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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: littlebabybird on June 05, 2009, 10:29:03
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how do you know if garlic is ready to harvest?
i have autumn and spring planted garlic just not sure when to take it out
lbb
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the tops of the plants should start ot turn yellow and start drying out
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LLB is was just about to ask this question :D, what do they say about great minds ;).
my garlic stems from the autumn planting are huge and thick (about an 1 1/4") and most of the spring planted ones are the thickness of about the size of the average man's finger.
neither set of pants are dieing back yet all look very healthy.
LLB hope you don't mind me sharing your thread.
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Hi lbb,
My Autumn garlic is about 2ft high, green as you like and some stems as big as 2p pieces,
when ? like you - need to know ! Hope havn't got to wait until the leaves are total straw !
floss xxx ??? ::)
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Snap ! ;D
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similar here - tips seem to be going very slightly dry/yellow but not much more than that...
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I have taken most of mine but mainly due to the fact that me old mucker Mike down the plot pulled his and found approx 1/4 had root rot!! Arghh! Luckily they look good and no sign of rot. I normally would take in the first two weeks of June for my Autumn planted - I always look and feel the stems - when they start to lose the firmness it's a sure sign they are forming nice bulbs.
Anyway I often take a few early as "wet" garlic so you can aways pick one or two to see how they are getting along without wasting any..
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First signs are all the tops drying out but its not always the case that the bulbs are fully formed.
Easiest method is to gently remove some soil at the base of the stem and take a look at the bulb - the roots come out of the bottom of the bulb so you won't damage them. If the the bulbs look big enough, dig it up, if not gently replace the soil (you might want to water it too) and wait a few more weeks.
I'm not expecting my autumn planted bulbs to be ready until August.
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I'm not expecting my autumn planted bulbs to be ready until August.
is that because of your location i'm in kent do you think mine will be ready earlier ???
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I think that I have jumped the gun! I pulled mine up yesterday and they are not good. I didn't know that they filled out when their tops had died off!!
Still I still have some others - and I will leave them for a while!
Old bird
:o
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can you bung them back in?
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Not really Hector
But you could use them as wet garlic, chopped up into dishes ;)
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are they tasty when wet?
If so I might pull a few when I go down.
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Yup! And they taste / smell of garlic ::) ;) Nice chopped up into spuds or pasta
I have to admit I've been eyeing mine up and been thinking of pulling 1 to see what's happening - on some varieties the leaves are definitely turning yellow, but you never really know what's going on in the soil eh! Guess I'm might be a bit impatient really!
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ok, thank you every one, i will investigate later
think i will get one out what ever need something with my courgette (yes single, under cover)
lbb
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Wait till a couple of that particular variety have flopped over, then lift them and dry them. Different varieties go over at somewhat different times, and it depends on where you are as well.
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I'm not expecting mine to be ready for a while yet. July or August. I'm in Kent and sowed in November.
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ours have started with rust but they're quite a good size so I'm not too worried :)
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In previous years, all of my garlic got rust really badly and I harvested in late June when they looked very dry. I then read the IOW garlic farms advice about pulling them when only about 10% show signs of yellowing foliage, so decided to pull mine the day before yesterday; this year only a touch of rust.
My self saved 'Marco' cloves formed nice big bulbs, the Iberian, Solent Wight and Albigensian were smaller but still decent sized bulbs. All now drying off in the greenhouse....what a smell! The ground has already been planted up again with courgettes, no space empty for long! ;D
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Think I'll try a wet garlic, I said to OH , left him to go to the garlic bed at the end
of the garden, while I trembled with anticipation in the kitchen.
Nothing like the first fruits of your labour, and that was it -- nothing like it ,!
---- Nothing ! :o Zilch >:( No No ???
Looks like a leek , he said ! guese we have to wait a bit ? :-[
floss xxx
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I'm not expecting my autumn planted bulbs to be ready until August.
is that because of your location i'm in kent do you think mine will be ready earlier ???
Certainly up here i've never pulled them up before August - but maybe they start to grow later as the winters are a little bit longer?
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oh floss what a shame! Patience is apparently a virtue :o
Thats interesting reading Deb P
Got my 1st today not a monster but looking good and now drying out as we speak 8)
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1. Lifting? As said - read the Garlic Farm's advice. Tip yellowing is usually - at this time - a bad sign. June liftimg is a bit premature??
2. We always plant the wimps from the centre of the bulb at 1" spacing for Green Garlic. How can anyone say that it's not very worthwhile??
