I knew my garlic, planted at the end of October, wasn't looking good, so I plucked up the courage to dig one up today. No swelling at all and covered in white frothy stuff which I presume is rot. Really disappointed. Would more watering in the hot weather have made any difference, as that's the only thing I know I did wrong?
sorry to hear that :-(
That would not be shop bought Garlic would it
No, pink garlic from King's, who have a good reputation.
Garlic does not need a lot of water, but when you say white frothy stuff on the bottom the first thing that comes to mind is White Rot as shop bought untreated Garlic is one of the main causes of it.
My garlic is looking very similar - I usually pick one or two to use green at this time of the year - but no swelling. No white frothy stuff though. I have put it down to the garlic rut that seems to be on a number of leaves, or perhaps that we didn't have a very cold winter, as i think they need a good cold snap to trigger bulb formation.
Someone else may be able to confirm this or put me straight.
A lot of mine have rotted away and the onions next to it have been affected as well, reds more than whites. I suppose it could just be the very wet weather we had a while ago, but I am treating the land as infected by white onion rot and will not grow alliums there again. Apparently onion white rot goes for garlic first and is more active when it is very warm in April /May - so there was some pay back for the wonderful April we had!
Dispose of all traces & sterilise your tools.
Sorry to hear that Caroline... I have it on one of my plots so have not grown alliums there for several years now...
:(
my garlic has rust on it and all the leaves have gone yellow and it's looking like it's dying - I pulled one of them up and it was tiny, although divided into cloves. It's so disappointing, isn't it? Maybe we'll have more luck with the potatoes - what can go wrong with those? ;)
B****t??
I'm really fed up about this. Does this mean I shouldn't grow garlic, onions or leeks anywhere on my allotment now (for at least 8 years according to my books!) or just on the bit where the infected ones are. I guess if it's in the soil it can be transferred on tools. I was planning to plant my leeks tomorrow! :'(
Well, some of my onions are like that I as we are all suffering a little in different parts of the country, I would put it down to the weather conditions in April, not rot.
I planted winter garlic too and have dug one up and again, it is not bulbing up as usual, so going to keep fingers crossed and leave in till the usual crop time (for me anyway) of July.
But although it was gorgeous in April, I definitely think it was the unusual heat followed by the bucketloads of rain... I am not going to sterilize my plot, or even think about not planting onions in autumn, I just reckon it will be fine next year,
Lin
Visited my garlic today, noticed one where the leaves had gone yellow and winted.
I carfully dug it out to check and its not rotted but it does look - well unfinished.
There are greenshoots visible inside which look like there going to grow out as the cloves form so i carefully popped it all back and left the others undisturbed.
Not sure if i have done the right thing but it looks promising .
Cambourne7
My garlic leaves are also going yellow - but not the tips. Pulled one up and it is just a bit bigger than a golf ball. They were planted October/November last year - when should I leave it in the ground until and is the garlic still safe to eat??
Jitterbug
Last year I was very anxious about my garlic: I had planted it in manured soil between strawberries and worried that it will all go into greenery instead of roots, I pulled out one of them in June and was horrified it was all leaves and no bulb, but when time came, it was the beginning of August I think, the bulbs were as big as elephant garlic, at the end of the day we had a bucket of garlic, but I can’t remember how many plants I had.
So, it’s early days yet and I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see the final result.
You can leave it in the ground as long as you like it doesn't go poisonous, so safe to eat, but the problem is:
when leaves completely die off it will be difficult to find where your garlic is, somehow the bulb goes deeper in the ground and it might rot.
Natasha, that's good to know because my garlic is poor this year too - rusty leaves and small bulbs. I'll just abandon them until August or the foliage is completely gone and see how it goes. The onions look ok tho.
Leave the until ten percent have fallen over, then lift them and let them dry in the sun. If you leave them too long, you'll have trouble finding them.
I've harvested two lots of garlics so far. Both lots have very small bulbs but the leaves were very brown so I dug them up.
I still have Germidour in the ground. Last week I checked how big the bulbs were and they were still small although the leaves are about 30% yellow. I don't know if I should harvest them or not!
It's been a bad year for my overwintering onions (all bolted big time) so I'm hoping my garlics are ok. :-\
All my garlic looks fine, and none has fallen over yet. Only the elephant garlic produced flower buds.
My over wintered onions bolted... but I pinched out most stems early so i'll get enough to keep me going untill the mains are ready!
;D