Post by meizzwang on Mar 29, 2019 14:26:49 GMT -5
Did you know that approximately 75% of the world's garlic is produced in China? Yeah, 3 out of 4 bulbs you buy came from China, isn't that insane? Methyl bromide (a dangerous fumigant somewhat recently banned in the US), bleach, human waste, prison labor, dangerous fungicides and growth inhibitors are all utilized in the mass production of Asian Garlic.
I've been on the quest to grow my own garlic after seeing the nexflix special "Rotten": www.netflix.com/title/80146284 Of course, it wasn't just the show that inspired garlic cultivation, one of my best friends showed me his garden loaded with gigantic garlic plants last season, and I almost sharded in my pants with inspiration! LOL You're probably wondering how that works, and I'll just have to say it requires some serious imagination. Anyways, you can see his blog here: phamclifffarm.home.blog/2018/10/14/october-14-2018-garlic-jamboree-and-a-fall-garden-overview/
For years, even when planting in new virgin soil, I ended up getting diseases and small bulbs year after year. Why were my bulbs so small all the time even though I was starting with nice sized bulbs? I really wanted to figure out what I was doing wrong, but couldn't ever figure out what was wrong until my homie explained to me some key secrets. Hopefully, those secrets pan out, but so far, I'm already seeing nice results. Here's what I didn't know:
1) Garlic bulbs during growth hate warm soil temps, even luke warm temps! Hot soil, even for just a few days, can result in premature bulb formation, premature senescence, and activation of fungal pathogens.
2) You have to start out with clean bulbs, period. Start with store bought or non-certified garlic seed, and you're taking a chance on ruining your crop from the start, that stuff could be loaded with pathogens! Sometimes not, but long story short, you'll want to inspect and clean up that material before planting.
3) Garlic loves nitrogen! This was counter intuitive, I thought bulbs like P and K? well, load up that soil with chicken manure and lots of organic matter before planting. I mean lots! My homie taught me that, hah!
4) In my climate and specific growing conditions, covering the bulbs with mulch is the difference between success and failure, or at least this is what I suspect! Even on a 70F day, the soil can get up to 78F if it's not covered by straw or woodchips, and I grow mine in full sun always (they don't do well in part shade). I don't cover my plants with mulch until we start having 70F days or days where it's kinda warmish.
5) choose the right variety for your climate. In northern California, the early producing creole and tuban types seem to thrive, whereas the asiatic and porcelain have given me trouble in the past. Thing is, the creole and tuban varieties don't have a long shelf life, but I don't care, the flavor on some are outstanding.
6) good drainage is a must, a raised bed is perfect. Keep soil moist during growth.
7) As mentioned earlier, if you're unsure of how clean your garlic seed is, peel it carefully without damaging or bruising the bulb. Anything with a blemish should be considered diseased and eaten instead of planting, only use the pristine looking ones. For the ones that are clean, I still bleach them with a surfactant added to get rid of any possible spores lingering on the outside of the clove. If it's diseased on the inside, I'm not sure there's an effective way to clean it up.
8) tapering off water before harvest is also an art. I don't quite have this down yet, to be continued....
In general, one of the key factors to growing good garlic, aside from all the items mentioned above, is keeping that bulb cool while it's growing and getting it as much direct sunlight as possible. For those in more northern latitudes, you're blessed with optimal weather. I also think ignoring your garlic plants and NOT fertilizing them at all if you loaded the bed with a lot of organic matter/chicken manure before planting is key. However, with this method, your results may vary: how you manage fertility of the soil depends on your particular grow site, soil type, weather, variety,etc.
Of course, this is a work in progress, but so far, it looks like there will be decent success. I planted less than a dozen varieties this year, and so far, the ones that are producing the fattest plants here in Northern California are:
1) Xian
2) Early Portuguse
3) Spanish roja (this variety seems to be outperforming the rest. Okay shelf life).
Some pics of the crop, taken 3/25/19, they seem as healthy as can be at this point:
The very last row to the right is spanish roja. those plants are really beefy right now:
Xian and early portuguese to the left (probably the first two rows, there might be another variety mixed in there), looking pretty fat already. Notice the smaller plants to the right, can't remember the varieties, but they had even bigger bulbs to begin with and aren't looking so fat, probably because they aren't as good for our climate here. We'll see, still some months to go before harvest:
Native bulb loves the amended soil in the garlic bed and is thriving:
who all else grows garlic? Anyone else have tips or advice on producing really tasty, good quality garlic with nice sized cloves?
