Growing garlic 2

Here's the link to the previous thread for anyone interested in reading through the plethora of information and wandering conversations there :)

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1051174/

I started thread number one about a year ago, and it is definitely planting time here in the Northwest. It is worth it to prepare the soil well by removing all weeds and with generous additions of compost since garlic is a long term crop, in the gropund for 9 months. Add lime too if your soil is acidic.

I am only doing a small planting this year since the soil borne allium fungus (White Rot)I have requires that I plant in a completely different location. Last June I only harvested 50 out of 250 plants. All the rest withered and died in May although they had been large, robust plants up until that point. I want to try and save an unusual variety (called 'Kenyan' by the person who gave it to me) that I have been growing for 10 years, and which is not available anywhere I can locate on the internet.



This message was edited Oct 23, 2010 7:15 PM

Hello Mauryhillfarm...a fellow Washington gardener I see! I have the white rot problem at my main organic garden also. I understand that solarization of my beds will kill the fungus, but I hesitate taking that much ground out of cultivation. Besides, I understand that solarization will kill the good life-forms as well. Like you, I've planted my garlic in a completely different location this Fall. I've heard from a couple of garlic schmexperts that soaking the cloves in a baking soda-water solution for 12 hours and then rinsing them with rubbing alcohol before planting will do the trick also. I have not tried that.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I did that exact baking soda/rubbing alcohol treatment last year, after inspecting every single clove I planted, individually (I am an overcompulsive perfectionist when it comes to my garlic) for any signs of infection. I used cloves from bulbs that had no visible affect from the fungus the previous year. All that effort was to no avail. The fungus was in the soil and it was not abated in the least. In fact, my harvest was much worse. I'm not saying the treatment caused that, but it surely had no positive impact that I could discern. The baking soda treatment may work for less virulent garlic diseases, but White Rot itself is the bane of garlic cultivation.

I have also read about solarization, and what I have heard is that it will kill the live fungus, but will not have much, if any, affect on the poppy-seed like sclerotia which are like time capsules for the fungus. You can see these in profusion on an affected garlic when you dig it up in about May when the garlic shows signs of stress. The sclerotia can lie dormant in the soil for 20 to 40 years, and spring to life when they are activated by the essence of garlic that permeates the soil when a living plant begins to form a bulb. At least that is the theory I have read. There are several things I have heard about and thought of to do to try to activate these sclerotia at a time when there is actually no allium plant anywhere near to devour and reproduce on. One is to dig garlic powder into the affected area in the late Spring (and don't plant any alliums!). Another is to water the bed or field with garlic blended into water. I don't know what proportions to try, but I am going to do these both next Spring. I may solarize the Summer after for good measure, but as you say that will kill off all the good organisms as well. The other option is to keep a separate garlic growing area with separate tools, separate shoes and gloves to be used there, and put myself through fumigation whenever I move from one area to another. I'm not sure I would be disciplined enough to really carry that off.

Holly, do you normally mulch your garlic during the winter? So far I've been doing a good job of keeping my one bed weeded. I still have to plant another bed. Am hoping to have the chickens clear it for me this weekend. ;)

I usually mulch lightly for the purposes of preventing soil compaction, reducing soil splatter from heavy Winter rains, and weed supression. I prefer chopped straw or grass clippings. Garlic generally does not need a thick mulch for insulation from cold temperatures in my current region. Once the garlic has sprouted, I sometimes throw a frost blanket over the bed on those rare nights when the temperature is in the teens. This is not necessary for its survival, just to prevent leaf-tip frost burn.

I did plant garlic today, but not in my regular veggie garden where I have had the fungus problem. I interplanted about 80 cloves of garlic amongst small shrubs and perennials in a new bed I dug this Summer. All that empty space, left forthe shrubs to fill out eventually, came in handy as a garlic location.

Holly, that's a great idea! I might do that with the rest of my garlic that isn't planted yet.

Is covering your infected garden soil with black plastic secured for a few months a possible solution (baking the fungal spores when the sun shines on the black). I use black plastic for lots of soil warming and compost hurrying up. Just a thought... I'm no expert for sure.

I think the black plastic idea can help kill off the fungus in its active state, and that technique could be part of the solution. The trick is to get the sclerotia (tiny, poppy seed-like in size and appearance) to break dormancy and begin to grow, then hit them with the heat, lack of moisture, and lack of allium plant to grow and reproduce on.

Maury, is garlic becoming a PNW crop that I should just give up, like my beloved tomatoes & peppers?

Oh no, don't give it up. Many varieties do very well here. I grew garlic completely successfully for almost 30 years before I somehow imported this fungus, probably on new seedstock I was given that was, unbeknownst to the giver, infected with it. Unless you also have this fungus, you will have no problem given your soil is good garden soil. You can avoid getting this fungus by only planting garlic cloves from sources known to be free of it.

Tomatoes do have their good years. Last summer was not one of them.