Garlic easily rank as one of the top - five pet kitchen flavorer on the planet , but growing garlic can be amazingly unmanageable at times , specially if the wrongdiseaseshit your harvest at the awry time .
“ Most small agriculturist , especially new ones , fail to apprise the high risk of infection involved in acquiring and trade garlic seeded player , ” say Dr. Fred Crowe , of the Department of Botany & Plant Pathology at the Central Oregon Agricultural Research Center in Madras , Ore.
Crowe is n’t exaggerating . Once a garlic field of honor has been infected with clean rot fungus , it can take as much as 40 years before the dormant infection disappears . Garlic can also be attacked by a nematode worm that breeds within the cum garlic for up to six seasons before the plants show any major symptom , at which point it is not rare for the full crop to be suddenly destroyed .
“ [ In the other 2000s ] , a group of 30 little garlic growers in Australia all went out of business concern together because they had been trading seed garlic back and forth among each other . Once the nematode levels reached decisive mass , everybody ’s craw go down at once , ” Crowe says .
But that ’s enough of the scary tale . In general , Allium sativum is a true crop , not difficult to mature and if handled well , usually finds a quick market . Here ’s what you need to have it away to get start on your garlic - maturate venture .
Garlic Types
The taxonomy of Allium sativum is a mo muddy . As many as 600 varieties of garlic are grow around the world . Because Allium sativum has been heavily traded among various nation , because no prescribed registry and because viruses might make the same garlic species appear in different chassis , many of the 600 mixture are undoubtedly duplicates with unlike names .
It is good to say that there are two main type of ail : hardneck ( Allium sativum ophioscorodon ) and softneck ( Allium sativum sativum ) . The hardneck types , also called topset garlic , bring forth few but larger Syzygium aromaticum , while the softneck types produce smaller but more legion cloves . Most of the commercial garlic available in the supermarket are softneck . Of the predominantly softneck commercial craw , 25 percentage kick the bucket to the supermarkets and 75 percent rifle to the dehydrating market .
pocket-sized - scale farmers , on the other hand , more often develop the hardneck garlic varieties . These typically do not stash away as well as softneck type , but granger claim the smack is better . There are three type of hardneck garlic : Rocambole , Purplestripe and Continental ( also known as Porcelain ) . All three assortment incline to grow better in frigid climates .
Hardneck garlic plants send up a key heyday shoot call a flower stalk . ( Softneck type sometimes produce scapes , too , in clip of stress . ) The shaft can be harvested and sold because it provide a tasty garlic product in the bound , when no other fresh ail is available . shaft left on the plants bring about flower that contain masses of bulbils that can be planted to create new garlic works . Bulbils , produce in the scapes , are smaller than pea plant ; the bulb , on the other mitt , contain the cloves . Many modest - exfoliation Farmer farm hardneck garlic on a two - year cycle , using the bulbils as planting stock instead of the with child cloves , as other growers do .
Softneck garlic varieties are not unremarkably recommend in colder northern mood . The two main commercial garlic varieties , Californian Early and California Late , are both softnecks and represent more than 90 percent of the commercial planting in the United States . One reason hardneck motley are less frequently grown commercially is that the Eugenia caryophyllatum must be planted in an just position , and this is a difficult task for automatize equipment . Softneck garlic cloves , on the other handwriting , can be successfully plant at any angle .
A third worldwide type of ail is lie with as Elephant , or Buffalo , ail ( Allium ampeloprasum ) . This industrial plant produces the largest cloves , has the meek flavor , and is chiefly used for roasting or stewing . Other types of garlic include Bear ’s ( Allium ursinum ) , Serpent ( Allium sativum ophioscorodon ) , Round - headed ( Allium sphaerocephalicon ) and Shoshone ( Allium falcifolium ) .
Growing Garlic
Garlic rarely bring on true semen , and crops are almost always planted from clove tree or bulbils . When buying garlic clove for planting , farmers should plan to yield a bit more for seed cloves from a blank seed . discount on plant stock intend high chances of the garlic clove being taint with viruses , nematodes or fungal disease .
Growing garlicmost often takes about nine months from planting in the fall to glean in the early summertime . In warmer areas , it is sometimes acceptable to plant garlic in the spring , though springtime planting usually result in far abject harvests of garlic . When leap planting is hope , agriculturist subjugate the bulbs to a vernalization period ( false winter ) through refrigeration for a month or long .
Where winters are frigid , garlic should be planted before first Robert Lee Frost and should be to a great extent mulch . The unexampled shoots that come out in spring will not have any trouble nose up through even thick mulches . Good mulch also reduces weed growth and keeps the soil warm and softer . In the tender seasons , mulch also act as a good sens retardant and keeps the soil cooler .
In general , Rocambole garlic type produce a few big bulbils , while Porcelain types produce lots of small bulbils . When plant , these garlic varieties produce a little flora with a undivided pear-shaped incandescent lamp at the base . These single incandescent lamp can be replanted the following class , producing full - sized incandescent lamp with many cloves inside . Many small - scale raiser set supererogatory bulbil for harvest some in the spring . These young plants can be sold for wise - cooking use at a clock time when no other reinvigorated garlic products are available . small-scale farmers also often count on cut some of the scapes later in spring in decree to have a fresh garlic production to betray at that time . Scapes that are result to grow will take energy by from the developing medulla oblongata , so it is a good idea to only leave scapes on those sections that are intend to get bulbils for future planting .
Garlic Harvesting Storage
While commercial-grade garlic growers utilize mechanized reaper , small - scale garlic growers usually harvest by hand . Freshly harvested garlic should be hung in a sheltered location to dry out and harden . In California and other tender , dry part , ail can be stacked in the champaign to dry out , but the bulbs are covered with the leafage to preclude sunburning .
Once the electric light are dry out , they may be locomote to long - condition depot locating . Garlic will normally lay in well for eight months or more if maintain cool and dry . dampish storage areas often have trouble with mold of the Penicillium genus .
This article was extract from the December / January 2004 issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
