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Store Bought Garlic Disappointing

RedSun (Zone 6, NJ)

8 years ago

Last fall, I ran out of seed garlic, so I bought some softneck garlic from the local farmer's market. I know the garlic could be imported from overseas, not locally grown.

In the fall, they came out fine. They put out about 4" growth in the fall. Then winter came. They died back over the winter. In spring, the growth has been sluggish. Now the growth is bad and some have half brown leaves.

I'm just curious to see if the garlic was planted too early in the fall, or the garlic was sprayed with chemicals and would not do well anyhow. The fall growth was good. I understand this is some kind of white soft neck type.

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Comments (4)

LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
8 years ago
My only experience with unknown softneck was when I bought some 2.5" garlic from a organic grocery. Based on when I purchased them (September) I think they were California late artichoke type as they still had the roots attached (meaning not Chinese). They grew OK but not great until early June and then about 50% bolted in the stem just above the soli line. This caused the bulb wrappers to split open while curing and poor storage. I ended up dehydrating them fairly soon in the fall before they dried up completely.
bcomplx
8 years ago
I would carefully dig the worst of them and see what's going on with the roots. You could have onion root maggots or a fungal disease of some kind.

I'm in my fourth year with Nootka Rose, the big softneck they sell at Southern Exposure, and it has adapted well.
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RedSun (Zone 6, NJ)
Original Author
8 years ago
No, there is no disease. I dug some of them and found that all of them have root rot. This is common in our area, particularly with warm weather garlic. When I planted these garlic last late October, they sprouted in early November. When winter came, they died down and sat there over the entire winter. Our winter and spring are very wet. So the roots never got established and wilted now.

I remember last year, our local farmers had a very bad garlic harvest due to wet spring. My cold weather garlic is doing great. So next year I won't be planting the warm weather (or unknown) store bought garlic. It is not disease, but just the wrong type of garlic.

I'll continue to plant the ones which are doing great now, then continue to plant various other types of hard neck garlic and choose the ones good in our climate.
OldDutch (Zone 4 MN)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Better drainage is the answer, the method is raised beds, and normally they need not be raised more than say 4 inches. And make sure you are not gardening over a hard pan. Biodrills with daikons work wonders for that and sure are tasty.

My store bought softnecks also came up last fall, but stayed green over winter and look to be doing very well this spring.

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