I've been on the quest to grow my own garlic after seeing the nexflix special "Rotten": www.netflix.com/title/80146284 Of course, it wasn't just the show that inspired garlic cultivation, one of my best friends showed me his garden loaded with gigantic garlic plants last season, and I almost sharded in my pants with inspiration! LOL You're probably wondering how that works, and I'll just have to say it requires some serious imagination. Anyways, you can see his blog here: phamclifffarm.home.blog/2018/10/14/october-14-2018-garlic-jamboree-and-a-fall-garden-overview/
For years, even when planting in new virgin soil, I ended up getting diseases and small bulbs year after year. Why were my bulbs so small all the time even though I was starting with nice sized bulbs? I really wanted to figure out what I was doing wrong, but couldn't ever figure out what was wrong until my homie explained to me some key secrets. Hopefully, those secrets pan out, but so far, I'm already seeing nice results. Here's what I didn't know:
1) Garlic bulbs during growth hate warm soil temps, even luke warm temps! Hot soil, even for just a few days, can result in premature bulb formation, premature senescence, and activation of fungal pathogens.
2) You have to start out with clean bulbs, period. Start with store bought or non-certified garlic seed, and you're taking a chance on ruining your crop from the start, that stuff could be loaded with pathogens! Sometimes not, but long story short, you'll want to inspect and clean up that material before planting.
3) Garlic loves nitrogen! This was counter intuitive, I thought bulbs like P and K? well, load up that soil with chicken manure and lots of organic matter before planting. I mean lots! My homie taught me that, hah!
4) In my climate and specific growing conditions, covering the bulbs with mulch is the difference between success and failure, or at least this is what I suspect! Even on a 70F day, the soil can get up to 78F if it's not covered by straw or woodchips, and I grow mine in full sun always (they don't do well in part shade). I don't cover my plants with mulch until we start having 70F days or days where it's kinda warmish.
5) choose the right variety for your climate. In northern California, the early producing creole and tuban types seem to thrive, whereas the asiatic and porcelain have given me trouble in the past. Thing is, the creole and tuban varieties don't have a long shelf life, but I don't care, the flavor on some are outstanding.
6) good drainage is a must, a raised bed is perfect. Keep soil moist during growth.
7) As mentioned earlier, if you're unsure of how clean your garlic seed is, peel it carefully without damaging or bruising the bulb. Anything with a blemish should be considered diseased and eaten instead of planting, only use the pristine looking ones. For the ones that are clean, I still bleach them with a surfactant added to get rid of any possible spores lingering on the outside of the clove. If it's diseased on the inside, I'm not sure there's an effective way to clean it up.
8) tapering off water before harvest is also an art. I don't quite have this down yet, to be continued....
In general, one of the key factors to growing good garlic, aside from all the items mentioned above, is keeping that bulb cool while it's growing and getting it as much direct sunlight as possible. For those in more northern latitudes, you're blessed with optimal weather. I also think ignoring your garlic plants and NOT fertilizing them at all if you loaded the bed with a lot of organic matter/chicken manure before planting is key. However, with this method, your results may vary: how you manage fertility of the soil depends on your particular grow site, soil type, weather, variety,etc.
Of course, this is a work in progress, but so far, it looks like there will be decent success. I planted less than a dozen varieties this year, and so far, the ones that are producing the fattest plants here in Northern California are:
1) Xian
2) Early Portuguse
3) Spanish roja (this variety seems to be outperforming the rest. Okay shelf life).
Some pics of the crop, taken 3/25/19, they seem as healthy as can be at this point:
The very last row to the right is spanish roja. those plants are really beefy right now:
Xian and early portuguese to the left (probably the first two rows, there might be another variety mixed in there), looking pretty fat already. Notice the smaller plants to the right, can't remember the varieties, but they had even bigger bulbs to begin with and aren't looking so fat, probably because they aren't as good for our climate here. We'll see, still some months to go before harvest:
Native bulb loves the amended soil in the garlic bed and is thriving:
who all else grows garlic? Anyone else have tips or advice on producing really tasty, good quality garlic with nice sized cloves?