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Stages of garlic growth - some problems with growth

18 years ago

I planted around 15 bulbs of garlic in a freshly prepared bed some weeks ago. All seemed to be going well. However I noticed that they weren't really coming on in a way I expected, they didn't seem to be getting any bigger. All have nice stalks and leaves.

So this evening I dug one up and noticed that the bulb had rotten away and left the stalk complete with roots, stem, and leaves. I then checked the others - the same.

The area they are in does suffer from a small amount of sun. Maybe 2-3 hours of full sun a day.

I thought they might be salvageable and so I have moved them into an area where they will get full sun for 7-8 hrs.

Question is, is the shedding/rotting away of the original bulb normal, and if not, have I wasted my time in moving them. Is the best place now the compost heap.

Any help would be great. I have many other plantings of garlic so I not overly stressed but I would like to grow as many as I can.

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Comments (4)

coho
18 years ago
litotes,
Always plant garlic in full sun. I presume we are talking cloves and not bulbs. If so, the clove is consumed providing energy for the new plant to get established. At the proper time, the lower portion of the plant will swell and divide into a bulb of cloves. I have had little problem transplanting garlic tho, some may not make big bulbs and some will likely just make "rounds".
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computergardener
18 years ago
This will be my second year of growing Garlic and like yourself I was anxious to see what would happen and I dug a few up prematurely. However, if you planted them a few weeks ago and they have started to sprout and grow tall I would say they are ok where you planted them. I would leave them alone for now.

The really hard part is going to be next May / June, when you are really going to want to pull them up, but don't. Wait until the stalks fall over. I pulled a few early in May / early June and the bulbs were much smaller then the ones I pulled in late June.

Good luck --

One last tip... Roasted Garlic Soup.... Very good.
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garliclady
18 years ago
litotes the rotting away is normal as coho said.
Computer Gardener You said for litotes to wait till they fall over to harvest in late june . It will only fall over if it is a soft neck litotes didn't say what kind was planted. Also harvest can vary up to a month depending on what type you plant. I am also in NC and we harvested our first turbans around the 1st of June and harvested the last rocambole around the 1st of July.
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jimw00d
Original Author
18 years ago
I have planted a variety known to do well in Texas - at least that's what I have been told. It's Californian Early, a softneck variety.

Thanks for all the advice.
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