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My garlic is covered in orange spots, the spots are oval and have a line in the middle and appear on both sides of the leaves ,it came on really quickly in the past week and I have been told this is rust but the crop will still be ok.   The garlic has been on the lottie since October/November and the leaves had started to turn yellow before the rust set in.  What I need to know is should I dig it up now in case it spreads?  The onions that are next to it are fine and growing well so I don't want to risk them getting it too.

Thanks for any advice

LLx

Hi, The same thing has happened to me over the last two weeks. I was wondering whether it might have been the heavy rain recently after the dry spell! I looked at a bulb and it is still small 3cm width so it is too early to harvest. Just hoping it will be ok

Found this

http://www.garlicworld.co.uk/garden/page2.html

look at the botton of page! good site fpr garic lovers!

My garlic is also covered in rust spots which has now spread to shallots planted next to it. This also happened last year and I got a good crop of both garlic and shallots, so I'm not worrying. Both crops will be harvested in a few weeks time anyway.

Tricia

Rust is usually harmless but this year my garlic, bought from T&M looks awful. I presume that the dry spring is to blame and am hoping thst the recent rain will make the growth outstrip rust.

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_garlic.html

I had rust on my garlic for the first time last year, still had a good crop so will not be worried! I'm still using up last years crop too, so it didn't affect storage capabilities either ;D

I had loads of rusty garlic last year, and a good crop anyway. This year there's none to be seen.

Phew - thank goodness I was worrying for nothing... I thought all my garlics would be useless.

Alison

Popped up the plot to pick some strawberries and was worried as noticed my garlic which had been doing so well was a definite shade of orange!  Rust spots everywhere but hopefully will be ok looking at posts above  :-\

I think the month of April has a lot to answer for!!

Overwintering stuff such as Japanese onions and Garlic were kidded into ripening before the bulbs had a chance to swell and as a consequence I am expecting a smaller return this year.

Did a rough check on my garlic (scraped back some soil) and the one I looked at didn't look as big as I would expect and the leaves have virtually died back so these won't feed the cloves much more hence my prediction.

The onion leaves are still quite green so chances for improvement still possible, a bit of rain would help.

Because I plant out later than many on this forum I don't see much difference in my other stuff i.e. it was not affected by the April heatwave.

Our allotments have it too.

my garlic is so rusty, its even made my soil go rust coloured !  Didn't suffer from it last year, but planted a lot earlier this year - supermarket bulbs last year, Dobies this year.

Pretty much everyone on our allotment site has rust on their garlic  :'(  One lottie neighbour told me yesterday that the garlic will not gain anything by being left in the ground so may as well be lifted now - what are the opinions of the forum??

I am lifting mine as and when convenient, knowing it will not gain by being left ...

Derek :)

Ah so that is why my garlic is changing colour!! Planted mine in February and up till now it has grown splendidly but I haven't had a firkle to see how the bulb is. Oh well, you get what you get I suppose! The onions have a bit too but I must say that the necks of the onions seem thick and firm so perhaps they have swollen well anyway. I was waiting for it all to die off, I thought that was the way to do it??

Everyone's garlic on our site is the same. And much smaller than usual - last year's was a splendid crop (we're still using it). Rain is forecast later in the week, which might help, but some of the stems are drying off already, so I might lift those.

I have a problem with foxes squashing things on my plot - and they had snapped off the tops of one of my garlic - so I dug it up yesterday!  It was small but perfectly formed and well on the way to perfection!  So I reckon the rest will be fine in a week or two!  My leaves look tatty - but that's normal for this stage of groth/time of year!

I roasted said garlic and had it with our tea last night - lovely!

Louise

Lifted mine today, poorest crop I have ever had :(

They have split into cloves so we must have had a cold enough spell to do that.

Then we had a dry spell,and no snow, which I find is the best form of winter watering i.e. when it melts it percolates nice and slowly into the soil.

When we have had rain it has either been very little or downpours which run off rather than percolate into the ground.

Well thats my opinion for what it is worth plus we had an extremlely warm April which I mentioned above.

My main concern is I won't have any decent sized bulbs/cloves to save for next years stock.

Ah well!! there is always next year and if their is a will there is a way :-\

we're scared to look  ;D

Dug all mine up on Saturday.....great crop despite the rust!

Now drying off under cover 'cos of predicted rain tomorrow.......space already mulched with compost and planted up with courgettes... ;D ;D ;D