# Garlic



## Zane (Mar 28, 2008)

Where is a good place to get seed over here? any ideas?


----------



## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

*garlic bulbs*

Seed catalogs,garden centers and I have bought the jumbo type in the produce dept. at the grocery store.Buy the cluster and break the bulbs off and plant.It dosen!t have to be the jumbo type,I just like it better.:thumbsup:


----------



## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

Tradition has it that garlic should be planted on the day of the full moon in November, which would be Nov. 13.


----------



## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

brooksbeefarm said:


> I have bought the jumbo type in the produce dept. at the grocery store.Buy the cluster and break the bulbs off and plant.It dosen!t have to be the jumbo type,I just like it better.:thumbsup:


Just a couple of thoughts. If you plant grocery store garlic it may bring soil borne pathogens with it, that once in your soil will be there, pretty much forever (just ask the folks in Gilroy, CA). The seed producers that sell commercially are supposed to verify that their bulbs are free of such pathogens. The second problem with the grocery store variety is that unless they are a type that is suited to your particular area they may well not thrive. There are short day, long day and medium day length varieties that are used in specific geographic areas.
The third thing is that elephant type garlic usually produces blossoms. Regular garlic rarely does.


----------



## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

beemandan makes a good point. Perhaps picking up garlic at a local farmer's market would solve the second problem (suitability to the area), but not necessarily the first (pathogens).

That being said, I planted grocery store garlic with reasonable success. I didn't really mean to, they just sprouted and got tossed into the compost.


----------



## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

*garlic*

Beemandan,Good observation,I never thought about anything like that.I planted some in the back field along the branch about 4yrs. ago and the bees work the blooms hard.I thought I would pass it on to those who wanted a little extra for the bees to work on.Would the pathogens be in the bulbs, or the soil attached, if any to the roots of the store bought garlic?By me planting garlic along the branch,could I be spreading pathogens to other farms?Kind of scary.I didn!t think anything was forever except rocks and taxes
Beemandan,would you post a thread on this?sounds like something we should be aware of.:s


----------



## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

My information came from a class on ag plant pathology and another class on vegetables.
I doubt if I still have either textbook any longer. The common name for the disease I'm referring to is garlic white rot. You can easily do a web search and find everything you'd ever want to know.
This link is just one of about 50,000 Google returns.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r584100511.html

ps. although I said it stayed in the soil forever it's really closer to twenty years. please excuse the exaggeration.


----------



## randydrivesabus (Apr 27, 2006)

can't you avoid the desease by rotating crops? like not planting alliums in the same place every year?


----------



## Irene S (Feb 7, 2008)

randydrivesabus said:


> can't you avoid the desease by rotating crops? like not planting alliums in the same place every year?


sadly, no  I've heard it doesnt

Rotating just ensures that the ground won't be short of the nutrients used by these crops.

I HAVE heard that dipping seed garlic in hot water before planting can cut down on the possibility of garlic white rot.. but I can't say for sure.

I've only 'done' garlic for two years (this will be my third) and I've been lucky so far, knock wood!


----------



## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

randydrivesabus said:


> can't you avoid the desease by rotating crops? like not planting alliums in the same place every year?


Probably, if the rotation is to plant the alliums in any single plot about once every thirty years. If you read the link I posted earlier you'd see that this particular pathogen can remain dormant in the soil for over twenty years.


----------



## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Irene S said:


> I've only 'done' garlic for two years (this will be my third) and I've been lucky so far, knock wood!


I've been growing garlic for about a dozen years. I must confess that my original 'sets' were grocery store bulbs. I didn't know any better at the time. I was very lucky for two reasons. The first is that I apparently didn't bring in a white rot pathogen. The second is that the variety I planted does very well where I live. Just plain dumb luck.
The garlic I plant today is all decended from those original bulbs. Each year I leave a number of plants unharvested in a 'seed stock' bed. Those are next season's stock. As long as I'm not bringing in outside sets I believe that I'm not likely to introduce any outside pathogens. I appear to have been successful.....so far.
Good luck


----------



## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

Zane said:


> Where is a good place to get seed over here? any ideas?


The easiest thing to do is go to your market and buy some heads of garlic, separate into cloves, keeping the largest and plant.

Its not the best garlic, but its garlic and good to eat. Keep the smaller cloves for yourself over the winter. The larger the clove, the larger the head come spring/summer.

Right now I use that as my major seed crop for my market but also have 5 varieties that I grow for myself, mostly hard neck varieties, so I can harvest the scapes come spring. Nothing beats scape pesto.

You need a whole lot of garlic though to keep the bees happy. Its easier to plant dandelions and clover.


----------



## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

randydrivesabus said:


> can't you avoid the desease by rotating crops? like not planting alliums in the same place every year?


Rotation helps in soil fertility and pest control but diseases can persist a fair amount of time.


----------



## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*Garlic Propagation*

Some of the garic in stores has been treated with a growth regulator so that it will not sprout for many weeks.
Just buy it from a reliable source like Burpee's.
it is not supposed to bloom the 1st year unless it bolts because of warm and then cool temperatures.
You might consider planting onion sets as they seem to bolt easier.
The photoperiod determines when the plants will bloom. Short , intermediate or long day types.
And, get out your gopher traps!

Ernie


----------



## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Durandal said:


> The easiest thing to do is go to your market and buy some heads of garlic, separate into cloves, keeping the largest and plant.


