at the base.

I'm getting more and more convinced that TeeGee has the correct idea and that at this time of year leaving them to sit in warm wet soil is the wrong approach.  It is easy to think they could fatten a bit more, but with the roots so fragile I doubt they could be drawing up much moisture or nutrition.

[Vinlander]

I have done it for several years now . Last year white rot decimated all my stock EXCEPT it did not touch the elephant garlic. I had to buy all new stock except the elephant. Same again this year lost most of the softneck that I had purchased but the elephant is fine. I have kept the elephant for a number of years starting off with just 4 cloves this year I set 60 so I am wondering if it has built up a resistant to the white rot?

Since the elephant is closer to a leek I suspect it is a natural immunity - I certainly find elephant garlic is always there when I dig it, whereas ordinary garlic has a habit of disappearing. Even unharvested leeks can't be trusted - I often dig for them in winter because the bulbs they produce taste like silverskin onions but without the layers - excellent sliced into cheese sandwiches.

Cheers.

[Plot22]

I said that I would reply once I had harvested my crop of onions. Over the last 2 weeks I have harvested 300 onions including the following Wilko's Turbo Crop Sets ( only set as a back up in case my onions from seed failed ) Hylander and Golden Bear. I have lost 3 due to white rot which is an improvement on last year. First I have set in the same bed as last year. Second I spread garlic powder across the bed around early September and in the winter I spread and dug in well rotted farm yard manure. I only watered when I set the sets and seedlings and never since. Third we have had a long dry spell which may have helped dissuade the white rot and fourth I have lifted them  soon after  they went over. Previous to last year I was righting off 20% of the crop hence I set 300  needless to say despite giving all my friends and neighbours a bunch to dry we have more than we need. I am drying them on the trees in my large back garden and up to press they are drying well and looking ok. I have already purchased the garlic powder to spread over the bed these next few weeks just in case that is a positive factor.