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mine has started to seed, i've cut off the seed pods not sure if i've done the right thing or not ,can i still leave them in the ground a bit longer, i've had a feel of the bulbs and there not very big.
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My cousin, who grows a lot of garlic in Maine USA, told me when he visited ny allotment the other day that garlic is ready to be harvested when 3 of the leaves have turned yellow. However, it depends on the variety. I am growing Germidour, which should be ready to harvest in June and my supplier says it's unwise to wait until all the leaves have fallen over. The long dormancy varieties I am growing (Arno and Moraluz) should be ready in July/August. At about the right time, scrape the soil away from around a couple of plants to see that they have bulbed effectively.
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My garlic looks like almost ready to harvest leaks i cant wait to see how it looks when i pick it :) No sign of it yellowing yet...
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My early garlic is yellowing somewhat. After greying skins last year, and completely rotted skins the year before, I'm tempted to lift it early!
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2. We always plant the wimps from the centre of the bulb at 1" spacing for Green Garlic. How can anyone say that it's not very worthwhile??
Have to agree Tim, and as you say a good use for the small cloves. Hadn't thought of reducing the spacing tho, so thanks for the tip!
It all seems to depend on what variety you are growing
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My Albigensian Wight is still green and growing, last year I harvested it mid July. I also had Marco and something else last year but these didn't grow as well as the AW.
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I lifted the Purple Wight today, possibly a little early, but a couple had toppled over. I had two rows in different parts of the garden; one was all small bulbs, but the other was a decent size. The latter had developed thick necks for some reason, which isn't typical. It won't affect the garlic, but it will mean I won't be able to use them for the Association show. Never mind, I have other garlic!
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We grew our under enviromesh this year cos last year the alium moth got it. Its as green as can be. Did take the mesh off to take the flowerheads off. never seen anything move so quick to get the mesh back on.
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I had half a bulb given me from one of the members on here. The stems have thickened towards the base. When I scrape away a little of the soil, just to see how they are progressing, although a little larger, they are not showing signs of producing any size bulb! ???
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2. We always plant the wimps from the centre of the bulb at 1" spacing for Green Garlic. How can anyone say that it's not very worthwhile??
Tim, what do you mean by wimps?
Neil
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Generally speaking, you get a ring of worthwhile cloves & an inner ring of wimps - not worh the space of good bulbs. So they're packed in close for green garlic.
This shows it - fresh out of last year's crop, so starting on this year's, even though unripe.
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Mine have gone yellow and flopped over, but they are the thickness of knitting needles!
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Depressing!
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Ours have started developing a little rust....
Am tempted to dig up one today to see if they are ready.
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Its so confussing to know when to harvest i have read so much advice that contradicts eachother some say when the tips are yellow some say when most of the leaves are yellow and others say when you have so many leaves yellow and so many green! How do you know which advice to take?
My stems if that's what its called are really thick the leave tips are yellow all looking good above ground!! I planted mine in October. What would you advise?
Thanks Lucy
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Lucy, mine have yellow tips, but with the rust I think I will take a look. You can always dig one up and leave the rest....
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God whats rust does that mean i have it too???
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Rust, raised red pustules on the leaves very conspicuous... you'd see it if you have it. Take the outer leaves off at eating time... rest are fine. :)
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Thanks saddad just had a look no sign of rust, might dig one up in a moe :) Just to see :P so excited was the first thing i planted ever lol
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Just dug one up what am i looking for to to tell me its healthy? Its very big smells lovley what do i do with it now do i dry it out?
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Mummy - do what the Garlic Farm advises.
Yellow tips are usually a sign of sickness.
Whole leaves are different - & don't wait too long or the bulbs won't dry out fully.
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Generally speaking, you get a ring of worthwhile cloves & an inner ring of wimps - not worh the space of good bulbs. So they're packed in close for green garlic.
I plant the biggest cloves out of the crop and eat everything else. The bulbs don't look quite so good with a couple of cloves taken out of them but they taste the same, and it gives me a better crop the following year.
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Have dug one bed of ours up (purple wight). Very happy with the crop. They are a decent size and no signs of white rot. Had a little rust, but am not too worried about that. We have 2 beds of garlic left. One is solent wight, which looks really good. The other is alberian something. That looks a bit weedy with thinner stems. I should have been clearer with the yellow.It isn't just the tips. Having had a better look today it is more a few yellow leaves with some greener leaves left. We did have yellowing tips a month or so ago. We gave them a seaweed feed and they bucked up.
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Ours are still green as can be
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Is that Albigensian Wight? It'll be ready a bit later. I got in a mess last year and mixed up the Albigensian and Purple Wights. I've lifted some of each as a result, but the bulbs are OK.