I give up!!!!!!


----------



## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

beemandan said:


> I give up!!!!!!



Just because you are purchasing from a seed source does NOT mean they have been certified to be pathogen free.


----------



## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Durandal said:


> Just because you are purchasing from a seed source does NOT mean they have been certified to be pathogen free.


Maybe not but I'm bettin' that the odds are better they'll be pathogen free than if you buy your 'seeds' from the grocery store produce section.


----------



## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

Zane,just curious where did you buy your garlic to plant?:s


----------



## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

FTI:
The ornamental galic has a longer blooming time.
In mild winter areas it blooms most of the year!
You can buy a few one gallon size containers and divide it into hundreds of individual plants.
Yes, I know the topic was about garlic for the home use.
Regards,
Ernie


----------



## Zane (Mar 28, 2008)

Brooksbee,I havent put any in the ground yet. Although I havent even looked for any!!! I know a greenhouse fairly close that may have some and possibly Hummert? The ground is still way too wet to try anything. We had 5" last week and the ground was saturated before that. Hopefully no wetstuff until tuesday night and the70 degree days w/ a slight wind may dry things out enough to get a disc in and plant my covercrop and garlic then! Have you found any garlic? Do you have "Earl May" nurseries over there? They carry alot of stuff like that. I still have to dig up my horseradish:doh:


----------



## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

*garlic*

Like i!ve stated before on other threads, I have a truck farm and have several places I buy my seeds and plants.I buy most of my seed at Morgan County seed co. Barnett,Mo. phone#573-378-2655.They are very nice people to deal with.I was there in april and bought some garlic bulbs then to plant now.Is this close to you? if you call them they will send you a catalog.They carry alot of seed that make good bee forage,and sell by the pack or bulk.


----------



## Zane (Mar 28, 2008)

Thanks for the number. I dont live close to Bernett, but they are local MO so I'll try to deal /w them if I can.


----------



## randydrivesabus (Apr 27, 2006)

I just finished planting my garlic. Between 600 and 700 cloves.


----------



## Zane (Mar 28, 2008)

Randy,Sounds good, now you have time to come over to my place and plant right?lol just kiddin
How do you you plant the large amts. of garlic? My back aches just seeing that number of times you bent over! hopefully you have a better way?


----------



## BenC (Mar 18, 2007)

Zane, 600-700 cloves is only 300-350 ft of row, not a large amount. If you're looking to do this much, planting can be done without too much bending over. Dry ground, hook a log chain to a tractor or truck and drive over worked ground where you want the row. The chain will make a little furrow. Place cloves in the furrow (upright, especially important for hardnecks) and push the furrow shut around the clove. 1 inch soil on top of the cloves. Don't keep bending over, rather stay bent or get down and crawl or waddle. Sopping wet to just damp ground (keeps it's shape) use a dabble. tool handle, digging iron, waterwheel planter, or similar tool concept- whatever works. Go down the row punching holes, no need to bend over. Go back (or have someone following) pushing cloves into holes. Go back again (or third person following) pinch holes shut or cover with 1 inch dry soil. If doing more than 500 ft of row, definitely find a vegetable grower who will loan you a waterwheel transplanter with 6" spacing wheel or use your own to avoid the bending over. My opinion (and just that) don't waste your time with softnecks. Hardnecks are much more flavorful and once tried there is no going back, for you or your customers.


----------



## randydrivesabus (Apr 27, 2006)

My wife helped out. It planted about 350' as Ben said. It went pretty fast since we were planting in recently tilled soil. I planted 100' of hardneck that was some of my crop from this past season. The rest was softneck that I bought online and am growing to make garlic braids. I'll mulch it with straw within the next week or so.


----------



## Dave Burrup (Jul 22, 2008)

*Garlic pathogens*

Anytime we get plants; roots, bulbs, sets, or green plants, we take the chance of planting a serious pathogen. I did this 25 years ago with some daffodils from Brecks. Over the course of 10 years it spread throughout the yard. We conservativly had hundreds of daffodils and narcisus when it started. In 10 years we had none. I have not been able to determine what the pathogen was, but it was long lasting. Fortunately it only affected Daffodils. The pathogens on onions and garlic are just as bad.
One thing I do now is to soak the bulbs in 10% chlorox for 10 minutes. Remove any old dried skins so the bulb and root zone are exposed. I even do this with potato sets unless they are from certified stock. It is a pain to do but worth the effort. There are fungicide products that you can buy too, but I like chlorox because it is none selective as to fungal and bacterial diseases. Surprisingly it does not hurt the bulbs. You can rinse roots and the green plants too, but just dip them and then rinse them off.


----------



## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

Great tip, Dave! How long do you soak a bulb? Is it proportional to the size of the bulb?


----------



## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

Hobie said:


> Tradition has it that garlic should be planted on the day of the full moon in November, which would be Nov. 13.


Hobie, thanks for that! I am going to get some bulbs from a friend and plant shortly.

I have also heard that the stores put something on the garlic to keep them from sprouting...so I'll stick with the garlic that comes from my friend.


----------



## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

Trouble is, in this neck of the woods, sometimes you have to shovel in order to plant that day!


----------



## Mabe (Mar 22, 2005)

A few others that bees love are garlic chives, nodding pink onion, and society garlic. You'll get bigger patches each year and they are all lovely in flower gardens as well as the kitchen garden. And... you can use them in cooking as you would scallions or chives.


----------