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Mine have gone yellow and flopped over, but they are the thickness of knitting needles!
What size were the original cloves? The first time I tried to grow it, I had miserable little bulbs from Homebase which produced results like that.
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Is that Albigensian Wight? It'll be ready a bit later. I got in a mess last year and mixed up the Albigensian and Purple Wights. I've lifted some of each as a result, but the bulbs are OK.
That is the one. I will leave them in then ;D
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That's the one I lifted.
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I pulled one of mine up today. It had no skin on it - does this mean they're all too wet and need lifting??
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I had to pull all mine up yesterday :(, most were a nice size and some were small. One of my plot neighbours said i had rust and should pull them up before it spreads...so i did... then as i was walking back to the car another neighbour said i could of left them in ???
Would rust spread to other crops?
Neil
p.s thanks for the info Tim
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I see that thegarlicfarm no longer has full advice on cultivation, so read between the lines of net searches - ie:
When do you harvest garlic?
The easiest way to know when to harvest garlic is simply to look at the leaves. When the leaves are 1/3 brown, you will need to start testing the bulbs to see if they are the proper size. This is easy to do. Simply loosen the dirt above one or two garlic bulbs and get an idea of their size while still keeping them in the ground. If they look large enough, then your ready to make your garden garlic harvest. If they are still too small, than your garlic will need to grow a bit more.
You don’t want to wait too long though. Once the leaves get to be 1/2 - 2/3 brown, you should harvest the garlic regardless of size. Putting off harvesting garlic until after the leaves are completely brown will only result in a inedible bulb.
Your garden garlic harvest will normally happen some time in July or August, if you are in a climate that is ideal for garlic growth. In warmer climates, you can expect to be harvesting garlic as early as spring, though only certain garlic varieties will perform well in warm climates.
How to harvest garlic
Now that you know when to harvest garlic, you need to know how to harvest garlic. While it may seem like harvesting garlic is just a matter of digging the bulbs out of the ground, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Dig, don’t pull. When you harvesting garlic, you need to dig it out of the ground. If you try to pull it out, you will only break the leaves off.
Be gentle. Freshly dug garlic bulbs will bruise easily and it is easy to accidentally slice a bulb open while digging if you are not careful. When harvesting garlic, lift each bulb individually from the ground. Place it in a container where it will not get jostled too much.
Get the garlic out of the sun as soon as possible. Garlic will blanch and burn in the sun. Put the freshly dug bulbs in a dark, dry place as soon as possible.
Problems will occur mainly in wet summers - the leaves may only have started to turn yellow but if the garlic is left in wet ground at this stage, the bulbs will very quickly become diseased. For this reason a second method is needed to determine what stage they have reached. If the weather is wet in early August, pull up one bulb and see how many sheaths (very thin papery layers around the bulb) you can peel off the bulb - if there are only three, harvest the bulbs, if there are four or more, wait another two weeks or until most of the leaves have turned brown.
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What size were the original cloves?
They were fairly big, came from an organic food shop and were chitting well when I planted them (in nov).
I think I'll try a garden centre next time!
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Tim thanks for the info, I'd checked out the garlic farms website and there wasn't the greatest amount of info.
I followed BarridaleNick's tip,
I always look and feel the stems - when they start to lose the firmness it's a sure sign they are forming nice bulbs.
and when you feel the stems (??) you can definitely tell the difference and this really helped me decide to pull my early purples, the rest I'm keeping my beady eye on :D
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There's no need to lift it early because of rust. Two years ago my Solent Wight bed was devastated by it to the point where all the foliage died. I still got a crop. The usual few spots do no harm whatsoever.
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Danish Islands
I planted 3 batches late last October. I don't know what sort they are because I just used bulbs from the co-op.
I have just dug up 2 batches with fine results. The only bad one was the one I stabbed with my garden fork digging it up. :-[ One batch has had yellow leaf tips for several weeks, and had grown a long central stem, on which they tried to grow a small bulb, like tree onions do.
The second batch behaved differently. No flower stems, and the main stems went completely soft and the plants fell over last week. I have dug them up and the harvest is good.
The third batch also has yellow leaves and flower stems (what I cut off), but the bulbs can still gorw a bit, so I've left them in for a while yet.
(http://i40.tinypic.com/23jg2t4.jpg)
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Rotten ones - any sign of white mould??
The ones you're holding - I would say that they are unripe & would grow more.
E&OE!
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Snap off the central flower stalks and you'll get slightly bigger bulbs.